Originally posted by Big Wet Rat:

I have a 1998 Contour GL 4 cyl. with automatic. As I was driving yesterday, the speedometer, odometer and fuel gauge all suddenly stopped working. The dash lights and all other electrical components seem to be OK. Anyone have any idea of what the problem could be?



I've got a Mercury Mystique 98 with the same problem. I don't have the money yet to have this repaired.

At first when I had this problem the fuel light would turn off for no reason and the speed would drop down to zero. After a few weeks of doing this it stopped moving and the fuel light never came back on again. It also does not count miles.

I've wiggled every wire and can't find a short.

Looking at the backside of the guages the fuel light shares a connection with the guage used for the speedo and such.

At first I thought maybe this was a senser problem. However if it was the VSS we would still have a working tach or fuel light.

If I banged on top of the dash board the fuel light would start to come back. At this point however that trick no longer works for me. So my guess is that the whole cluster that controls the speed/tech/odo ect... are at fualt.

If only I knew what part to check and replace without having to buy a whole new guage just for testing. 140$:(