electrical gauge panel problem

1999 jeep xj sport ltd, I6 , no mods

I'm having trouble with my gauges shorting out or some such. Generally the RPM and MPH gauges just die out while driving, completely shut off. Sometimes all of the gauges will do this. They generally kick back on once i put on the brakes a bit? also if i tap the dash i can get the rpm gauge to sometimes start reading again. This just keeps happening on and off so i'm stumped.

again i have no mods, though i had a stereo system stolen sometime back. They did a sloppy job- just ripped the damn thing straight out, wires were a mess, but it was ok enough that i could put the stock one right back in.
could any stray wires in there be doing this or is there something else i should be checking out????????


please this is kinda urgent all and any help is appreciated, i cant afford to not know if i'm going 40 in a 30mph zone and get a stupid ticket so i'm looking to fix this fast and affordable as possible.

its pretty common for the connector at the back of the cluster to have a bad connection. there's tsb's out for it and some jeep/dodge vehicles actually have a replacement connector available. you can usually remove the cluster, push all the pins in the back of the connector, make sure connections are clean, use some die electric grease, reassemble making sure to seat the cluster properly and fix the problem.

Best guess is that they screwed up your connector at the rear of the instrument cluster.

Recommend you try disconnecting it, clean the contacts, and reattach.

***I see you beat me to it.