WICruiser

I will certainly try adding a drop or two of oil to the bearing before I put the cluster back into the car. As long as I don't get carried away I don't think it could hurt and may help.

Thanks

fbarnhill

Guys, there is a very good writeup by Dwayne on fixing both the odo gear and the speedo speed sensor pickup on the rear circut board. I just fixed mine this past week. If you follow his writeup exactlly, it will work well. I steped out and added the niteglow white face gauges from SpeedHut. With my bad hands, it took me 4 times to get the needles right but the sordering on the circit board is pretty easy and simple. I used some good flux rubbed on both sides with a short hair stiff brush. This will quickly boil and allow the solder to get inside the rivits and allow good connection to the pins that reach inside the gauge and provide its input. I think this is usually where the issue lies. I skipped the soldering step the first time, the second time I didn't measure contiinuity on each joint, and missed one that didn't take very well the first time. You all know that Dwane is the MAN for writeups and this one is on his website.

Mine is now working perfectly. Sunday morning while the wife slept peacefully, I pulled the cluster out of the pod, removed the face to adjust the needles on the gaiges that I knew were wrong, pulled and soldered the board on the rear of the cluster, tested the connections this time, reinstalled everything before she got up at about 10:30 so about 2.5 hours. Since it was my 4th time, I think I can remove that pod in 10 minutes with my eyes closed now.

Good luck,

mark kibort

i didnt read this entire post, but I have by buddies 6 liter and its Odometer doesnt work but speedo does. what could be wrong???? something simple?? I dont want to get into the dash, but i guess if i have to I will. sounds like i will, huh>?

WICruiser

If the spedo works but the odoeter does not it is generally one of the gears in the odometer gear set. Sorry to access it you need to pull the cluster and remove the speedo, etc.

Not hard but time consuming.

mark kibort

thanks!

928nut

You got one of these ;-)

WICruiser

The story continues:
A recap - I pulled the cluster and had it checked out by Palo Alto Speedometer - everything OK
Pulled the central eletrical panel and cleaned every connection I could - no real red flags
Reformed the edge connector terminals for the cluseter to ensure good contact.
onfirmed that if I connect the power supply terminal going to the speedo with the trigger circuit for the speedo I get battery voltage at the connector in the spare tire well - but if I plug in the cluster I only get 8 volts at the connector in the spare tire well.
Reinstalled the cluster, etc. and now my tack reads much better than before - no lag, seems to follow engine speed changes very well. The speedometer is somewhat better but still lags and even hangs such that when you stop it could still be reading 20 mph.
I did manually move the needle before installation and everything feels free and smooth with no drag.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

The only other thing I noted is now my water temperature gage does not read/move. I have not done much other than confirm the edge connector and 14 pin connection are clean and seated.

fbarnhill

Roger, did you resolder the points on the circit board. It goes from the posts to the rivits on the board. That was my problem and it took me 3 tries to get it. Finally I measured continuity from the point of the prongs that go into the speedo to the outside of the rivits on the back of the circit panel. That is where I found my issue. Like I said it took me 3 tries to get continuity to the outside of all those rivits. That and the new gears on the odo fixed my issues completely with the speedo. Now I am having some issues with the tach. So, I am looking at the stuf you have done.

Good luck,

fbarnhill

Mark, the little orange/yellow gear in the picture above is your issue. It will just crumble when touched if it hasn't already. It is a good time to fix it and to calculate the correct milage for the car and set it at the same time.

Good luck,

WallyP

"The speedometer is somewhat better but still lags and even hangs such that when you stop it could still be reading 20 mph."

This would immediately make me suspect mechanical issues, not electrical ones.

You can buy "needle oilers" with instrument-grade lubricant - Google is your friend.

WICruiser

Thanks Wally, I agree it acts mechanical. I will do some searching and when I pull the pod to check my coolant meter issue I will plan to dig into the speedo once again.

Frank - I agree that the rivets can be a problem area but this is a new circuit foil and I did check the continuity between the rivets and the pins when I had the unit apart last time.