Shladik93

Hey ladies and gents, this will be my first post on the forum besides my introduction post. I just pulled my dash apart to take a look at the issue with the gauges dropping out randomly or over bumps. Im sure most if not all of us have found or read there was a TSB on this and you have to replace the harnesses and such, but tonight i pulled the dash and cluster and seen chryslers great idea of the snap in connectors that just slide into the cluster and dont lock in. So i smeared some Di-electric grease in the connectors to maybe get a tighter connection, but i still wasnt convinced that would fix it. So i noticed the green connectors kind of just bounce around and arent stable so of course the connectors can do as they please at any given moment. So my idea was basically put a spacer or spacers behind the ears of the connectors to space them out and keep them in place when the cluster is slid into them. So i made a couple small pieces out of i believe 1/16 sheet metal. On the outer edges they are about one inch long with a 3/16 hole drilled if i remember correctly for the screws to go through and slide behind the connector, then the center of the connectors i made a 4 inch long piece with a hole drilled in the center for the screw from the bracket to hold it in place on the inside ears. I only took one pic to show what im talking about so bear with me as this isnt the greatest write up hahaha. But im gonna drive it and i will report back if i still have the issue, lately the dropping gauges where getting more and more frequent so i wanted to dig in and look at it. Anyways i hope this may help someone having this issue if they dont wanna cut and splice connectors if chrysler even still makes them. Jeep on everyone

Thawolff

Thanks for your post. My '96 XJ came with the cluster problem and I found out it's been out since 2012! The only thing that works is oil pressure. The young man I got from said he worked on it but had no luck. To be honest I've been afraid to fool with it after some of the things I've read. Some say they had trouble starting after pulling them among other things. If I could retain all I've read it wouldn't be a problem..and if frogs had wings they wouldn't bump their butts...
Will the whole cluster come out from the top?
Any help would be much appreciated.

Shladik93

The only thing with you're situation is you have a 96. The 96 clusters doffer from the 97 and up models. You can still pull the cluster from the dash. There are a few videos on Youtube how to do it, my 98 i pulled the cover that goes pver the radio and the climate controls, from there, there was 4 screws, i took the screws out the the trim from there was all tabs u pop out and put you're steering wheel down and pop it off, then i had 4 screws holding the cluster in and it popped right out of the dash. If you tackle it take a look at the connections for corrosion and possible burnt/crispy spots where it could hav shorted, also i read a few things on 96's sometimes a bad ground or bad reading from one of the sensors can cause one or more gauges to drop out or stop working, so if you dont find anything behind the dash put some di-electric and wrap it up and start cleaning all the grounds from the battery and the chassis and engine, then after that look for possible corroded wires and or bad or broken connections at you're sensors - Temp, Oil Pressure, Voltage, Tachometer, Speedo, however many gauges you have, also check you're connections at the ECU and make sure the ECU doesnt have its own ground right from it to the body. Hope this helps a little as im still fishing around myself

Thawolff

I've been watching YouTube an was reminded the 96 has several changes kind of an oddball year. That's some thing that was screwing me up I was reading different years. Some I'd saved a while back but forgot about. I noticed some wires hanging from the trans. So think I'll start underneath checking for bad grounds etc.
I forgot to mention none of the inside lights work, the dome lens look like they've over heated and the 3rd brake light. I have a feeling the engine was changed so there's no telling what I'll find...
Well I think I'll get under it an see what the new wires are an checking grounds.
Thanks for your help an good luck with yours!!