Bad battery connection killed my gauge cluster?

[Kurtatron]

my Nissan’s battery terminals are very corroded. I should have cleaned them earlier, but laziness prevailed. After reconnecting them, I went to start the car. Lots of clicking and blinking lights. The cabin lights flickered like a bad horror movie. I turned off the car, cleaned the terminals. But now the gauge cluster seems totally dead. No clicking signals, no operation, except for the immobilizer light blinking. Could that battery connection have killed it? Fuses were good.

Car runs fine without it. As if it weren’t broken at all.

 

[Donald]

It seems unlikely that if the gauge cluster got a low voltage that it would have permanently broke it. But then it was a coincidence.

 

[JimPghPA]

GIGO, garbage in garbage out. Op, if you want any chance of an informative reply, provide a lot of details. Right now anyone reading your original post knows it is a Nissan. Considering all the models and years Nissan made vehicles, the lack of information of those two alone leaves it wide open to over a thousand combinations.

So OP, what year, model, trim level, about how many miles or KM are on it?

There are a lot of knowledgeable people who visit BITOG, but not many psychics.

 

[dishdude]

Assuming this is the salvage Rogue, find the tallest cliff you can find and toss a brick on the gas.

 

[JimPghPA]

Locate the instrument cluster fuse and check it again.

Maybe disconnect the battery, then disconnect the connections to that cluster, and put them together and apart several times to insure good connections.

 

[FT92]

bad ground wires somewhere ? just a thought

 

[SC Maintenance]

I find it hard to believe, everything is fused? Have you checked the fuses - might even be a fuse on the battery terminal itself or even a fusible link.

Do other things work - like the HVAC fan? Could be the chassis ground also - its the first place the negative cable connects after the battery usually.

 

[dogememe]

I would say disconnect the battery again, let it sit for a few minutes, and reconnect. Any luck?

 

[Kira]

If your battery terminals were "very corroded", then maybe the wire or a branch-off wire was heavily corroded too.
It could very well be that the movement of these cables caused them to crack through/crumble.

A pal's '89 K1500 had a branch off wire for the 'then new' fuel injection system which perished due to corrosion.
It was swagged together with the main cable at the clamp so not visually apparent.
It effected the fuel delivery horribly.
New red cable....no more problems. <<took a long time to find.

 

[cptbarkey]

What vehicle is this exactly? Have you tested the battery for voltage since cleaning the terminals? Check the basics first.

My Silverado is known for bad ground issues at the gauge cluster wiring harness which causes all sorts of issues, it was simple to splice another in. However this problem developed over a few decades.

 

[eljefino]

If your car's getting up there in age the cluster could have bad filter capacitors which wouldn't like dirty power, to include the sudden inrush of a normal battery voltage. More typical with GM than Nissan but hey...

 

[D60]

I would say disconnect the battery again, let it sit for a few minutes, and reconnect. Any luck?

I was thinking exactly this. As desperate as it feels, give it another, longer "reboot." There's little to lose but several minutes.

You could even drain all capacitors with a jumper wire, but theoretically letting it sit long enough will do the same

 

[Kurtatron]

I’ve tried the battery disconnect. No improvement. I don’t think it’s a ground issue. I’ve checked the body grounds for the interior circuits. They look clean. Also, everything else works fine: Climate controls, radio, wiper and signal controls.

I dig a little deeper.

The fuses for the gauge cluster have correct battery voltage between them, 12.xx volts. Then I removed the cluster and tried measuring ground voltages on the connectors themselves. The voltages between the connectors and ground were low. I wonder if that means the gauge cluster isn’t getting enough voltage? But why would the wires suddenly not be supplying enough power?

 

[Kira]

But why would the wires suddenly not be supplying enough power?

Because maybe a percentage of their circular mill area has turned into moist, green powder?

 

[Mechanician]

There are probably only two wires that should have battery voltage.
One constant, and one with the key on.
The rest are probably inputs, outputs, and communication (CAN) wires.
Most vehicles use the cluster as the "gateway" for communication between the different networks.
There is a lot going on, be careful what you poke. Only probe the back of the connectors, they are easily damaged from the front.

 

[DuckRyder]

not every wire is 12v. Id be really careful unless you have a wiring diagram.

 

[Nukeman7]

The fuses for the gauge cluster have correct battery voltage between them, 12.xx volts. Then I removed the cluster and tried measuring ground voltages on the connectors themselves. The voltages between the connectors and ground were low. I wonder if that means the gauge cluster isn’t getting enough voltage? But why would the wires suddenly not be supplying enough power?

Were you measuring the positive (+) voltage at the connector with the multimeter grounded on the body/chassis or grounded through the pin(s) at the connector? The multimeter's black probe needs to be grounded on the body/chassis/battery to get a true reading. Try again and post the actual voltage(s) that you are seeing at the connector pin.

You also need to take a continuity reading in Ohms between the negative (-) pin(s) at the connector and the battery's negative (-) terminal to check for excessive resistance. Normal resistance should be close to zero Ohms. Please post all of you readings here after retesting.

As others stated, be careful how you use the multimeter to prevent shorting a circuit to ground. This is a situation where using a Power Probe tester would be the proper way to protect the sensitive electronics. As a minimum, I suggest taking advantage of the Harbor Freight 15% off coupon to buy this rudimentary safe-probe.

 

[Kurtatron]

Were you measuring the positive (+) voltage at the connector with the multimeter grounded on the body/chassis or grounded through the pin(s) at the connector? The multimeter's black probe needs to be grounded on the body/chassis/battery to get a true reading. Try again and post the actual voltage(s) that you are seeing at the connector pin.

You also need to take a continuity reading in Ohms between the negative (-) pin(s) at the connector and the battery's negative (-) terminal to check for excessive resistance. Normal resistance should be close to zero Ohms. Please post all of you readings here after retesting.

As others stated, be careful how you use the multimeter to prevent shorting a circuit to ground. This is a situation where using a Power Probe tester would be the proper way to protect the sensitive electronics. As a minimum, I suggest taking advantage of the Harbor Freight 15% off coupon to buy this rudimentary safe-probe.

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I have been using the Nissan Workshop manual wiring diagram and diagnostics procedure. They have told me to test connector pins for continuity and battery voltage. Two of the pins on separate connectors are ground. Those are supposed to be continuous with ground. They did not test continuous.

 

[Exhaustgases]

If the battery terminal connections were bad corroded, then the wires with in those connections could be also. As well as to the other ends that go to what ever place.

 

[Nukeman7]

OK, so it appears that the two black ground wires on Pin #1 and Pin #52 on the respective plugs are showing open circuit? Or are they showing high resistance in Ohms?

If it is open circuit (i.e., zero continuity) I'd suggest getting a jumper cable and connecting one clamp to a good clean metal surface on the engine block or motor mount and the opposite end clamp on the negative battery terminal. Then retest Pins #1 and #52 for ground continuity (or just reconnect the gauge cluster). If both Pins now read good continuity (or the gauges work), you have confirmed a bad ground wire coming off of the battery's negative (-) post.