Anyone have a flakey speedometer? If so, I might have the fix.

jakeru · 10-10-2009, 01:40 AM

Hey guys -

My '89 max developed a flakey speedometer over the last 2-3 years. Sometimes it would work, other times it would drop to the low extreme, and other times it would drop the other direction (past the highest speed!). It also wouldn't always read correctly, sometimes, would read way faster than I was actually going. In short... the speedometer seemed to develop a mind of it's own.

The automatic tranny still shifted right, and even the cruise control still worked perfectly, even in the middle of the speedometer malfunctioning.

I believe I found the problem with the flakey speedometer: bad ground, which for the speedometer, is located behind the driver's side kick panel. (Just below the hood release knob.) You remove the trim piece below the hood release knob using phillips screwdriver, then pry away the trim piece, and the ground lug for the speedo (and one other ground lug also) is located behind a piece of glued on foam.

I fixed the unreliable grounds by removing the ground lug, and "shined" up the sheetmetal behind it with sandpaper. (The factory metal was totally covered with paint - so relied on only the fastening screw to conduct electricity, which I don't think was very wise of nissan.) I also shined up the copper ground lug surfaces (front and back) with sandpaper, added a thin layer of dielectric grease to prevent oxidation, and put it all back.

Now I seem to have a reliable speedometer again! And as a side bonus, I think my coolant temperature gauge is reading more higher, and more reliably now. (The temperature gauge also used to drop out of operation intermittently, but I dismissed it as just a loose connection at the sending unit.)

I hope this info helps some other maxima owner (as I have been reading here a while and have not seen this info posted before.)

chrome91 · 10-10-2009, 08:07 AM

think its the same thing for RPM? My RPM quit working almost a year ago, it will cut in for a minute or two a day and show the right RPM but the rest of the time it thrashes from 0 to past redline or just stays limp at 0/past redline. Ive got a GXE too so i dont really need RPM but i wouldnt mind having it back

Hectic · 10-10-2009, 12:55 PM

Sorry to burst your bubble but I doubt the ground point you are talking about has anything to do with your faulty speedometer. Unless you tracked N15 through the SMJ to that point, my guess is you're just going through one of the phases where the speedo works correctly. "Bad grounds" are rare. People want an easy fix, they fool themselves into thinking ground points might solve their problems, usually they don't. It's most likely your speed sensor or the speedometer itself. If it was a bad ground connection, it wouldn't make your speedometer jump all over the place, it would simply not work or work intermittently.

chrome91 · 10-10-2009, 03:29 PM

i was first told that it was a loose wire, but whatever

jakeru · 10-10-2009, 09:24 PM

Hectic - well I drove it again today, and you are right! The speedo is on the fritz again. It was reading 0-5mph when I was doing ~25. Then it abruptly jumped up to 25mph. Then back down to 0-5mph. Apparently the ground wasn't the problem... Or at least, it wasn't the entire problem.

Do you think that since my cruise control works reliably, even when the speedometer is jumping around, then my problem is likely with the speedometer itself?

I recall I had a problem with the digital clock, which I solved by resoldering an area on the circuit board (I think after reading about that solution on this forum.) It totally worked to solve the problem... I wonder if the speedometer might be having some sort of similar issue.

If anyone else knows how to solve this flakey/jumpey speedo issue, I would be grateful for the knowledge.

Phatmatt · 10-11-2009, 09:38 AM

Mine was doing the same.
I just bought a new cluster. Changed the ugly GXE one for a sexy 145mph white faced SE cluster. Really changes the interior of the car.

jakeru · 10-11-2009, 10:45 PM

Phatmatt - Thanks for the info that changing the cluster was a fix to the flakey speedo problem. That confirms the theory about the problem being in my cluster. Got any tips for how to remove it?

Phatmatt · 10-12-2009, 07:42 AM

Here you go. Pretty simple to do, just a bit long on the first try.
http://www.geocities.com/craigbrace/
It's for fixing the clock, but the process is the same to remove the cluster (got 4 screws on the cluster and it comes out)

Just gotta unplug the old one and plug in the new one.

Since your cruise works when it does this, it means it's the cluster, otherwise it would of probably been your speed sensor.

jruss1601 · 10-13-2009, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeru

Hey guys -

My '89 max developed a flakey speedometer over the last 2-3 years. Sometimes it would work, other times it would drop to the low extreme, and other times it would drop the other direction (past the highest speed!). It also wouldn't always read correctly, sometimes, would read way faster than I was actually going. In short... the speedometer seemed to develop a mind of it's own.

The automatic tranny still shifted right, and even the cruise control still worked perfectly, even in the middle of the speedometer malfunctioning.

I believe I found the problem with the flakey speedometer: bad ground, which for the speedometer, is located behind the driver's side kick panel. (Just below the hood release knob.) You remove the trim piece below the hood release knob using phillips screwdriver, then pry away the trim piece, and the ground lug for the speedo (and one other ground lug also) is located behind a piece of glued on foam.

I fixed the unreliable grounds by removing the ground lug, and "shined" up the sheetmetal behind it with sandpaper. (The factory metal was totally covered with paint - so relied on only the fastening screw to conduct electricity, which I don't think was very wise of nissan.) I also shined up the copper ground lug surfaces (front and back) with sandpaper, added a thin layer of dielectric grease to prevent oxidation, and put it all back.

Now I seem to have a reliable speedometer again! And as a side bonus, I think my coolant temperature gauge is reading more higher, and more reliably now. (The temperature gauge also used to drop out of operation intermittently, but I dismissed it as just a loose connection at the sending unit.)

I hope this info helps some other maxima owner (as I have been reading here a while and have not seen this info posted before.)

I have a similar problem, but mine is with the tac. When i go to start the car is wiggles around but once the car catches and runs, it drops to zero and stays there. any ideas?

LQ91SE · 10-23-2009, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phatmatt

Mine was doing the same.
I just bought a new cluster.

+1 on the flakey speedometer being a bad cluster. This was after spending $140 on a new speed sensor from Courtesy.

Cravacor · 10-31-2009, 11:02 PM

My speedo & tach work fine, but sometimes the ODO doesn't count miles...

*CapedCadaver* · 10-31-2009, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cravacor

My speedo & tach work fine, but sometimes the ODO doesn't count miles...

perhaps busted odometer reduction gears or a crappy motor in your odometer. luck would have it that i had both problems. replaced them and the miles counted normally from there on out.

LQ91SE · 11-08-2009, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cravacor

My speedo & tach work fine, but sometimes the ODO doesn't count miles...

Can you reset the trip odometer? I had a broken reset mechanism which prevented the miles from registering.