Gauges on dashboard not working, need to unlock gear into Neutral first to start and drive. What's wrong?

GENERAL_BENZ

MEMBER
1997 MAZDA 626
127,000 MILES

I have a 1997 Mazda 626 V6 sedan. The other day all the gauges on the dashboard stopped working (the speedometer, odometer and gas gauge). All the lights on the dashboard work however. In addition to this, exactly when this occurred, the car would start up as normal, however I could not shift into DRIVE. It would remain in park and not allow me to shift out of it. A friend of mine suggested to switch off the car, use the key to unlock the gear and shift to NEUTRAL and then try to start the car and then DRIVE. This worked well and I was able to drive. I've been doing this for a couple weeks now but I need my gauges back. I'm not quite sure what it wrong or how to fix this. Please help?

4 Replies

ALLPRO

MECHANIC
48 POSTS

Thr first thing to do would be to check all the fuses for the instrument cluster. If all the fuses are fine than it would be time to pull the cluster out of the dash and check for power and grounds.

Keep uis informed and we can help you along

SPONSORED LINKS

Was this

answer

helpful?

Yes

No

Friday, September 14th, 2012 AT 3:35 PM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

Have you resolved the problem? If not, check and ensure the brake lights are working. Seems the fuse is blown causing resulting in the gearshift interlock system not working to release the gear shift from Park.

Was this

answer

helpful?

Yes

No

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 AT 6:07 PM

GENERAL_BENZ

MEMBER
2 POSTS

It was just a simple fuse. It cost me $3 to fix, however it happened again and I was told that I might need to check all my wires for a faulty wire. Other than that, I replaced the fuse again 3 days ago and it's working fine. Thanks so much for everyone's help. You guys are awesome.

Was this

answer

helpful?

Yes

No

-1

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 AT 6:36 PM

KHLOW2008