98 speedo and tach stop working

randomly on my 98 the speedo and tach stop working and my airbag light comes on. then they randomly continue working. i searched and found one thread that says it is the connections in the back of the guage cluster need replaced or cleaned. can anyone verify this? can they be cleaned or do they need replaced?

My 98 is doing the same thing, very annoying. I believe jeep offers an upgraded connector that fixes the problem. If you have to pull the guages you might as well fix it right. My opinion.

do you know the cost of the upgraded connector? and yes, it is very annoying.

No, I do not. I am going to call Jeep tomorrow and get some info. I will post what I find out.

cool, i will too. maybe it'll be cheaper one place compared to another.

Disconnect the battery and let it sit for 20 minutes to allow the airbag ckt to drain.
Remove the center bezel around the radio/heater controls.
Remove the bezel around the drivers side of the dash.
Remove the gauge cluster, 4 bolts IIRC, pull it straight out.
Clean the two self docking connectors with contact cleaner.
Reinstall the gauge cluster, be gentle, don't bend the pins, it's self docking so it should go in smoothly.
Reconnect the battery

This part I do for safeties sake:
Recline the drivers seat and insert the key, turn to on and then start if you want. count to 10, provided the airbags didn't fire I guess it's OK

One added thing I did was to *tweak* the pins just a hair, a barely noticeable hair, but enough to make better contact. That was 7 years ago and it's been fine since.

sounds like i am going to clean them. thanks

The updated connector from Jeep is $9.03 plus tax.

chopperdog said:

The updated connector from Jeep is $9.03 plus tax.

Click to expand...

Do you have the part number? Seems mine started doing it yesterday.

Thanks,
Crackershak:wow:

No I do not, sorry. I just called the dealer and told him what I needed