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99 Saturn SL1, gauge needles


Rajan
03-03-2009, 08:46 PM
Sometime during driving the car, all the gauge needles (Speed, RPM, Fuel) go
down to almost zero and parking brake light turns on for 1-2 seconds and then all of them go normal and light goes off.

Please help me to solve this problem.

Any suggestion(s) would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

denisond3
03-06-2009, 08:09 PM
I believe that in Saturn S series sedans, there is a microchip in the instrument cluster - that goes through a self-test when you first turn the ignition on. If the power (or the ground connection) to the instrument cluster gets interrupted for even a fraction of a second, I would expect the microchip to do the same self test over again. And the gauges would likely not be driven to read anything for a second or two. See if there isnt the same delay in the gauge readings when you first start the car.
So, I would look for a bad connection or frayed wire, and maybe a dirty ground connection. There are plenty of ground connections on any car with a computer and fuel injection and airbags - - and all of them are important.

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