Captain Lou

so my fb's instrument cluster is messing up

teh trip [metre does not go past 10km

and when its cold, teh tach needle bounces and the speedo makes a really loud whine and will show i am doing 100+km/hr when i am in 2nd gear at 3500

When the car, and therefore the cluster, warm up they seem to work properly.

its coming out

so i went to the wrecker and bot another one that looks like its in pretty decent shape.

but before i put it in i want to both make sure all the lights work and if possible see that i can prevent this one from going the way of the other cluster.

so, i think i saw a thread on here on how to take apart and overhaul the guages but i can't find it... anyone know the the link or can point me at somethign like this?

also, any info on how this thing works and what i should be doing would be helpful


I was tempted to put the wite gauge faces in, but after reading all the trouble people have had with gettign the needles reading right im not going to bother... but i am tempted to paint the needles so that they show up better, any colour recommendations?


thanks people

Sterling

The failures you describe are rather uncommon.
Both the tach and the speedo center bearings are greased with a very heavy grease to keep them from bouncing with road vibration. The heavy grease slows their movement. (...so when people think they briefly reved their car to 8000 rpm in the driveway, they may well have hit beyond 8500 not realizing it - especially if they have an aluminum flywheel!)

There are alot of tiny plastic gears in your odometer gauge, and it sounds like you may be missing teeth or slipping a gear.

You should be fine with another cluster in good condition.

As far as messing around with the gauges, I wouldn't. The matte black backing picks up finger prints and lint like nobody's business, and it's virtually impossible to clean it off without leaving streaks, marks, rubs, etc.

Unless you're in an environment conducive to repairing camera lenses, I would leave that guy closed!

Install the replacement and be happy with it.
Then practice your surgery on the old cluster.
Remove the needles from the speedo and the tach. They are clear lucite with flourescent paint on the back.
Lay a piece of new, HIGH QUALITY wet/dry sand paper...400 grit, on a table, and place the painted surface on it, and "lap" the paint off.
That leaves you with a clear needle with a matte finish on the back that you can paint what ever color floats your boat.
...Perhaps a "dayglo" green, blue, even pink (it's yer car! ) The paint doesn't need to be enamal or oil based because nothing's ever going to touch the needle once it's installed on the new cluster.
When doing the surgery to the needles on to the new cluster later on, I would wear non-powdered latex gloves.


Never did it before, but that's how I would go about it.

Metallic_rock

Before you install the new cluster, remove all the screws on the back that provide electrical contacts and use some fine sand paper to remove any corrosion. I was having problems with mine, and that fixed it. It sounds like you are having more mechanical problems than electrical, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

You don't want to have to pull it back out if there is an electrical connection problem on the back, right?