Hey guys,

This past Saturday night I noticed faint white smoke coming from the gauge instrument panel, between the RPM and Speedometer gauge. I checked underneath the hood and the tail/exhaust pipe but there is no smoke coming from there. I checked underneath the dash on the driver side by the pedals and I couldn't see anything. It almost started to smoke immdeiately after I turned on the car and the headlights... but the lights all still work... for now...

It almost looks like smoke from incense or from something soldering...

I checked DSMtuners, but everybody seems to be having smoke coming from either the front of the car, the exhaust, or vents, which im not...

I have a 99 GS-T Stock

Have you guys heard of anything like this or point me in the right direction??

I wanna take out the gauge panel but I don't know how or what to look for.

Thanks guys!!

Do you smell anything? Burnt Oil, coolant, and electronics all have a very distinct smell. It's rare that you'll see smoke inside the car from something under the hood unless you have a big opening in the firewall or your vent is open. You could remove the gauge cluster and start the car to see if it's still smoking.

Its definitely not oil or coolant... I can vaguely smell something, if anything at all... I have a feeling it's electrical, since its only happening at night when my headlights are on, or at least thats the only time I notice it... I guess I'm gonna drive it during the day only until the weekend when I can take it apart...

Faulty stereo/aftermarket gauge install?

nope, stock stereo and gauges... stock everything... lol

99 is pretty old by today's standards... maybe just old worn out / burnt wires??? is that even possible???

No. I highly doubt it... The previous owner was my ex-gf and she had the car for about a month before we started dating in high school around 02-03... I KNOW she didn't mess with it, except when she burnt the engine from the inside for lack of oil / oil changes... The previous and original owner was Liam Lynch, the one hit wonder who sang, "United States of Whatever" ... lol and he kept it stock before trading it in for a 350Z at the time his song hit... lol

Yea, I def have to take it out and see, so right now I'm just limiting my driving to and from work, which is like 2-3 miles each way... and only during the day... maybe when the headlights are on, the related wires from the gauge to the switch are shorting or melting or something... I don't know, maybe I have a dead rat in there somewhere, who knows... I'll keep you guys posted...

Ok, so I decided to take it apart today, since I got home earlier than usual and daylight is still out...

I took out the gauge cluster panel thing, but no obvious wires right away... Just the three connectors you see in the pics. (I provided links to the pics below, since I'm doing this from my phone...)

Without the gauge cluster http://t.co/8oKx75fw

Without the gauge cluster (closer look) http://t.co/QgI2I4ij

Without the gauge cluster (top view) http://t.co/WBOIvu5c

Without the gauge cluster (top view - closer pic) http://t.co/EBZkxsrT

But I think this may be my problem...

The back of the gauge cluster http://t.co/7TNCg1ha

The back of the gauge cluster (close-up)  http://t.co/3yaPlqhb

I don't know if u guys can see the stuff building up on some of those little silver round things... Like water fell and dried up on the soldering thing... Maybe that's what's going on??? 

(im doing this all from my phone, let me know if u guys need me to set it up differently... This is kinda the quick poorman, but most organized I could think of...)

thanks guys!!

nice attempt I must say. But I dont think there is an issue there. If anything electrical got hot enough to smoke, its hot enough to melt/turn black/catch fire/blow a fuse.

The electrical systems in these cars are designed around possibility of failure to not cause a fire. Shorted wiring can get hot, burn, then the whole thing is up in flames.

The smoke you describe, can you easily see it or you have to really try. What does it smell like? Does it have that same smell behind the cluster?

Thx...

You have to really try... It's real faint, both the smoke and the smell...

But yesterday, when I checked it out, after I put everything back, I couldn't see or smell anything... but then again, I did try to remove some of that gunk or whatever it is from the back of the gauge cluster...

I was able to take a few pics with an actual camera before the battery died, so hopefully you will be able to see what I'm referring to...

Alright, so here is the link for the pic in WAAAYYY better quality... and just in case ur blind as a bat... like myself, I circled and underlined the parts or sections that concern me in red...

http://twitpic.com/6s17vt/full

(Sorry for the crappy editing job... all courtesy of MS Paint on a slow-ass crappy work computer... lol)

That looks like normal resin from the solder used on those areas.