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Aw crap...broke tach needle stop

1K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  CLH 
#1 ·
I had the boomerang off this morning doing some work to clear up a few issues in the dash, and while I had everything apart I took the clear faceplate off of the gauge cluster to remove an errant hair that had worked it's way in there (it had been bothering me forever). I lightly vacuumed in there and wiped it down with a microfiber.

Unfortunately, I apparently got a little too exuberant and it seems I broke the lower end stop on the tach needle. It now swings all the way counter-clockwise without stopping until it hits about 4 o'clock on the gauge face. Resetting the placement doesn't help - after shutting the car down the needle swings counter-clockwise and ends up stopping at about 6 o'clock on the face.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any way to fix it without gluing a physical stop on the gauge face? I found a new cluster on eBay for $100, but that's a costly mistake if that's my only solution.

Thanks in advance...
 
#4 ·
I've never tried setting gauges with a broken stop, so it may be what John says is correct, however I would tend to doubt it. The Stop only comes into play on the full sweep at power-on (which the Sky's don't do AFAIK).

Did you remove the needles at any point? If so I'm guessing you've just messed up the zero position. I would try the following zeroing process (written for when you remove the needles). If this doesn't work or you didn't move the needles at all, then John is correct after all :).


There's a real trick to getting the needles back on and aligned at zero (not as easy as you might think). This is my step-by-step guide. Follow it exactly and you'll be fine. (Whatever you do, don't replace the window/dash etc, until you've driven the car and made sure your needles are aligned correctly!)

1. Start with the clear front screen still off, the wiring connector plugged back into the back of the cluster (if you previously removed it) and ignition off.
2. VERY lightly place at least one needle(s) on shaft(s) at roughly the 0/zero position. DO NOT PRESS DOWN (you will need to adjust placement later). This will allow you to see what's happening in the next step.
3. Turn on ignition and then off again, wait ~20 secs for the needles to settle to their 'negative' position (normally, below the 0's).
4. Turn on ignition and fake start the car by turning key to the start position with foot off the clutch (if you have an autobox, I guess you can start the car and turn it off again). Needles will do the test sweep and return to exact zeros.
5. Turn off ignition. During the 15secs or so while all needle shafts are at their zero positions, gently remove and replace needles to point exactly at each zero and push the needles down on shafts - but no more than halfway. NOTE: be careful, it's easy to knock/turn the stepper motor shafts round while doing this and you'll have to repeat. If you run out of time just do one or two of the needles at once.
6. Repeat steps from #3 above, to verify that needles are set correctly. If not remove/repeat. If they are correct, then push down all the way. Then test again! Go for a short drive then park and lock the car and go away for 10 minutes. Come back and check again!
7. If all's OK, clip clear screen back on and put everything back together.

Note: Doesn't matter how much gas you have, gas gauge will read 0 at step 5.
 
#7 ·
No, I think that what happened is that when I was hitting the gauge faces and nacelles with the microfiber I accidentally pushed the needle past the internal stop (counter-clockwise) and broke something inside the gauge. I can now rotate the tach needle all the way counter-clockwise to about 4:00 on the face, whereas on the speedo it stops at roughly 7:00 on the face. When the needles drop below 0 after shutdown, the tach needle swings way too far counter-clockwise now.

I don't think re-zeroing them will help.
 
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