br1anstorm
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- United Kingdom
The speedometer on my 93 XJ 4.0 auto has started behaving oddly from time to time (and no, you're not allowed to say ".....like its owner...."!).
Sometimes when the Jeep first starts and rolls, the needle sits at zero and doesn't move. Now I don't much like getting out of bed first thing in the morning either, but even so....
Other times it seems to work OK, but then starts reading 70-80mph when I know I'm only doing 40. Yeah, sometimes I think I'm a swift mover too, but then someone tells me I'm kidding myself....
In either case, a quick hard tap on the instrument panel gets the needle to the right place on the dial, and all is well.
My only questions are - why is it misbehaving? And does this signify something more serious that needs fixing? None of the other gauges on the instrument cluster are affected - all read steadily and normally. Since a tap on the panel puts the needle right, does this just mean there is a bit of dirt or rust somewhere around the needle pivot, or at the back of the gauge? I assume that if it was a problem with the gear at the transfer case then the twitching would be evident all the time, or the needle just wouldn't budge.
Not a crisis in the grand scheme of things, and something I can live with if I have to. But I wonder if this small issue indicates there is a more serious underlying (electrical/electronic?) problem.
Sometimes when the Jeep first starts and rolls, the needle sits at zero and doesn't move. Now I don't much like getting out of bed first thing in the morning either, but even so....
Other times it seems to work OK, but then starts reading 70-80mph when I know I'm only doing 40. Yeah, sometimes I think I'm a swift mover too, but then someone tells me I'm kidding myself....
In either case, a quick hard tap on the instrument panel gets the needle to the right place on the dial, and all is well.
My only questions are - why is it misbehaving? And does this signify something more serious that needs fixing? None of the other gauges on the instrument cluster are affected - all read steadily and normally. Since a tap on the panel puts the needle right, does this just mean there is a bit of dirt or rust somewhere around the needle pivot, or at the back of the gauge? I assume that if it was a problem with the gear at the transfer case then the twitching would be evident all the time, or the needle just wouldn't budge.
Not a crisis in the grand scheme of things, and something I can live with if I have to. But I wonder if this small issue indicates there is a more serious underlying (electrical/electronic?) problem.