Hello Everyone,
I'm excited to be a part of the community. I'm here because of my 2008 3.5 SE Altima Coupe and the issue I've been having with the instrument cluster for a few years now. My car has about 65,000 miles on it so I don't drive a ton but this issue has been going on for a while and the weather conditions don't have an impact.
To go back to the beginning, the car was bought new in 2009 and even right away there was a hint of what was to come in the first few years. The tire pressure warning light was incredibly sensitive and came on frequently, even if the pressure was only 1 lb below what it should be. At first, all I had to do was fill the tires to the correct pressure and the light would go off, as it should. I then moved to Colorado, with the elevation change from Milwaukee it makes sense that the tire pressure system would be a bit off, the local dealer told me to fill the tires slightly over (4 lbs) to combat the pressure differences of the environment and also the warning light. It worked for a little while until progressing to the point that the tire pressure warning light would come on and stay on until it was reset. Also, within the first year of living in Colorado, the small screen within the speedometer went out and was replaced by the local dealer.
Fast-forward a few years later, the entire instrument cluster randomly would freak out with many warning lights appearing at a time: key, tire pressure, VDC, slip, !, ABS, check engine, and brake. At first it was something that happened every three or four months and now it's at least once a month with the issue expanding to the speedometer and tachometer not working at times and sometimes the light indicating I'm in drive will go out. Also, the dimming level of the instrument cluster will change. I've posted a video here: https://youtu.be/z0CJY8x8R_g. Most of the time it will settle on the VDC and slip lights and then function normally but recently it's been malfunctioning for longer periods of time and recently I was on an hour long drive and it was freaking out for half of it. It's likely not the best idea to drive for 30 minutes and not have a working speedometer.
It's recently lost the quick honk from locking the car and the lights don't flash for a lock or unlock either.
I've taken the car to dealer and a local shop and neither can nail down a specific issue. I've told them exactly what happens and shown videos and neither of them can figure out exactly what is happening. The local shop took of the instrument cluster and checked everything then put it back together. That actually took the issue away for almost a year but it came raging back out of the blue. I also tried to reset everything, at the suggestion of a friend who works at a car dealership (not Nissan), by disconnecting the lines to the battery and holding them together for a minute. The mechanics have checked the computer for errors and the car gives all of them that are indicated with the warning lights but there aren't any actual issues.
I had the tire pressure devices replaced, aftermarket, in all four tires but that didn't help with the tire pressure light. The tire pressure light is on as soon as you start the car and it flashes at first and then is a steady light. It did this before the devices were replaced, so that's not new.
The only suggestion I have left is to replace the instrument cluster, but that is expensive and may not solve the issue. Are there any thoughts about this or has anyone seen it before? I searched the posts on this website and didn't see anything, my apologies if I missed it.