I went out last night and pulled up to a red light and noticed my tach was still hovering around 3k. It starting fluctuating between 3 and 4k, but the engine was normal. I then noticed my fuel gauge had gone all the way up even though I know there's less than 1/2 a tank. My temperature gauge is also all the way up to the top. I came right home and parked the car and this morning went out there and started it. The fuel gauge shows 3/4 and the temperature gauge shows half even though the car has been sitting over night.

Any ideas? Seems like an electrical malfunction...battery? Alternator? I'm going to take my scanner out there when I can, but not sure if this kind of thing will trigger a code as there's no check engine light on and the car drove fine. The tach and fuel gauge don't really concern me as much as the temp gauge. It doesn't overheat, but you never know.....not looking to replace a head gasket in the near future so any thoughts on troubleshooting before I have to take it in?

Thanks,
Jon

 

Make sure your battery is up to snuff and try resetting the computers by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes. You can also disconnect the negative lead from the battery and touch it to the positive terminal to discharge all the caps. See if everything goes back to normal. I've had the same issue with my temp gauge. A reset will bring the needle back to "park". One of these days I'll figure out a permanent fix.

 

+1 on the battery - I'd get it on a trickle charge over night, colder weather is the death knell for on old one. Then do as Jimmy suggests and do a hard reset, reboot the computer so to speak. Hope it cures it.

 

What year -- some of the early cars did have a cluster issue -- can't remember what it was -- I know they had a TSB for it .


..... and as other have indicated .. make sure the battery is good.

 

Did a reset and it cured it. Thanks everyone! Fastest/Cheapest fix I could imagine.