Instrument cluster, cost to repair
 

Hello!

There are some jobs that feel relatively simple to tackle, but ripping apart the dash seemed a bit outside of that for me -- several told me about cracked cluster hoods. But a non working speedo / tach (and lesser, odometer) kind of forced my hand.

A local shop quotes me $450 labor + parts to repair. Took it out, several blown caps and electrolytic on the board. I've asked them to send me some pics. Unfortunately, I can't seem to avoid electronic issues with the car :(. Now they are telling me a total of $800 - $1000 to fix this thing, which in my mind is a bit high.

For those that have paid to repair, what is a reasonable cost? From what I am reading there are no really great aftermarket swaps that are plug and play and / or less money.

I'm not really sure what the best path is....looking for any advice. Thanks.

$800 is close to dealership prices for gauge cluster repairs on modern vehicles.
you can fix the issues yourself with a soldering iron and $20 worth of parts.
even if you break something you're still under labor costs alone.
you might learn something in the process if you take some time to research.
practice plastic part removal and installation on something less rare.
practice soldering on cheaper silicone circuit boards.

don't let this car Financially Destroy you.

don't piss into the wind.

Pm me , you will be happy you did .

learn how to remove the cluster. most members here have learned to fix these cars ourselves as stated above. it is really the only way. if DIY fixes are not your interest please be prepared for lots of heartache and a light wallet.

That price is absurd. Remove the gauge cluster yourself, find another electronics repair place that can help you if you can't solder. Most of the time its just some bad capacitors which is not difficult work for anyone in the business of these kinds of repairs.

The electronics repair shop that my local rotary shop uses charges $350 for FD gauge cluster repair.

message Michael Gagné on FB, he fixes them and is affordable

+1
that was who I was talking about.

Thank you all. I should have the cluster in hand in the next day or two and may post some pictures up. I will also message the contact posted above.

Honestly, I really do want to learn to do some of this stuff myself. I'm relatively handy, love working with my hands and eager to learn wherever my gaps may lie! This is my third week of ownership and dealing with trying to get the car to pass state inspection so I can get out and drive it since it's new. I appreciate how helpful this community has been so far. As I learn more, look forward to giving back....

I love learning how to do stuff on this car, but some things have a learning curve to get over. Instrument cluster repair is one of those things. Unless you are skilled at electronics I don't know if I'd get into it, it's possible you will just end up making things worse.

I've messed around a little with instrument cluster repair and figured out how to make a JDM cluster work as a US cluster, but some of it is just flat out tricky and voodoo. Some one who knows how to do it backwards and forwards and has a full test rig to hook it up to for testing is a better way to go.

Dale

Fortunately our boards are old enough that replacing the normal suspect components isn't too tough with a decent iron and desoldering wick/pump.

That being said, if you have not soldered on a circuit board before, I would practice on something that isn't your gauge cluster first, as you can burn/damage the mounting pads (ask me how I know) if you don't pay enough attention.

Last I checked some companies like adafruit sell some interesting projects you can practice on. Generally they come with the board and all the components, and you just have to attach them all. I think when I first started a while back I did a geiger counter and a nixie tube clock from them just to get a feel for things. Was more interesting (to me at least) than just practicing on old discarded/broken stuff.

@MontegoMojo,

We have a couple of threads that discuss DIY repairs to the speedo board. We have a growing number of members who successfully repaired their boards by replacing capacitors. Each case is different but it all begins with a thorough visual inspection of the board.

Take a look at this link: Troubleshooting the FD Speedometer Board

Does that help?

What was the final outcome? If your still looking around for someone I have a guy. He did mine for 250. Cleaned up all the corrosion on everything and replaced a few caps.

what state? There's a lot of them.

IIRC he is based out of Quebec.
I had him repair mine a couple of years ago, highly reccomended.