Neon instrument cluster troubles

I'm helping a co-worker with some problems on her '97 Neon. One of the problems is the instrument cluster.

A month or so ago, she said there were some people playing football near her car, and her car was hit a few times with the ball. After that the instrument cluster was completely non-functional. The warning lights work, but the fuel gauge, speedo, and temp gauge do not.

Also, at the same time, the car started shifting funny. I have not driven the car, but a friend of mine did. He said it's shifting hard and doesn't seem to be shifting at the right time. Since this started at the same time as the instrument cluster problem, i'm assuming it is an electrical problem (maybe the computer isn't getting a VSS input or something).

Does the computer somehow rely on the instrument cluster for some sensor input(s)? Is there something else that might have gone bad to cause both problems? How does the instrument cluster get its signal? Is there another computer that controls/interfaces with it?

Any help would be much appreciated.

i have the same problem on my 96...cept it wasnt hit by a ball, the cluster just went out.

the temp gauge works for the most part, but the speedo doesnot at all. on occassion it will bounce around sometime while driving...and the fuel gauge works...most of the time...

i have pulled it out and checked the connections a cpl of time to no avail. last time i even sanded the connections a little to get better contact. after the sanding all the guages worked fine for a day or two. then went back to normal (normal being not working).

any ideas/help is greatly appreciated.

check out neons.org. They have a procedure for taking the dash apart and resoldering some spots on the circuit board. Apparently it's a common problem on everything before '97, but i tried it on this '97 and it didn't work. good luck.

I have a 98 ACR And I am having the same problem only just my speedo goes wacky and the car seems to have a miss when it's going wack.!I put on a new vss sensor (didnt help even a little). :banghead: But any how it got better after taking out the cluster and putting it back in but she stilll has her times mostlly just after take off.PEACE

"But any how it got better after taking out the cluster and putting it back in"

For some reason the connector at the back of the cluster gets dirty (or maybe it's a bit of surface corrosion that's just enough to mess with the voltage). Take the cluster out and clean the connector lightly with fine sandpaper and blow out the dust, and if you feel industrious spray some electrical connection cleaner on it.

I have re-soldered the connector on the cluster on 2 separate Neons and it fixed them both. Hope it works for you.