Getting Speedometer mileage from a Junkyard Find

[Riderman]

Anyone have a good way of getting the mileage from a Path Finder that's in the junkyard that has no battery or ignition key?  I can get a jump box for power, just no way of turning on the ignition to read the digital mileage on the speedometer.  Sometimes it's nice to know the mileage of a vehicle before buying certain parts. 

[onespiritbrain]

Great question. I just so happen to have a spare gauge cluster that we can test to see what contacts power up the odometer!

Just bring something like this https://www.amazon.com/Starter-Battery-Charger-Portalbe-8000mAh/dp/B073PSMR29/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539716695&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=pocket+sized+battery+jump+starter&dpPl=1&dpID=41EJepROqLL&ref=plSrch with you and fit it with some probes to send power to the right contacts..

I might experiment with my spare tonight.

[Riderman]

That would be awesome if you can figure it out.  Especially without having to take apart the dash to power it up. 

[onespiritbrain]

You will definitely have to remove the cluster from the dash.


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[Riderman]

onespiritbrain, Have you had time to figure this out yet?

[AlabamaDan]

I took a jump box into a junk yard once and hooked up the battery for testing electronics.

 

[onespiritbrain]

Sorry man I meant to get this done already.. I’ll try to get to it soon.


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[Riderman]

18 hours ago, onespiritbrain said:

Sorry man I meant to get this done already.. I’ll try to get to it soon.


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It looks like fuse #8 powers the instrument cluster, which Nissan call's the "Unified Control Meter", as per the FSM electrical drawing I found online. (page EL62)  It look's like there is  a White 16 pin connector on the back of the cluster.  It indicates Pin #12 is the power input and pin #2 is the ground.  I may jumper power to fuse #8 tonight on my daughter's pathfinder to see if it energizes the odometer.  If it works I'll try a 9v battery to see if that works even.

[RainGoat]

Keep us posted. It will be a useful trick

[Riderman]

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 3:45 PM, RainGoat said:

Keep us posted. It will be a useful trick

OK, this  Trick/workaround worked on my daughters 98 pathfinder!  I connected a Jump starter battery pack to her battery terminals, No Key In The Ignition.  I found a fuse that was HOT Fuse 25, (Labeled  ELEC B) in the fuse box that is located under the drivers side dash).   I pulled fuse 25, the left terminal as you are looking up at it, is the hot side.  I pulled fuse 8, (labeled METER) it is in the center row of the fuse box, second one down.   The right side terminal of fuse 8  is the load side which feeds the instrument cluster.  I used a jumper wire with alligator clips on each end.  On each end I clipped on a paper clip.  I stuck the paper clip of one end of the jumper into the left(hot) side of fuse 25 and the other end into the right (load) side of fuse 8.  SUCCESS.  All of the idiot lights lit up and the Odometer lit up showing the mileage!

You do not have to connect a jumper starter to the battery terminals.  You can take the same jump start pack, or a cordless drill battery, then get a second alligator clip jumper wire and connect the negative side of the battery to a decent grounding point.  I used the door hinge bolt.  Use the alligator clip jumper set up mentioned above to connect the positive side of the power source to the right side of fuse 8 .  It works, I used a Dewalt 14 vdc drill battery as well for this trick.  I wasn't brave enough to try an 18-20v cordless tool battery on her pathfinder.  Maybe I will try a junkyard find in the future.

 

I think onespiritbrain will find out wires #12 and #2 from the instrument wiring connector will power up the cluster as well if it is removed from the vehicle.  Remember, pins #12 (hot) and #2 (ground) are located where the white 16 pin connector plugs into the back of the instrument cluster.  If you cut the cluster wiring harness off a few inches when you remove the cluster from a junkyard find, it will make it even easier to connect your power source.  Just strip those two wires back a little and connect your power source.

 

A 9 volt battery powered up the idiot light's, but NOT the odometer.  That would have been nice if it worked.

 

The heart of this instrument cluster is called the "Unified Meter Control Unit".  This is what we are powering up.  It essentially is the brains of the instrument cluster.  

The mileage is stored in the instrument cluster, NOT the ECU.

 

Hope this helps somebody. It took you longer to read this write up than it will take you to perform this trick/workaround.

 

UPDATE:  18-20 VDC portable tool batteries work as well.  I used a Milwaukee M18 battery today on an 04 Xterra and it worked fine. Someone took all of the fuses out of the Xterra along with the steering wheel and ignition switch.  I just grounded the negative side of the battery to some metal, and touched both sides of every fuse socket with the positive side of the battery's jumper until the idiot lights/odometer lit up.

Edited October 23, 2018 by Riderman