Nissan Repair: 99 nissan dash gage replacement, pencil eraser, temperature gauge

Question
QUESTION: 1999 Nissan p.u. 2 wheel drive. My heat gage went to hot,but the truck is not overheated. the gas gage goes to full when its not, now the speedometer and tach. have dropped to zero when driving. Is there a main control somewhere that feeds information to the dash.

ANSWER: Randy,

Sounds like you have a bad connection at the harness connector where it connects to the cluster.  Remove the cluster and clean the contacts with a number 2 pencil eraser and reassemble.  If that does not do the trick you are going to need to get a wrecking yard cluster or take yours to a speedometer speciality shop locally.  They would rework the circuit board and replace the power distribution control.  A wrecking yard cluster is the cheapest route if the cleaning does not work.

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QUESTION: Von you are right on with your answer. slight problem thought, I looked under the dash and found several connections none standing out as going to the back of the instrument panel so I fiddled with all of them, never could get any of  them apart. But heres the good part all the gages except the heat gage started working. Do I come from the speedometer side?  Thanks Randy

Answer
Randy,

I think there is a large connector on the right and a much smaller one on the left.  Nice that it was just a bad connection.  On the temperature gauge you can take the connector off under the hood and hold it to ground for a few seconds to see if the gauge moves.  Do this with the key on and someone watching the gauge.  You do not want to leave the wire grounded for too long as it will cook the gauge.  If the gauge moves replace the sensor.  If it does not check the wiring at the cluster or the gauge itself.