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98 E0 SVT - Intermittently Speedo & Fuel Gauge INOP

Q

qwikndrty

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
132
Location
Portland, Oregon
I have a 1998 E0 SVT with 138,xxx
:help:
I noticed intermittently while driving, the speedo would drop to zero and at the same time the fuel gauge would stop working. Then out of no where the speedo needle would jump up to whatever speed I would be driving and the fuel light would pop on for a couple seconds along with the fuel gauge returning to normal (everything appears to be happening at the same time).

Bumps, turns, speed etc. dont seem to affect it.

Aussie Ford turned me onto a U-Pull-It E0 used gauge cluster so I got it and swapped it in real quick but after a day of driving the same'ole issue started happening again. :shrug::crazy:


I scanned the PCM but no codes.
I searched iATN but nothing.

Any ideas anyone???
 
Tony2005 said:
How old is your battery? And alternator?

Have both tested and post the results.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=3535
Click to expand...

The battery is new as of a month ago. I have not tested the alternator but I'm not having any "normal" symptoms of a bad alternator. I'm not sure how the alternator can affect 1/3 of the instrument cluster and not the rest.....kinda like if you had a dead ignition coil....that would take down the entire firing order and not just cylinders 1 & 2. Can you explain your theory?

...maybe I need to think outside the box :confused:
 
Could be your altenator. I know it sounds odd, but I owned Probe GT and one day I was driving along and first thing my radio quit working a sec later HVac went then cluster guages. After that the car started stuttering real bad for about 2 secs. Then everything came back like it never happened. It was the altenator.
 
I did notice via the wiring diagram, both the fuel gauge and speedometer have a common ground connection at "G21" located in the A-pillar RH side at the bottom under the kick-panel. The low fuel indicator bulb is also on that circuit...I checked all the ground connections at the RH kick panel and they're fine.
 

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Con2er said:
Could be your altenator. I know it sounds odd, but I owned Probe GT and one day I was driving along and first thing my radio quit working a sec later HVac went then cluster guages. After that the car started stuttering real bad for about 2 secs. Then everything came back like it never happened. It was the altenator.
Click to expand...

The alternator makes sense if I had other symptoms like you had on your Probe. I have been having this intermittent issue for a couple of weeks now. No other things are happening. My lights at night are nice and bright. The stereo works perfectly. Even when I'm idling at night, with the HVAC fan on HI speed, lights and fogs are on, wipers are going. No loss of engine power at any time either -- I have no problems other then the 2 gauges.

I guess I'm looking for someone to have had this same issue happen to them, and a fix for it.

Its so intermittent, that by the time I try and investigate, everything starts working properly again...very frustrating.
 
Tony2005 said:
Yes, I did. Now test your battery and alternator and report the results here.
Click to expand...


Ok my results are as follows:

Static battery = 12.6v
200a VAT-40 load = 10.4v w/ strong hold

Unloaded alternator = 13.5v @ 18a
100a VAT-40 load = 13.8v

I think I will clean the instrument cluster connector pins, pinch them, then apply SL5 stabilant and see what happens.

Any other takers on this???

-
Sent from my iPhone
 
Did you ever get this fixed? My '98 SVT has been doing the same thing for years. And recently the speedometer now reads 60 km/h while at idle, and all my speeds (while moving) are off by 60 km/h.

While I haven't tested the battery or the alternator, I don't think it would be either since the car has had the same ones in there for the past 5 years and it has never failed to start. So the battery is good and the alternator must be charging.
 
GregCarter said:
Did you ever get this fixed? My '98 SVT has been doing the same thing for years. And recently the speedometer now reads 60 km/h while at idle, and all my speeds (while moving) are off by 60 km/h.

While I haven't tested the battery or the alternator, I don't think it would be either since the car has had the same ones in there for the past 5 years and it has never failed to start. So the battery is good and the alternator must be charging.
Click to expand...

Nope, the speedo and fuel gauge still do their thing. Funny you ask, cause I just ordered a new VSS to give it a try. Normally, I would diagnose the problem rather them throwing parts at it but becaue its so intermittent, its hard to do. A $30.00 Motorcraft-branded VSS isnt going to hurt to try.
 
I just replaced the VSS and it DID NOT fix the problem.

Also, I hookup up the NGS and monitored the VSS pid signal and it is reporting to the PCM as I drive around--yet the speedo and fuel gauge are inop :shrug:

...back to the wiring diagrams :mad:
 
Did you ever get this fixed? My '98 SVT has been doing the same thing for years. And recently the speedometer now reads 60 km/h while at idle, and all my speeds (while moving) are off by 60 km/h.

While I haven't tested the battery or the alternator, I don't think it would be either since the car has had the same ones in there for the past 5 years and it has never failed to start. So the battery is good and the alternator must be charging.

See Quote above. This same thing is happening on my 98 SVT and the tach is reading about 1000 rpms high at idle and throughout the full range. Anybody have a fix for all these gauge issues? Also, moving the hot/cold HVAC dial doesn't change the temp, it's hot all the time.

Thanks
 
Nope, not fixed. I live with the speedo intermittently dropping to zero but it never stays broke long enough for me to diagnose it :-(

I've replaced the VSS too, and no change.
 
I'd bet money that it's in that ground connection/wire somewhere. If there is body paint underneath that ground connector you won't get a good ground. Did you check all connections in that ground wire?
c
 
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