Gauges are acting crazy

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1998 NISSAN FRONTIER
150,000 MILES

What would cause my temp and fuel gauge to go to top and mph and rpm barely move and sometimes work fine, and now my battery goes dead after a few hours. I had alternator and battery check even replaced just to be sure. When hooked test light between neg post and cable it didnt light up. Disconnected neg cable while runnin and it sounds like it runs better cause when u hook it back up it pulls motor down just a little. Turning lights on with neg cable off tries to kill motor sometimes and sometimes they change nothing

Saturday, October 15th, 2011 AT 3:44 AM

3 Replies

ASEMASTER6371

MECHANIC
52,797 POSTS

First of all, never take off the negative cable while running. You will damage your computers with voltage surges.

I would have the instrument cluster checked out for a bad connection or faulty unit. A shop with a scanner can check the cluster with sweep tests on the different components.

As far as the battery going dead, I would have it tested again to be sure. Make sure the alternator is charging properly. It sounds like you have a charging system problem.

Roy

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Saturday, October 15th, 2011 AT 3:54 AM

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Ok thanks on the info. I had battery checked twice even for each cell I even changed batteries and alternators. Alt shows it puts out good charge and it will run truck with dead battery sometimes turning on the lights almost stalls truck out and sometimes it doesnt affect it.

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Saturday, October 15th, 2011 AT 4:41 AM

ASEMASTER6371

MECHANIC
52,797 POSTS

Ok, you need to verify the powers and grounds to the alternator. Make sure the big wire on the alt is hot with 12 volts. The voltage should rise to about 14-14.5 volts when running. Make sure all the grounds are clean and tight from the battery and make sure all are hooked up on the motor.

Roy

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Saturday, October 15th, 2011 AT 10:54 AM