Speedometer not working

[JSUsaxman]

I have a 97 SOHC and all of a sudden the speedometer and the gas gauge turned off. I pulled over and restarted the car. The gas gauge kicked back on but the speedometer is still off. My fuses are all good and I dont have any pinched wires. Please help!!!!!

[das2123]

I have posted this before...use the search button!

Originally Posted by Texican

This is pretty simple and can be done by anyone who has some kind of gauge problem and a soldering iron.

Remove your gauges/cluster: Pop the upper part of your dash off. There are no screws, it just pops straight up and out. Put it in your back seat. The cluster had 4 screws holding it in. The hardest screw to reach is the bottom left screw. I used an offset screwdriver to reach it. Once those are out, the cluster just pops out. You don't have to worry about unhooking anything.

Flip your cluster over. Remove the paper protector from the cluster. The screws are #15 Torx head screws. Once the paper is removed, remove ALL of the remaining screws. I believe there are 9 of them, also #15 Torx head. You don't have to remove the bulbs. Disconnect the 4-pin ribbon cable. Slowly and carefully work the circuit board off of the pins. Try not to crack the circuit board. Once you break the board, this little job is done and you'll have to find a new cluster.

Once you have the circuit board loose, flip it over and heat up your soldering iron. The points you need to reflow are the 20 joints in the red ovals:


Set you hot soldering iron onto the very top of the soldering joints. There is probably a wire nib sticking out of the solder. Use that. Watch the solder, it will appear to change color. That's all. It won't move or anything, just change color. Don't add any solder to it. Make sure it changes color all the way down. Set the circuit board off to the side for a few minutes to allow it to cool, the reassemble it the opposite of disassembly.

You've just successfully reflowed the cold solder joints in your cluster, and you shouldn't have anymore jumping gauges. If your gauges continue to jump or flicker, then you've A) found a way to screw this up or B) have a cracked circuit board and you need to replace the entire cluster.

[AUTOUSA]

As das2123 AF Enthusiast explained prevoiusly,just go to junkyard and get new cluster.I got one from junkyard for $50.

[ryandotcom]

I took my cluster apart and found 9 of the 20 connections cracked. I will reflow them at work and let you know if it worked. Thanks for the info, you may have saved me lots of money.

[AUTOUSA]

Good Luck!!

[ttiiggy]

I have been having occasional speedometer operation. Finally took time this week to take it out. THAT was easy. Just pop up the dashboard and take out the four screws. I had expected to have to wiggle and squirm to unplug a speedometer cable and maybe a couple of connectors. Not at all.

When I took the module apart, I noticed that the 'telephone plug' thingy on the ribbon cable wasn't completely snapped in. I don't know if that was any part of the problem. I went ahead and heated each of the solder connections anyway. Plugged it back in and it works fine. Now I wished I hadn't put it off so long...

[ryandotcom]

Same here. hooked it up last night and it worked fine. Now i need to use up the gas in the tank to see if the gas gauge works past the half tank mark. Now i just need to get the clutch bearing replaced. I love the little car, its just the little things that seem to go wrong. Thanks again for your help!!

[ttiiggy]

Originally Posted by ryandotcom

Now i need to use up the gas in the tank to see if the gas gauge works past the half tank mark.

I could bring my garden hose over and drain your gas into MY tank so you could check your guage...

[ryandotcom]

Originally Posted by ttiiggy

I could bring my garden hose over and drain your gas into MY tank so you could check your guage...

Ha Ha funny. but i already found out that the gauge doesnt work. Everything else does though. I found another forum where the guy said that he did all this and the same thing happened and he ended up taking out the sending unit from the tank and used real fine sand paper and cleaned the contacts and used electrical spray to clean the build up off the moving part and connectors. Then the prob was solved. But do I have to drop the tank to do this? Empty of course and no smoking.

[ghendric]

I was having this same problem some time ago so I took out the cluster and resolder those points. Everything has been working fine until yesterday when the speedometer just quit again for no apparent reason. Any ideas? Should I resolder those points again? Everything else seems to be working just fine...

[das2123]

^^^Try adding a little bit of solder this time.

[ghendric]

Originally Posted by das2123

^^^Try adding a little bit of solder this time.

I tried that and it didn't work. Funny thing is, that same day I had a new catalytic converter put on it that morning. Do you think that maybe something got loosened that made the speedometer quit working? It worked all day though until the evening when I got caught in heavy traffic. That's when it quit again... and it was a pretty hot day...

[das2123]

Could be your connections behind the cluster...make sure they are good.

[ghendric]

Originally Posted by das2123

Could be your connections behind the cluster...make sure they are good.

I tried that too. I cleaned them all with cleaning alcohol and a q-tip and that didn't make any difference. I'm thinking either something has become disconnected somewhere or the cluster board finally has really gone bad. It may be a capacitor or something...

[inspector86]

Hey guys
Just wanted to thank you for the post by the Texican. Didn't work the first time (probably me), so pulled the cluster and soldered again. Reinstalled and it works like a champ. So a big thank you. Had taken it to the local dealer and was given an estimate of $900 So, again thanks, I owe you guys big time. Thanks for your time, knowledge, expertise, and sharing it.
Bob