Sorry for the long post, but this has been a strange one. BLUF: the gauges died/went on the fritz, and after a week and a half of "troubleshooting", they want to replace the "Combination Gauge Meter" to the tune of $1457. Worried I'm being ripped off.
Preemptive: *it's not the battery*. It's had no problems starting and has been tested by the techs repeatedly.
2006 Ridgeline RTL (sunroof, no NAV), w/ about 130K miles.
Twice, while on a 9-day road trip, my wife had been sitting in the car, ignition completely off, and heard a 'chattering' sound coming from the gauges for 3-5 seconds. Later, I caught it myself and noticed that the tach needle vibrated while it was chattering.
On the last day of the trip, while cruising down the highway, suddenly got the VTM-4, VSA, ABS, and BRAKE lights. Everything else seemed normal. Pulled over, stopped, restarted no problem, but the lights stayed on. Within an hour, I noticed that the cruise control would only stay engaged for 10-15 minutes, then would suddenly disengage for no apparent reason.
First trip to the dealership, the lights of course disappeared. There was only one generic code in the computer, so they gave it back to me. The next day the 4 lights came back, followed by the entire gauge cluster flatlining... odometer and all info displays were just dashes, and every needle was completely gone. ("Actually, no, officer, I really don't know how fast I was going".)
It was the weekend, so I had to drive it a bit before taking it to service Monday, and the even more distracting part was that individual needles would occasionally 'dance' and come back to life for a moment, then drop dead. Sometimes it almost seemed like there was a pattern, some kind of choreographed interplay... speed alive, temp alive, speed dead, temp dead. Speed alive, speed dead, fuel alive, fuel dead. Speed and fuel alive, speed and fuel dead. Strangest thing I've seen.
Now been at the dealership for a week and a half, and after much pestering, they tell me that the "combination gauge meter" has to be replaced, it's 3-5 days out, and that the total, including diagnostic, will be $1457!!! Given how long it's been there, and the fact that they offered that solution/price only after I called them today pressing for an update, I'm nervous.
Thoughts? TIA!
Preemptive: *it's not the battery*. It's had no problems starting and has been tested by the techs repeatedly.
2006 Ridgeline RTL (sunroof, no NAV), w/ about 130K miles.
Twice, while on a 9-day road trip, my wife had been sitting in the car, ignition completely off, and heard a 'chattering' sound coming from the gauges for 3-5 seconds. Later, I caught it myself and noticed that the tach needle vibrated while it was chattering.
On the last day of the trip, while cruising down the highway, suddenly got the VTM-4, VSA, ABS, and BRAKE lights. Everything else seemed normal. Pulled over, stopped, restarted no problem, but the lights stayed on. Within an hour, I noticed that the cruise control would only stay engaged for 10-15 minutes, then would suddenly disengage for no apparent reason.
First trip to the dealership, the lights of course disappeared. There was only one generic code in the computer, so they gave it back to me. The next day the 4 lights came back, followed by the entire gauge cluster flatlining... odometer and all info displays were just dashes, and every needle was completely gone. ("Actually, no, officer, I really don't know how fast I was going".)
It was the weekend, so I had to drive it a bit before taking it to service Monday, and the even more distracting part was that individual needles would occasionally 'dance' and come back to life for a moment, then drop dead. Sometimes it almost seemed like there was a pattern, some kind of choreographed interplay... speed alive, temp alive, speed dead, temp dead. Speed alive, speed dead, fuel alive, fuel dead. Speed and fuel alive, speed and fuel dead. Strangest thing I've seen.
Now been at the dealership for a week and a half, and after much pestering, they tell me that the "combination gauge meter" has to be replaced, it's 3-5 days out, and that the total, including diagnostic, will be $1457!!! Given how long it's been there, and the fact that they offered that solution/price only after I called them today pressing for an update, I'm nervous.
Thoughts? TIA!