Hey guys I have 94 dakota with a 3.9 5 speed and i'm having some weird gauge problems. The voltage gauge is all over the place (but consistent voltage at the battery) The oil pressure gauge just goes all the way over to the right, and the water temp does the same also but very slowly. But if i turn on my headlights or hit the brakes the gauges move over more. And when i turn the truck off and just flip the key back over to run without starting it the temp gauge and volt gauge read what they should be at. Also when the truck is off and the gauges go back down to the left even if i hit the brakes they peg back over to the right. Does that mean that something is grounding out somewhere? And also sometimes it will all go back to normal then just freak out again. Any ideas??

 

It is possible it is a bad ground or loose connector or wire. If needed we have the wiring diagrams in the FAQ in this section.

 

Yah, I'm gonna second crazy... classic bad ground symptoms.

Turn on some music and see if the gauges move to the beat!

 

No i can turn the music up and the gauge doesn't move at all. Where should i check for a bad ground at? Is there grounds that normally go bad?

 

And also i unplugged the oil pressure gauge and water temp gauge wires and it still happened so I'm assuming that's not where the problem is at?

 

You unplugged the wires in the engine compartment or in the cluster?

And there are grounds all over the truck - I will let someone more knowledgeable on Daks tell you which ones to look for specifically, but I try to make a habit to check on any that I can see whenever I have electrical issues... When you own a British car, you learn to check grounds.

 

In the engine compartment. Ive been slowly checking them all but mainly just under the hood. I'm assuming there is a bunk behind the cluster too ill just have to look for them.