inuyasha.rules

Hi just bought a 95 grand cherokee and the speedometer works randomly but is accurate when it does. The miles to service counter on the computer and the mpg computer both work all the time so I don't think its a sensor. Talked to my local molar faker and they said ecm was F'ed. Any ideas? Thanks

Bustedback

Could be the speedo head (gauge). Is the check engine light on?

inuyasha.rules

Check engine light is on with an unrelated code, something about low washer fluid. I have a spare gauge cluster but there's a huge amount of work to change that out so id rather try something else first.

Bustedback

The washer fluid light is not related to the CHECK ENGINE light. The dash on a 93-95 Grand Cherokee is a royal pain in the a$$ to take apart just to get to the cluster, and you run the risk of damaging the upper dash pad. Take your time, double check for hidden screws, and good luck.

jnicewan

I have a 95 too, seems the 93-95's had this problem. Mine will work perfect sometimes, other times the needle will bounce down or read lower than actual, and sometimes it wont work at all. These conditions seemed to be temp related too-sometimes.

I went through the system and tested everything out. I even had a spare cluster and it had the same symptoms but different intervals and actually worse. I pulled the dash pad and found if I put moderated pressure on the back of the cluster the speedometer would work right and usually continued to work for awhile.

I eventually removed the cluster, and removed the speedo head from the cluster. took off the little circuit board and re-soldered every little solder joint on the board. Since I did that my speedometer has worked perfect. I really have not drove it but a few times since the repair but I feel pretty confident its fixed now.

inuyasha.rules

Sounds like I can resolder my spare cluster and swap that one in. And yeah I know its a pain in the *** to tear apart, I ended up using a sawzall to get my spare cluster out.

@bustedback depending on what opions you have the check engine light can come on from low washer fluid. With the opions I have check engine light comes on, it dings and says low washer fluid on the display. Fill it up and check engine light goes off. Maybe its coincidence or has something to do with this cars quirks....

96_xj

i had a similar issue that actually caused drive issues as the speedo was not relaying the correct speed to the ecm (said i was going 100mph + at times). I replaced it with a new sensor for $30 and all was fixed. and the 1 bolt it takes to change it in the tcase makes it an easy fix

caged

my brothers did this, it was his speedo gear.

jnicewan

OP, I read your post, thats why I bypassed the suspician of other things being wrong. I would almost bet its the cluster. For some reason I had 3 clusters that do the same thing or close to the same thing, a buddy has another 95 with the same deal. Seems the guy I bought the jeep from already tried the vehicle speed sensor, and I even noticed a new gear was installed maybe (old gear in console). I think the problem is more prone to the 94-95's and they changed the design in 96.
It really isn't that hard to pull the cluster out. You need to pull the dash pad off first and the cluster removes straight up. Only thing needing to be removed is the top pad and it takes about 10-15min to have the cluster out. Then you can remove the lens screws and 3 screws that mount the speedometer in the cluster. Once you have the speedometer out you will see a square shaped circuit board on the back and you can wiggle this straight up and off the speedo assy.

I studied the circuit board a lot, even used a bright flashlight and magnifying glass, I even tested every resister and diode with a meter. I could not find or proove anything wrong with the board, but with some experience with circuit boards and such I figured it might have a "cold" solder joint.