Tacho, Speedo & Odo gone funny

aboutfivebucks · Post by **aboutfivebucks** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:54 pm

Hey guys,

I'm sure someone can shed some light on my 1998 RX Liberty problems.

The missus took the car for a 6hr drive today (to Karratha), after an hour the tacho stopped working, the speedo was jumping from 110 to zero and from 100 to 200, when the speedo flickered the Odometer faded and the clock would reset.

This problem occurred the whole trip yet the car didnt skip a beat, with the headlights and A/C on for the remaining 5 hours.

The car has been parked out in plenty of rain this week but has not been driven thru any puddles.

Can anyone suggest what might be going on here. I'm hoping its got something to do with moisture, but hoping doesn't fix cars.

Any help is much appreciated.

Cheers, Gav

Checkers · Post by **Checkers** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:22 pm

I had a similiar thing happen in a Camry once and it was the battery, it had dropped a cell which caused issues with the voltage but the only thing it effected was the tacho and teh clock and then when i would park it the radio would loose its channels but it would still start. Went on for months then one day it wouldn't start at all. Got a new battery and everything was good as new, never had another issue.

GOD · Post by **GOD** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:48 pm

Sounds to me like a bad connection somewhere around the instrument cluster. There's gonna be lots of pulling apart to find it. Good luck.

Is it throwing any codes?

Dane.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 5:38 am

i had that problem too, it was combination of problems - bad speed sensor, battery and connection behind the dash. If i were you i'd start with connections behind the dash and get battery checked.
The worst case could be a short somewhere.
Cheers
AP

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:01 am

earth connections can be equally as important

aboutfivebucks · Post by **aboutfivebucks** » Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:52 pm

Thanx guys for your help.
The missus has made it home (another 600km) still with no Speedo (which is now on the wrong side of the zero pin) , Tacho (only works at high revs), and now the low fuel light is on when the tank has plenty of juice.
Ive tested the battery with a meter and its holding well above 12v.
Tomorrow ill start looking for loose connections behind the fuse holder.
Before start making my way to the instrument cluster, where else can i quickly check for poor earths??

cheers guys. Gav

AndrewT · Post by **AndrewT** » Sat Nov 14, 2009 11:12 am

steptoe wrote:earth connections can be equally as important

I second this. A bad earth is something easy to create without realising it. Maybe a wire to the car body got caught on somebody and got pulled off. A missing earth connection can cause really weird problems that are hard to pinpoint.
One of my old cars, all the indicators, brake lights and tail lights went completely crazy after I put the car back together after a respray. Like indicate left and all the brake lights flashed instead, some dim, some bright. It came down to one single earth wire near the brake light cluster disconnected - connected again and everything was perfect.

aboutfivebucks · Post by **aboutfivebucks** » Sat Dec 05, 2009 2:40 pm

My efforts so far.
So far - Ive been successful.
Ive disconnected the brake/tail lights in the rear door. Water was getting into the lights and the globes were corroding.
Ive removed the instrument cluster and flicked the speedo needle to the left of the stopper pin.
Ive touched up every earth i can find in the engine bay. ive not found any earths near the instrument cluster, behind the fuse box under the dash, or near the rear brake lights. Im guessing all these earths are fed via the harness.
All appears to be working now except low fuel light is still intermittently lighting up. Ill look at this problem next.

Thankyou all for your help.
It may have all come down to the wet rear brake lights.