Unplugged the gauge cluster from the dash and plugged it back in. Took off the negative on battery and put it back on. Still the same problem. One thing I did notice was that the light on comes on and off when the truck is in gear rolling. When sitting or at idle it does not do it. Also I retightened the nut on the negative and its still loose on the battery stud. I can't go any tighter. Any ideas? Thanks and I hope I can get this problem fixed. It's so annoying.

Eric

 

Take it to auto zone or wherever and have them read the code history. They'll do it for free.

 

I believe some of you are confused. There is a cel(check engine light) and a check gauges light. At least I have seen a both.

 

Well if that is the case, the light is not coming on because of a gauge being bad. Are you sure when it does this while driving that the temp, oil pressure and volt meter are at normal positions? And there should still be a stored code in the history. The key danced only gives current codes.

 

All the guages are where they are supposed to be when driving.

 

You need to check the wiring from the sensors to the pcm. Because one of the sensors is not sending the correct info to the pcm. It could be the neg battery terminal being loose.

 

Any idea on tightening the terminal up? I have the nut all the way tight.

 

Kind of hard to explain, but, without replacing the cable. If you look you can see in between where the nut/bolt head is and the rounded part of the terminal, that it is not flat and then round. It's kind of warped out of shape. You can try removing the terminal , then remove the bolt and use a pair of vise grips to lengthen the flat part towards the round part more. If that makes any sense. Using a couple washers ground down flat on top and bottom may also work.

 

Figured it out. Whenever I was driving, all my guages read fine but the second the check gage light would come on my oil pressure gage dropped to zero until it turned off and than it would go back up. i just noticed that tonight. I was so distracted by that actual check light that i didn't check the gauges the second it was coming on. Well I checked my oil and the dip stick was bone dry. I had this problem once before. Had it fixed about a year ago. It was the intake manifold gasket or the plenum gasket that was replaced. Now its burning oil again and the oil was just changed a few weeks ago. It took 3 quarts of oil just for it to show on the stick. Makes me sick. Guess I will call my mechanic tomorrow and see what we can do about it.

 

The negative cable is also problem. I had the check gauges light come on a couple years ago and looked at the battery meter and it was maxxed out so I stopped and checked the cables and the negative pulled right off, so I cut a penny in half and used it as a spacer to tighten it down and it was fine till I got to the parts store and got the lead bolt on cable ends. Been fine ever since. The reason that happened is because the band type connectors suck, the battery will breathe on it and make it corrode and eat up the metal on that band. You may want to get some of the felt pads to put under your terminals also; they make a big difference on corrosion build up. A 2 pack of painted lead cable ends with the felt pads in the package at advance auto is like 6 bucks. One of the cables being loose can also burn out your alternator from arcing and causing surges.