OK, so I'm new to this forum but I've spent plenty of time on here reading every single post I could find about the dreaded dead gauge issue.

SO, here's my problem.

One day my 1997 Cherokee wouldn't start. Read info on here and deduced it's a bad crank position sensor. OK, so I'm very mechanically inclined.....changed it.....what a ***** of a job but anywho I got it done. Jeep started right up.....BUT....here's where the troubles start........

OK, yay....got it fixed or so I thought.....again, it started right up....I threw her in gear to take a spin down the road to check it out.....well the tranny acted like it couldn't find a gear..... I was paying attention to that then I noticed my gauges weren't working and air bag light was on.......OK.....so what's up????

Took it to my trusty mechanic.....he figured out via a friend a tranny shop that it was most likely a bad selinoid in the tranny.....so why the heck did all this happen just from changing a crank position sensor......hence I have saved myself hundreds of dollars (for the time being) by unplugging the tranny from the wiring harness and shifting gears myself.....semi-auto. I can live with that for now.......he couldn't help with the gauge issue....on to my bigger source of stress that has me ready to push this thing off in the river......and it's just below my house so easy enough done!

Sorry to be so long winded but wanted to get all that in before I started on the gauge issues......

Same deal I've read on here....gas & speedo quit, everything else working and air bag light on. I haven't had the "no Bus" message on the Odometer.

What I've done

Checked fuses - OK

Changed plugs on wiring harness behind cluster and cleaned cluster pins.

Checked and cleaned and greased the following ground connections (all that I could find)
Light switch
Grounds on fender well, driver side
Engine block ground - driver and passenger side
Battery ground
IF THERE ARE ANY MORE I SHOULD CHECK PLEASE TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE

So, all this done and still no joy.....oh wait....they did work for a second.....then back to nothing....oh working again....ooops...nothing again.

Bought a new gauge cluster....with all gauges, no warning lights, thought this looks better, I like having a tach and readable gauges......still didn't work!!!!

OK so really ready to send her to the river!!!! Did some fiddling with fuses.....Hey!!! It's all working, even speedo, but still no gas gauge.....COOL.....I need an inspection I thought, so headed down the road to the garage.....well crap, there goes my gauges again...............

SO CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHAT TO DO NOW SHORT OF JUNKING THIS THING?

I love my Cherokee, it's a 97 with only 128k on it and clean as a pin inside and out.....it was my grandmothers, then my dads, now mine.

 

Try giving the dash a firm hit just above the cluster and see if they come on. If they do you have a loose connecting somewhere to the cluster. Possibly a loose ground. Give that a try and let us know if anything happens.

 

Been there, done that......it doesn't help......did you not read I changed the plugs to the new upgraded ones?? I'm all but positive it's not a connection issue.

 

Just because you changed the plug does not mean that you checked the grounds. I was just giving some idea's. Why come on here asking for help if when someone tries to help you out all you do is get pissed off???
Why do people like this ask for help if all they do is complain when someone tries to help them?

 

Hit the dash.....really??? Some good advice there genius.....and the crack about why I would be ill at you for trying to help....well Ummmmm again...you apparently did NOT read my post..........I take good advice fine, you gave advice for things I was already beyond.

I stated that I checked every ground I could find.....listed them too.....and asked if anyone knew of any more of them so I could check them too.....so YES I did check grounds.

Why do people who don't read post try to help you by telling you to do what you've already done or gone way past.....don't complain about me when you obviously didn't read my post all the way through.....you assumed, gave advice to do things I've already done.....so being very aggravated at my Jeep in the first place you just make it worse by trying to give advice before you read thoroughly.

 

OK, so thanks for the great advice.....during the first nice sunny day around here in a few I scoured my Cherokee over for wiring issues.....found two broken wires in the gas gauge harness.....repaired.....still no joy on the full cluster working.....really frustrating.....not giving up I kept looking.....I finally found it!!!! An unfastened ground from where I replaced something on the alternator.....IT IS ALIVE I TELL YOU, ALIVE!!!! The cluster is now working and after a nice long test drive with a stop to confirm it would work again it's all good......and changing from the standard warning light type cluster to a gauged cluster with tach.....huh? I thought I would have to change the sensor units but all gauges are working fine with proper readouts.

 

Still though, you are a total douche cool breeze, someone was trying to help you a-hole. You probably get punched in the face a lot, and I cant blame anyone for it.

 

Manners manners y'all!

I will say, there's a LOT of info to read through in your posts man. Details are good, but it can be easy to miss something, so chill out. Also, the idea of hitting the dash isn't exactly what I would find an accurate way to tell if there's a bad connection. Give me a min to read over stuff and I'll see what I got..

 

Oh.. You fixed it.. Fantastic.