2.3L ('83-'97) Intermittent Speedometer Failure

[95RangerBoss]

So I recently moved from Greenville, SC to Phoenix AZ, and I think the heat and dryness is doing a number on my truck.

I posted a few weeks ago with an intermittent no start. I still have that issue after replacing many parts (including mass airflow sensor and water temperature sensor thinking those possibly caused engine flooding. Also replaced air filter and did other maintenance while at it. No luck yet. It intermittently won't start when it is above 100F outside and has been running. But even then, it is intermittent.

And more recently the speedometer began to intermittently fail. I'll be driving down the road and then all of a sudden it slowly settles down to 0mph. Only the speedometer (and consequently the odometer) stops, none of the rest of the gauges. No lights, no codes. I replaced the speed sensor on the transmission this evening, and that did not fix the issue.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm thinking it is definitely something electrical, but I don't even know where to start tracing it.

 

[95RangerBoss]

The worst part is that all of my issues are intermittent, and when they are not happening, she purrs like a kitten. I took her on a 250 mile road trip last weekend with no issues. But then suddenly no start, no speedometer.

 

[95RangerBoss]

Figured this out. It was the plastic wiring sheet on the back of the gauge cluster that had gotten warped in the heat. Replaced that with a part from eBay - all works well and consistently! Hope this helps someone out in the future.