97 Dakota Gauge Issue (all gauges)
 

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a 97 Dakota 2wd v6 and I'm loving the truck. However, Saturday I began driving and all of the sudden I heard the low fuel beep. I looked down and none of my gauges were responding at all. I slightly freaked out, filled the truck up and babied it home.

After letting the truck sit for about 5 hours I went out to check the gauges and everything was working properly. I drove it for about 30 minutes and it was still fine so I didn't think much about it.

Today I was driving my son around and I noticed that my temp gauge was not working again, then my speedo went out about two minutes later, followed by my tach, fuel, oil press, and voltage all going out at the same time. I haven't tried to check the gauges yet but I was wondering if this is a common problem or if anyone can point me in the right direction. I looked around and found that the fuel gauge usually mis-reads/fails which is fine (I can fill up every 2-3 days and deal with it) but I need the speedo and other gauges. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Another note on the issue, when I crank the truck the gauges move a tiny bit except for my speedo, which moves a bit when I start driving, but it is barely noticable.

Well, after watching my gauges constantly going on and off during a two hour drive (I want to shoot the gas warning alarm) I have decided to try to track this down. The only thing I know to check would be electrical shorts so maybe there is some shoddy work with the aftermarket radio. Wish me luck.

If anyone else has had this problem or can point me in the right direction that would be great.

I have the same prob with my '97 that I just bought last week. The entire cluster is inop. all the time (including speedo/tach)! I've checked the fuses, they're OK...
HELP!

well first off sounds electrical so I would check and make sure that the battery terminals are cleaned and tight, all grounds are clean and tight, all fuses are functional. If it was just the tach and speedo I woul dsay check the speed sensors on the tranny but your saying the entire cluster goes in and out

The cluster is a computer itself. Could have a bad solder joint or a number of things that have failed.

Try the self test and see what happens.

I have that problem on my 99 from time to time. I just switch the key off and start it back up (If I am moving I shift it to neutral of course) but it has had that problem pretty much since it was new if I remember right...Been in the family, so its easy to track it's history haha.

The ground wires seem to be grounding, the cluster wiring connectors seem to be doing their thing, what next??

I tried another cluster today, still dead. Could this be a BCM problem?

Found it!
 

Got it! In the dash, the 10a fuse marked "spare" was blown. I replaced it, and I now have power to the cluster. I always figured "spare" was just a place for extra fuses for an emergency. Go figure.....