Nissan Repair: 2000 XTERRA, vehicle speed sensor, pencil eraser

Question
Recently we have had a problem with the dash. Sometimes everything is fine and sometimes there is nothing. No speedometer, odometer or any other meters working as well as the cruise. We can be driving down the road and they will come right back on and pick up like nothing is wrong. Today though the service engine soon light came on and then the dash started working again but the light didn't go out. Any thoughts?

Answer
Clyde,

You have a couple of problems here.  First, the instrument  cluster needs to be removed and the contacts where the hasrness connects needs to be cleaned.  Use a number 2 pencil eraser and lightly rub the contacts on both the connector and the harness connector and reinstall and it should work fine.  The second problem is the check engine light.  Autozone or Checker will run the code for free with their scanner.  I bet it is the vehicle speed sensor since the computer picks up the vehicle speed at the speedometer.  The harness is giving intermittent readings and I think that is what set the code.  I could be wrong so let me know how it turns out.  The nice thing about Autozone or Checker is they will check the code for free and sell you the part you need and then you come back and they will clear the code for free.