Hey guys, I was wondering if any of you experienced this problem.

On Monday, during the heat wave in the Northeast (temps above 95F), my car was left outside in the hot sun for a couple hours. When I went in to start the car and to turn on the A/C, the tachometer read 0 rpms even while the engine was idle. I immediately called the dealership, and they agreed to let me bring the car in for testing. On the drive there, the tachometer was acting funny (stuck at 1000rpm). Everything else worked fine, just the tachometer was giving me the wrong values.

After bringing it into the dealership, one of the Infiniti guys (who wasn't a technician or a service manager, just a guy who drives your car in) instructed me to turn off my engine. I told him I did not want to because I wanted to show the problem to a service manager before I would shut it off. He pretty much scolded me and told me to turn it off and I did. I talked to a service manager about my problem, but since they were packed, I had to wait for 30 minutes before they got to my car.

After bringing my car in for diagnostics, they could not replicate the problem. Surprise, surprise! I even could not replicate the problem either, and my car has not shown that problem ever since that day. However, since that day, my car has been parked in a garage and not in the sun.

I was curious, so I researched my experiences online. I have found people with older Nissan vehicles experiencing the problem when their car was parked in the hot sun. The gauges would stop functioning, and the problem would go away once the car cooled down. (No wonder the problem couldn't happen at the dealership; my car was in their cooled garage for half an hour before they could get to it)

Infiniti dealership has told me that the heat could not cause malfunction in my gauges, but I do not believe them, since other people I am reading are getting similar issues. The dealers cannot fix my problem unless they see it happening. Since I do not usually park my car out in the sunlight, and the temps here rarely reach 95F, I cannot really duplicate this problem again.

Anyone experiencing a similar issue? I would like to know what I can do to fix this issue.

Thanks!
-Forest

BTW I have the 2007 G35x Sedan with the Tech, Wood, Nav packages. It has 46,500 miles on it.

 

I have, only once, seen my gas gauge not move after starting the car (dont remember if it was hot out... it was a while ago)
I shut the car off and started it back up and it has been fine since.

 

Okay this totally happened to me today. I thought somehow the fact that the A/C was having to work overtime was causing my engine to have to idle really low at first, but then the tach was zeroed out every time I would idle. I did also notice that the tach was pretty much working as though it was about 800rpm lower than it normally stayed at (the Automatic transmission was shifting at about 1900rpm). Otherwise, the car was acting pretty normal, just a slight amount of power loss that is expected with 103Fº weather. I should have taken a picture.

I parked the car in the garage, turned off the engine and then promptly (within 60 seconds) turned the car back on. The tach revved to 1200 and then lowered back to 800rpm (like normal).

Ironically, when I noticed the problem I was about 1/2 a block from Metro Infiniti (Monrovia, CA) so I should have just turned around and drove to the service center. If it happens again, I'll take it in for sure.

 

I had the same exact problem. Couldn't replicate the problem at the dealership but kept a log of when it would happen, ambient temp, etc. There was a one week heat wave and the problem would happen almost every day. Presented the log to the dealer and they decided to swap the entire guage cluster. No problems ever since even in scorching hot weather.

 

So today's temp was aroud 98 degrees F. I had the same exact problem again. Only this time, I took several videos showing the problem and even when I shut off the entire car, the gauge would not drop to 0, but stick at 500 rpm. I also recorded an issue with the air bag sensor that also lit up as off while a passenger was sitting on the seat.

I already addressed both these issues to the dealer during July 4th weekend, and they couldn't duplicate the problem of the tachometer and the airbag sensor was "performing normally." Now that I have video proof of both, I am going back to the dealer to see if they will fix that issue. I am getting tired of having the dealers thinking they know more than I do about my own car and how it functions.

BTW, I have complained about the airbag sensor for the past year, but the dealer would say that it is "normal" for that to occur. Well, what if I get into an accident and the airbag didn't deploy and my passenger died?

 

Have you looked at http://x.infinitihelp.com/forum/show...94.html?t=4694 regarding the Airbag sensor? There was a voluntary recall about that and if your Infiniti dealer is not helping or at least running the test on it, there are a number of places you can contact about that.

I work about a block away from my dealer and at work I leave my car parked in the hot sun so I'm pretty sure I'll happen a few more times before the end of summer. I'll take your advice and video tape (and photo) the symptoms to take to my dealer. Let me know if that works for you.

 

Yeah, I mentioned the voluntary recall to my dealer. They said there was no such thing and that my car was not qualified. They did a check on my system and said everything was normal.

 

I brought my car to the dealer- hopefully, they can fix the issue this time. I showed them videos of the tachometer and the airbag sensor going off. They gave me a loaner overnight.

I'll let you guys know which dealer I took it to afterwards. I have a feeling that this dealer is very good. I was pleased with the way they treated me compared to the other one I went to.

 

Wow...I just had this problem. Mine was even worse. It was indeed a hot day (mid 90s). I started the car and the tach jumped up as the engine turned (like normal) and then slowly dropped toward around 1500rpm (the engine did not sound like it was running that fast). As I started to drive the car the tach was showing 3000rpm when I was just putting along at 35mph in D. (I knew this was wrong). Stopped at a light and put it in neutral to find 2000rpm showing at idle. Drove a few more miles home (now reading 4000rpm in put-put speed), and turned the car off to watch the tach STOP at 2000rpm...rats!
There is a cluster check procedure...
Car off.
Hold the trip a/b reset and push on button (no brake).
When the dash comes on, hit the release and hit the trip reset 3 more times in 7 sec.
Dash flashes and gauges drop to zero.
Push the trip reset and hold and the gauges jump up to about 1/2 of max reading.
I wish I knew what the gauges are supposed to read in that test mode...mine read 50% temp and gas, speed is about 25mph, and the tach (still messed up) ready 4000rpm and drops to 2000rpm when released.
The tach returned to zero after about 45min in the garage.
I am not under b2b warranty, so I hope this does not get worse...
WTF Infiniti?

 

Yeah, I heard that this problem occurs in Nissan vehicles...It's weird right? My tachometer was replaced under warranty because of this issue...I don't park it under the sun anymore, so try to not let your G sit in the sun for a while...I think direct sunlight heating up the gauge cluster screws it up.

My seat cushion was also replaced under warranty because of the air bag sensor issue...

If you place your G under the garage, the problem will go away.

BTW can you tell me what release is? I think this cluster check procedure will come in handy.

 

Procedure is just pushing the button and letting go. I think this process reports a code if there are problems with the dash/gauges.
Normal output is all 8's on the numbers (where odometer is) and then fully screen flash on/off of center LCD.

 

You know what's funny? I've found forums regarding this tachometer issue, but when I asked the dealers and Infiniti Corp, they said they have never heard of this issue whatsoever...

I feel like most people have this issue, but aren't really paying attention to notice...

 

Ironically, I had the same problem yesterday. It has to be heat related. I just moved to Dallas and it was about 106 here yesterday. Inside my car (parked outside for the whole day) it probably felt like 115.

Never seen it before and by the time I went somewhere later that night it had fixed itself...weird.

 

This has happened to me a good 10 times now being that its always nice and hot in Miami, FL.

In fact, I HAVE A VIDEO OF IT HAPPENING! I used my phone and recorded a good 30 seconds of my driving various speeds with the tach stuck at ZERO.

 

I don't know if replacing the tachometer will ultimately solve the issue...it seems that many people have this problem. So far, I've been keeping my car in the garage so it doesn't overheat...

Infiniti should redesign the tachometer and issue a recall/TSB. Having a malfunctioning tachometer is a pretty big issue compared to the other TSBs...