We just arrived home from a trip from California to Colorado in our 1999 Ford Windstar. Yesterday in Nevada, the instrument gauges all began waving erratically. A few minutes later they stopped working all together, then resumed working normally. It happened again today when we were nearly home. This time, however, they all waved back and forth, even when we came to a stop and turned the engine off. Restarting did not reset them. We drove a little further and shut the engine off again. They stopped after awhile, and all but the tachometer resumed working normally. The tach needle stayed completely to the left until we arrived home. I bent it putting the van in park. I have now freed the needle and it is working normally (although bent on the end). Any idea what is causing this erratic gauge action and what to do about it?

 

Do any of the needles go higher than they are supposed to go or just lower? I'm wondering if they are all loosing power.

 

They swing from one side of the gauge to the other like they are dancing. They are all going in different directions back and forth rather quickly when this happens.

 

We had this happen when the headlight switch burned out and melted the harness. Perhaps another electrical system is drawing to much power, and/or createing electrical noise. In our other Ford, a faulty turn signal switch caused the same symptoms. I'm not saying that either of these is your problem, but they could contribute.

 

Thank you for the suggestions. It's a place to start!

 

Disclaimer: I'm no electrical expert, in fact, I detest electrical problems but I'll throw this out. If this is happening while driving the van, it sounds more like a loose connection or poor ground. If it happens only when starting the van it could be the same problem we had in our Expedition - a bad battery of all things! On start up, all the gauges would go wacky and go to the absolute limit of their travel. After a few seconds with the engine running they would return to normal. The Expedition forum gurus kept insisting it was the battery being bad - too low on amps. Changing the battery did indeed solve the problem. Something peculiar to newer models.

 

Are your battery cables clamped down tight?

 

i believe Ford uses a gauge voltage regulator mounted in the dash somewhere. This could be the problem.

Ken