# Gauges going Crazy! (up and down)



## Azflower22 (11 mo ago)

Hi fellow Nissan owners!
I have a '99 Nissan Maxima SE (manual) and the other day while out driving, all 4 gauges on the dash panel started going up and down very fast... they eventually stopped, resting down. 
About 15 minutes later, they started performing normally again.

Any ideas as to what this could be and some easy things I can do or check before taking it to the mechanic?

Thanks!!
Melissa


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

It's very common for the old style clusters with a flexible circuit board on the back (FPC) to develop crummy connections in their old age, and there are also a number of screws on the back that connect the FPC to the internals which are particularly prone to losing contact from a little corrosion. Pulling the cluster is a 10-minute job, so have your mechanic use some contact cleaner on the FPC and the three connectors, and also "tweak" all the screws to assure they're making good contact. If that doesn't help then the internal voltage regulator may be failing or there may be broken solder joints on the inside. There are lots of cluster repair outfits if you can lay the car up temporarily, taninautoelectronix and circuitboardmedix come to mind. Or you can search eBay, etc, for a replacement cluster with approximately equal mileage and just replace it. Labor charges shouldn't be a big issue either way, it's an easy job.


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## Azflower22 (11 mo ago)

VStar650CL said:


> It's very common for the old style clusters with a flexible circuit board on the back (FPC) to develop crummy connections in their old age, and there are also a number of screws on the back that connect the FPC to the internals which are particularly prone to losing contact from a little corrosion. Pulling the cluster is a 10-minute job, so have your mechanic use some contact cleaner on the FPC and the three connectors, and also "tweak" all the screws to assure they're making good contact. If that doesn't help then the internal voltage regulator may be failing or there may be broken solder joints on the inside. There are lots of cluster repair outfits if you can lay the car up temporarily, taninautoelectronix and circuitboardmedix come to mind. Or you can search eBay, etc, for a replacement cluster with approximately equal mileage and just replace it. Labor charges shouldn't be a big issue either way, it's an easy job.


Hi, thank you so much - this is GREAT information... I will try cleaning the connections first, big relief that it is not a very expensive fix - thanks again!
Mel


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

You're most welcome! Post back and let us know how it goes.


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