The big bad mechanic and my poor little 91 accord.

[Soultempest]

So i bought myself a well kept little (well guess their not little) 91 accord. Auto, all the trim. And fell in love with it. I drive her to work with a grin. But on the way back home one day, the tacho would jump up and down, same with the speedo, and lights would flick on and off and the blinkers wouldn't work. Car eventually just didn't start.

Took it to the mechanic, and apparently my alternator needed a new regulator, so its all fixed.
In the process, they pulled apart my cluster, and cracked the dash in 2 place's. Offered to order me a new one for $150 (AU). So pretty miffed about a broken dash, but now i noticed my fuel gauge does not move from full, and my temp gauge doesn't move from cold. They both worked perfect before i took it to the mechanic. Rang em up, and said can you fix it, I'm willing to let the dash go, but i need my cluster fixed. They wanted another $500 to fix.

What I'm wondering, is can a clueless idiot pull out the dash, and fix these? I'm broke and can't afford to pay for mechanic to do it. But starting to dislike this nagging feeling that something is wrong with my car, and i can't fix it.

Any help? guidance?

Thanks!!

[jeffcoslacker]

Breaking the needles on the gauges is common when people don't know what they are doing and pull the cluster apart.

If it's my car, I'm not paying them or picking my car up until it's exactly they way I brought it.

Why would you bite the bullet for it?

[Soultempest]

Dodgy Aussie mechanic. And i left it too long to take it up with fair trade. So I'm kinda screwed. I'm waiting till i can find a mechanic that has good working knowledge of 90's Honda's before i get it fixed.

In the mean time, Can anyone suggest anything to help? Or is there reallyjust a leave it to a trained person situation?

P.S
Thinking of trying to install a new header unit. 90's broken tape play just doesn't cut it. I need my Mariah Carey for the long drive.