I've been messing with this problem for several months now - taking the guage cluster in and out about 50 times now. I've done searches and seems like a common problem that has no solution that I can find as of yet.

I've swapped in the oil and temp guage pair from a donor truck into my 4runner cause my oil guage wasn't working while my temp guage was working properly. Now the oil guage works but the temp guage is now possessed (jumps to red, sometimes works, sometimes doesn't). Wish I would have settled for a working temp guage and non-working oil guage. I made the mistake of taking off the needle heads and re-inserting them. I'm pretty sure it's an electrical issue at the guage and not caused by the sending unit since it was working before the swap.

Everytime I've taken it apart and jiggled wires, and re-inserted the needle, it makes it work for a while, then quits.

My question is, how do I make sure it is properly grounded? It seems like this would be the problem. Do I follow the black wire from the left most bundle into the dark abyss of the dash to make sure it's grounded?

I'm partial to the stock interior look so holding out on putting in an accurate temp guage. Other's have this happen? How'd ya get it fixed? Any help is greatly appreciated - Thanks.

Methinks I just replace the whole cluster and not fool with it. Nevermind about the original milage.

Posting a solution to my own post has a certain amount of idiocy and accomplishment. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

I have an 86 and had the same problem, I just ran a aftermarket temp gauge kind of tucked it away so it is not so noticeable but still able to keep my eye on it while wheeling.

I have the same problem which is intermittent. It does seem to vary with rpms whereas it will read accurately at idle. Ive just gotten used to living with it.

Fixed the temp guage finally. For those who have this problem and never bothered to fix it, only cost me $20. Could have gone to Ebay and bought whole cluster, but I'm stubborn. Went to local junkyard, found intact guage, took it apart and only took the oil & temp guage pair.

A few things I did differently this time:

1. Didn't remove the faceplate and needle heads so didn't need to calibrate. I made the mistake of removing them last time.

2. Also took great care and not be too much of a gorilla as these guages are very delicate.

3. Made sure that my hands were dry from sweat especially when handling the wiring in the back of the whole guage cluster. One theory of mine is that I left wet/oily residue in back causing the resistors to mess up somehow. Not an elec. eng. but that's one lame theory. Also made sure screws in the back were nice and tight for good connection, oh and did the jiggling of the wire cluster bit before reconnecting.

Now I go on to next two elec things that don't work - rear defroster and cruise control. But these aren't high priority. Anyone have problems w/ these and fixed them?