bwthomas831

Very strange and I have not seen any other posts about this. Every once in a while my speedometer needle will get stuck at random numbers upon start up. I have seen it anywhere from 60 to 120 mph after just starting the engine and it stays like that until I disconnect and reconnect the negative battery cable then it works fine for maybe a couple of weeks and then out of the blue it gets stuck again. Any thoughts?

KRUISR

I would think the needle is getting stuck on the gauge face plate. Pull the cluster, remove the clear front cover and try to pry the needle up a little at the pivot point - away from the face plate. If you pry hard enough and far enough you will remove the needle from the pivot pin, which will be a pain to get back on aligned properly - it can be done, just can be a pain sometimes.

artsr2002

Sounds like maybe the stepper motor is on the fritz and about to go kaput. May need to replace.

dsg2003mach1

my thought as well.

we have a super duty that gauge cluster backing sticks up and the needle hangs on it now and then - pulling the battery and such doesnt help, the weather warms up and it lays back down and it goes back to normal.

bwthomas831

Thanks for the replies but it is not a stuck needle situation. Without touching the instrument panel or gauge the needle goes back to Zero and continues to work normally for a few weeks after only disconnect/reconnect the negative cable. The speedometer needle is controlled by the computer and the battery cable thing is like rebooting the computer.

dsg2003mach1

only one person is saying stuck needle. I was explaining how it works in our truck that does have a stuck needle and that's why I dont think thats your issue. 2 of us think there is something wrong with your cluster. I suppose you could verify with forscan or something by checking what the computer thinks your mph is when this happens. If it shows 0 mph and speedo is up at 60 it's definitely something in the cluster itself