2003 Miata Instrument Panel Problems -- Please Help

[krire3]

I bought a 2003 Certified Preowned Miata two days ago. I am having trouble with the instrument panel. In the morning when i start the car the panel does not work (all the gauges-fuel, speed, etc do not show me any info). But It worked fine in th afternoon and also when the dealer service guy tested it. Does anyone have any suggestion on what might be wrong and what I can do to get it fixed.

Thanks a lot!!
KP

[Mauimaz]

Hi. I've been wrenching on cars for about 20 years now and I've seen this scenario on other car models. BMW 3 series instrument clusters had this problem. Intermitent guages, spedo, tach etc. Worse in the morning, not as bad when warm or in the afternoon.

On most cars, it's faulty or weak solder joints behind the instrument cluster. On bimmers, the fix involves taking the instrument cluster out and resoldering anything that looks suspect. 90% of the time, it's a bad solder joint. Most newer speedo/tach units have push-connectors that get stressed with vibration, bumps etc. Solder does NOT like vibration and will crack in time if it's thin and weak.

Those crtacked solder joints contract in the cold so things don't work on the dash until the car warms up inside and the metal expands and bridges the gap to allow current to flow. We're talking about a very tiny crack here, but that's all it takes.

I have an 86 325 with this problem. It takes me about an hour to give it the fix. I've restored several this way. The car is for sale as of Sunday, so I'll be fixing it today. That's why your thread caught my eye. ( ;

I realise this may not help you solve your problem yourself but it's about all the advice I can offer. If you're into do it yourself I recommend you take it apart and have a look at those solder joints!

Dino