Why don't your gauges work on your 1995 Nissan pickup?

Answer 1

Not being familiar with your vehicle, this answer of necessity will be genric in nature, but generally applies to all kinds of vehicle electrical systems, and should be helpful until an expert comes along to improve this answer. Most auto guages operate on electricity. Your question states guageS [plural], suggesting that the electrical source has been interrupted ["opened"] somewhere in a wire, connection, fuse, or even a "trace" [conductor] on a circuit board, which serves all of the effected instruments. The open condition could be caused by an open ["blown"] fuse, disconnected connector, defective guage voltage regulator [IF used in your vehicle], a totally open ground, or a very poor ground. The key element here is that several guages are involved, and the chance that all of those guages have failed internally is almost impossible. Often all guages are not on the same power supply circuit, but are powered by the circuit serving the function being guaged, so the first troubleshooting step is to check ALL fuses and/or circuit breakers by removing, cleaning the contact surfaces, doing a careful visual exam for the fuse being open [and if questionable or undeterminable, also check with a meter], and replacing it back into its holder clamps. Sometimes, IF the "open" circuit was caused by corrosive contamination on the fuse and/or holder contacts, then the simple act of removing and replacing the fuse can correct the problem by breaking up the corrosion. If all fuses are good, and the contacts clean, then logic says the source of the open conditions is elsewhere within the circuit. The next step is to disconnect clean and examine all grounding terminals in the circuit[s] for the effected guages. Also examine the circuit traces [conductor lines] on related circuit boards for things like a burn through, being cut or broken, or shorting between two or more traces by "bridging" [usually resulting from corrosion due to contaminants on the circuit board]. These procedures should allow you to find the source of the problem, and cleaning or replacement [only if necessary] should provide correction of the problem. Obviously, if you are unable to locate and identify the source of the problem, then you will need the assistance of an automotive electrical service technician. Good luck!