[ajhzx2]

Picked up a 1999 ZX2 recently with 62,000 miles. Car sat for the last year and a half. Runs good, body and interior are in very good shape. Working through a short list of quirky issues. One I can't seem to solve is the gauges that are not operating.

Speedo is ok, but the RPM, fuel, & temp gauges do not operate. RPM needle does not move off of 0, Fuel gauge needle is at 1/3 all of the time, & temp gauge needle is at about 1/3 in the temp zone all of the time. Fuel and temp needles do not move to full left when engine is off, in same position if car is on or off. Checked fuses, all ok.

Thanks

 

[pextor]

was the cluster ever removed before? take it out and re-connect all the connectors.

 

[ajhzx2]

I have removed the cluster and removed the 3 wire plug harnesses.
All 3 gauges have 3 markings on the back. (B+ Battery positive, G Ground, S+ Sensor positive?)

So I match he flimsy circuit board from these points to the 3 wire plug harness pins.

Tach:
B+ with G = 10.46v with car running
S+ with G = 4.51 to 4.6 v with car running,no fluctuation of voltage reving engine.

Temp:
B+ with G = 10.46v with car running
S+ with G = -10.6

Fuel:
B+ with G = 10.46
S+ with G = Could not test, this goes to 1.5"x2" removable circuit board in the back of the cluster.

So I am getting battery voltage (+ & -) to the gauges, just not sure how to see S+ voltage and if my S+ readings above make any sense.

 

[ajhzx2]

Issue is finally resolved with the assistance of good folks on this forum.
I thought I had traced out and cleaned every ground lug in the engine bay, but found that I had missed one. In the engine bay, on the driver side, slightly under the main fuse area on the rail is a very small white plastic clip that has 4 ground wires going into it. 3 small gauge wires and one larger gauge wire. The wires and the plastic clip are connected to a thin metal ground bracket that is bolted to the rail. The battery and battery tray have to be removed to gain access and to be able to see into this area. The bolt holding the bracket, bracket itself, and the wires were totally corroded. I could not even remove the bolt because the head was rusted so bad. One wire was partially pulled out of the plastic clip, I pulled the other 3 wires out of this clip and saw that the ends all 4 wires were totally trashed & corroded. I clipped all of the ends off of the 4 wires and tied them together. Ran a new ground of off the main ground lug under the wiper motor and attached this to the 4 wires. Put the battery tray and battery back in place, started the car and BAM, had tach and temp gauges respond immediately (along with many idiot lights that I did not realize earlier were not operating). Fuel gauge is still not operating, but everything else in the cluster seems to be OK now.