Just a word of warning to those who would be so inclined to send their cluster out for repairs. Use caution when choosing
who you deal with. In my line of business as evident in my screen name, I've run into fried circuit boards, static zapped chips, burned out displays and clusters that wind up FUBAR'd from some of the stepper motor changers. Instrument cluster repair properly done involves more than just changing out stepper motors. The use of proper equipment and procedures ensure the quality of repair for your cluster. Or choosing the person to do your cluster repair.
I've run into problems when people have caused themselves grief because of misplaced trust or well-intentioned thrift. In trying to save a buck, wind up spending more to fix the original issue. For example, DONT buy a cheap soldering iron thinking it can't hurt. Buy at least a decent 35-40W GROUNDED iron so that it would at least apply enough heat to the pads for the solder to attach properly to the circuit board and not come apart after so many hot/cold cycles and a few miles of vibration. Mind you, these joints look good under any cursory visual inspection but are a nightmare. A grounded soldering iron will hopefully prevent semi-conductors from getting fried by stray voltages coming off some cheaper irons. Any hotter, higher wattage soldering guns should be used by experienced hands only. Overheating the pads result in burnt, broken, brittle traces of the circuit board that are a PainInTheA$$ to fix. Another, is to make sure to discharge static by touching a grounded metallic object, otherwise you stand the chance of discharging it into the chips on the board. Do this and it's bye-bye cluster. This only to serve as a guide in the hopes that I would not have to tell anyone sending in a cluster that it can't be rebuilt. I hope that you will take note and save yourself a lot of preventable headaches should you chose to do it yourself or send it to a budget-priced stepper motor swapper.
For those so inclined to DIY, I salute you. Please take these recommended precautions. It will save you a lot of grief.
Here's a link to a how-to for beginners learning to solder.
http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm
This a from a well respected guru of an RX7 club forum I used to belong to.
There's a reason why professional instrument cluster rebuilders charge a little more for their services. It's not just the equipment cost used to repair or for the calibration of the gauges but also what goes into the to replace backlight bulbs with longer lasting oem type bulbs. Or the quality of the parts used in the repair. It's not that uncommon for me to run accross a so-called rebuilt or repaired cluster that had stepper motors replaced that were of the original defective design (which caused the problem to begin with)only to fail again. Or the fact that in order to repair dim, dead or intermittent odometer/gear selector displays involves a little more than the average stepper motor swapper can handle(Believe me, we get plenty of calls for these).
Or the fact that most reputable rebuilders will, as a standard procedure address the common circuit board issues that cause clusters to flicker, bounce or cause parasitic power drains. I can't account for what stepper swappers do out there but I definitely would be leery of some of cheap-priced jobbers out there.
Don't get burned:grrrrrr:
Just food for thought.
Rant Over.
John 8:32
Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
