Whacky Speedometer/Gremlin attack
 

I am 100% sure that no one, and I mean NO ONE has ever come across a problem like this.

My speedometer never worked, and neither did the odometer.

I changed the impulse transmitter on the car 2 months ago, and it didnt work. So I left things as they were.

Today, I noticed something really weird. I stopped at a traffic signal, and my speedometer went haywire. The speedo jumped between 20MPH & 60MPH, and the odo clocked like crazy, ALL WHILE STANDING STILL.

So I praised the lord and hoped that my prayers were answered. I moved forward, and wham, im back at square one. It doesnt work. NADA, the speedo goes dead, the odo stops clocking.

NOW, My speedo/odo works only when Im at standstill, and they show funky readings like 40MPH and 5 Miles in 2 mins at a traffic signal.

All other gauges are working fine. I am pretty sure the car isnt overcharging, since the battery meter shows 12-14volts charging.

What should I do? Ignore and move on with my life? Or is there somebody out there who has gone through the same thing before?

PS: The same thing happened with my Radiator fan switch. It stopped working, the fans ran all night and drained my battery. I started pulling out the fuses each time I stopped my car, and after a week, I notice that the switch actually works now. I didnt tamper or fiddle with anything! Everything is back to normal, fan-wise.

DO I HAVE A GREMLIN IN MY CAR? WHAT IS GOING ON? HELP!!!

ok...first, there's no such thing as a "rev meter"...it's called a [i]tachometer/[i].

Second, check all the grounds you can find, and add a few. A lot of the problems with the car's electrical system seems to be due to old crappy grounds. Really, all the problems I've seen you list look like bad connections.

thnx for pointing that out... its the tachometer.

I figured something out. The speedo/odo goes weird only when the tacho is at idling(sp?).

If I stop the car, and rev the engine the speedo goes back to zero and the tacho stops clocking. At idling it goes crazy and clocks miles in a hurry.

Any ideas on that now?

at idle our cars, usually, vibrate roughly. Does yours? The vibration the engine is putting through the body and such can be causing a loose connection to make sparatic contact. It's really the only thing I can think of.

Try going down a bumpy road and see what it does.

She doesnt vibrate that badly at idle. The engine is really smooth at idle (constant with no "gurgles" at just under 1000Rpm).

But I will check the rough road thing. Thnx for the suggestion.

How do I check the grounds for the speedo cluster?

the BEST way is to not check them and run new ones. Break out a wiring diagram for the cluster and run a new wire from all of the existing grounds to a bolt somewhere in the dash. Otherwise you're just going to have to poke around and search ack behind the cluster for viable grounds.