pyropyro Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 2003 Outback, 75,000 miles (really was a little old ladys car) Automatic trans. I've been driving it a year, typical problems, but runs great. Yesterday, about 1 mile into a 6 mile round trip into town and back, I noticed the tach needle flitting about, dropping to peg, then working properly for a few moments. Very eratic. I pulled over and put trans in park, revved it to 4,000 RPM for a few seconds, and then it worked fine for the rest of the trip. What might cause this? I wondered about conditions. It's been below zero at nights lately. I've tracked snow onto the floorboards, and gotten a lot condensation on the inside of the windows which frosts over night, then when the car warms up turns to water to mopped off the inside of the widows with a towell. Run the air condioner and heater on high with defrost. Shooting in the dark there, I doubt this really has anything to with the tach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOONGA Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 If condensation has gotten into the instrument cluster, then it could be causing a problem. As well it could be the alternator or battery having problems. TOONGA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyropyro Posted January 6, 2015 Author Share Posted January 6, 2015 Well, things have dried out in the cabin, humid weather is over for the time being. The tach has behaved perfectly ever since that one incident a few days ago, so maybe that was it. Wer the alternator of battery causing the irratic tach behavior, wouldn't there be other symptoms as well? (I'm not aware of any) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 If it happens again (which is odd on this year, usually more a 1999 issue) you can easily remove the cluster, take it apart and clean the grounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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