gauges max momentarily on start-up

Dec 16, 2003 4 Replies
S

Here's one for ya:



2001 F150 SuperCrew, 5.4L. 45K miles About 50% of the time I start the engine, all the dashboard gauges momentarily go to their maximum position, then return to the more proper position. For example, the speedometer and tach will 'peg out', completely clockwise bumping against the peg, then return. No check engine light appears. Of course, after that I'm a little spooked, so I'm watching everything very closely; it seems to hesitate a little at idle after this happens, as though one cylinder isn't firing every time it should. If I shut it off, re-start it, and the gauges don't peg out, the engine runs perfectly. Any Ideas? Thanks in Advance, Scott

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M

Replace your battery. When the gauges peg like that, it usually means that the computer has lost power. A fairly common problem with an easy fix.

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S

Thanks very much for the post. Yep, the battery is the original. I'll probably look at whatever WalMart has on sale unless someone thinks otherwise. Scott

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T

I have 99 Expedition that has been doing the same this winter.... battery going bad makes sense as I have noticed that it's been slow to turn over when starting it for the last couple mornings when the temp was below freezing. The rough idle/hesitation makes sense then since the computer is reset. It's the wife's vehicle and I rarely get updates of it until something completely breaks and she expects me to fix it.

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A

After getting batteries for years from Sears and the pain in the neck it was to get a replacement because of limited stores and hours I switched to Checker/AutoZone for batteries. YMMV :)

Alvin in AZ

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