The tachometer in my ranger only works half the time. When I'm idling the needle points to 0 and stays there until I hit the top of the dash. Then it jumps up to where it's supposed to go. Any ideas on what it is. My truck is a 2000 4.0.

My 2000 3.0 does the same. I can actually hit the plexiglass on the dash and make it work, so I'm sure it's a bad ground in the cluster.

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2000 Ford Ranger XLT
Extended Cab
3.0 Flex
4x4
Manual Transmission
Offroad Package

Thanks I'll look into it

I've had the cluster out, and it's just a big printed circuit board. I've tried cleaning the contacts where the wire harness hooks to the board, but that didn't fix it. You might have to break out the soldering iron and reflow the solder joints on the board.

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2000 Ford Ranger XLT
Extended Cab
3.0 Flex
4x4
Manual Transmission
Offroad Package

I had the same problem. My solution was to get another tach from another cluster. You can unscrew it, and replace yours easily. It does come off separately from the speedometer and odometer, so you don't have to worry about those.

Use a kitchen fork to lift the needle off. Then, when you are at idle, slip the needle back on the shaft. Your idle speed should be about 750-800 rpm, so that's how I aligned it.

There is a how to link somewhere on how to get the cluster out and swap the speedometer, so that has useful information for you.

My replacement came from an explorer cluster, and had not been in use for a while, so it worked a bit "jumpy" at first, but now it operates smooth like new.

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2000 4x4 Off Road Package, 3.0, Supercab, 5 speed stick, K&N Air Intake, E3 Spark Plugs, Bed Liner and Cover. Over 280 Thousand miles and still going.