"Trip meter" keeps resetting

**h0rsepwr** · 04-29-2007, 10:14 AM

It seems like every other day, my TRIP meter resets itself to 00000.
And come today, my car wouldn't start. So I took the battery to Autozone and they said it just needed to be charged. COuld that be what was causing the trip to reset?

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 04-29-2007, 10:42 AM

Originally Posted by h0rsepwr

It seems like every other day, my TRIP meter resets itself to 00000.
And come today, my car wouldn't start. So I took the battery to Autozone and they said it just needed to be charged. COuld that be what was causing the trip to reset?

Low voltage will cause that, so yes.

**2001NBMZ28** · 04-29-2007, 10:55 AM

Yep, low voltage. Sometimes it's accompanied by the gauges sweeping on start up too.

**Rhinohuey** · 04-29-2007, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by 2001NBMZ28

Yep, low voltage. Sometimes it's accompanied by the gauges sweeping on start up too.

Wait, the gauges sweeping over to the right side and back down again on start up is not normal??? My odomoter resets to zero everyday also.

**mrr23** · 04-29-2007, 05:48 PM

yep. loose cables and/or dying battery.

**h0rsepwr** · 04-29-2007, 05:49 PM

Autozone was able to charge the battery for me since it was running low, now everything is starting and running fine.

**Rhinohuey** · 04-29-2007, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by h0rsepwr

Autozone was able to charge the battery for me since it was running low, now everything is starting and running fine.

Your gauges don't sweep on startup anymore after having the battery charged? (Or did yours ever sweep?) I've thought that the gauges going all the way over to the right like that on start up was completly normal. (Its been doing it for as long as I've owned the car.)

**h0rsepwr** · 04-30-2007, 04:09 AM

Originally Posted by Rhinohuey

Your gauges don't sweep on startup anymore after having the battery charged? (Or did yours ever sweep?) I've thought that the gauges going all the way over to the right like that on start up was completly normal. (Its been doing it for as long as I've owned the car.)

Nope. They only did a "sweep" when it wouldn't start. Now they're fine.

**Steve Crowe** · 04-30-2007, 02:11 PM

Hate to be the bearer of potentially bad news but that's a sure sign of an alternator starting to go out. Take it off and let them test it.

**Rhinohuey** · 04-30-2007, 04:18 PM

I just got my battery charged and mine is working perfectly now also (no sweeping) I can't beleive that wasn't normal. Its done it since I bought the car.

**Rhinohuey** · 04-30-2007, 05:32 PM

Also, one of my side post things was coming apart or something. It was tight onto the battery, but the terminal itself was loose somehow is what the guy at Autozone said. I imaging that had something to do with it also.

**GottaHaveLS1** · 04-30-2007, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Crowe

Hate to be the bearer of potentially bad news but that's a sure sign of an alternator starting to go out. Take it off and let them test it.

I also have the same problem, but i'm sure my batteries fully charged.
newb question: what does an alternator do?

**rbob93** · 05-01-2007, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by GottaHaveLS1

I also have the same problem, but i'm sure my batteries fully charged.
newb question: what does an alternator do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternator

**h0rsepwr** · 05-12-2007, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Crowe

Hate to be the bearer of potentially bad news but that's a sure sign of an alternator starting to go out. Take it off and let them test it.

IS there any way to test an alternator without taking it out and bringing it somewhere?

**1MileCrash** · 05-13-2007, 04:06 AM

this should really be a sticky in a thread "common f-body issues" or something like that.

**Mr. Luos** · 05-13-2007, 04:09 AM

It isn't always the charging system that causes this.

There was an issue with the intrument cluster not seating correctly and failing on certain years.
Check the charging system first for sure, but it might be something else.

**2001NBMZ28** · 05-13-2007, 06:06 AM

Here's the TSB for the trip reset on the '99 cars - doesn't mention the gauge sweep but sometimes happens at the same time. http://home.earthlink.net/~cetera/pics/aug99tsb.jpg

**1MileCrash** · 05-13-2007, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. Luos

It isn't always the charging system that causes this.

There was an issue with the intrument cluster not seating correctly and failing on certain years.
Check the charging system first for sure, but it might be something else.

i know that the instrument cluster and resulting TSB were posted in the thread that i started as well...but how is the instrument cluster incorrectly seated? is it something that can be easily fixed without installing a new cluster or what?

**2001NBMZ28** · 05-13-2007, 04:40 PM

Check the battery connections...and then have it load tested if it's still doing the same thing. Cluster is usually fine after installing a good battery.