volt gauge shows lessthan 12v but volt meter on battery says 14

Like the title says my '93 XJ 4.0L/AX15/2wd Volt meter gauge is messed up i think. when i put my volt meter on the battery terminals it shows 14v(charging) but the dash gauge shows less and less every time i drive it. right now the neddle sits in the red, but everything works fine.

I thought this was the battery cables just being hacked up and caroading, so i replaced them and cleaned everything up. It still shows the same on the gauge. another weird things is when plug in my phone charger in the radio turns off until i pull it out. i think that is just a crappy radio instal and doesn't have anything to do with the gauge, but i'm throwing it in here just cause.

You may have a bad connection somewhere in the wiring harness, or an intermittent or partially blown fuse. Try turning on the vent fan at maximum and see what the meter and radio do - my meter drops to about 12V from 14 when I turn that on, I expect your radio will turn off.

If so... try reseating the bulkhead connector (right below/next to the master cylinder on the firewall) and see if that helps, also check all your fuses with a multimeter NOT with one of those crappy little fuse testers, they are known to say bad fuses are good sometimes. I'd also pull and reinsert all fuses to make sure there isn't any corrosion problem in the sockets.

I'm not sure what the volt meter does when i put the fan on high, but the radio stays on and is uneffected. i think the radio is just a bad install and has nothing to do with the gauge, but who knows. i'll dig into that tonight i think.

I've got the same symptoms. But the battery stays charged and everything works. I'll too check all my connection and report back.

The gauge cluster has a voltage regulator that can go bad

hmmm, is that on the cluster it self? like on the back or under the dash someplace?:eyes:

See "Voltmeter" at end of page: http://www.olypen.com/craigh/charge.htm

well I took out the gauge cluster and removed the radio and check the wiring. It all looked good. The radio was instaled with factory adapter kits and nothing random behind the gauges.:huh: I also had the charging system checked at Schucks O'Riley and it checkout good. All the wires under there are unmolested and look as good as factory. the radio cutting out randomly was just lose fuses so my only issue is the dam voltmeter gauge in the dash.

See "Voltmeter" at end of page: http://www.olypen.com/craigh/charge.htm

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this link was helpfull and i'll do some of those upgrades at some point.