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Useless Gauges?!?

DanMan2k06

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Damascus, MD
So today I took out my needles (all 6) from the gauge cluster so that I could remove some colored film from the back. I used a fork to gently pry them up, and they came out without any issue. Putting them back in was the same, no sweat. However, When I re-installed the cluster, I turned on the key and they all jumped. All the monitors went about halfway up, the speedo went to 40, and the tach to 2000. Weird. Then I start the car, and it gets even worse. While going what would normally read 40mph, it now says 90, and my idle is around 2500. After warming up, the oil pres. and temp were pegged, and my battery read around 17 volts. So I'm definitely thinking the installation went terribly wrong somewhere. Any ideas? I really don't want to run out of gas. I had about 1/4 tank when I did the change, and after putting it back in it says 3/4. Whack.
 
Dude, the needles do not come out. You snapped them off, and just stuck them back in the holes................

Time for a new cluster..............:anon:
That's not quite true. They certainly do pull straight out easily on my 94's cluster. The axles are friction fits into the mechanism, at least on the speedometer.

Beyond that, I got nothing.
 
x2 the position of which you installed the needles seems to be the problem.
 
Hopefully this is an OBD2 Jeep in which case a scan tool can give a reference to where each needle needs to be positioned on each scale. Otherwise you will have to get creative on how you figure out each parameter to reset the gauges which are very delicate instruments.

GOOD LUCK ! :repair:
 
Yea, It's a 97. And no they didn't snap off. They gently slid out, but I didn't pay attention to where they were at when I took them off. So you're saying get a scan tool and relocate everything in reference to that?
 
It sounds like if you took the needles off the actually rotor inside spin on you so even though it looks like your truck is idling at 2500 RPMS it's really down (hopefully) in the 700-900 range (anyone correct me if I'm wrong) so there isn't anything wrong with the IC, it's just that everything is reading correctly but the needles are in the wrong position. I hope this helps you.
 
Since all the needles always return to zero I would assume that all of the needles have a spring in them that usually stops when the needle rests on the pin. by removing them and reinstalling them they are all off on the clock position. Not exactly sure how to go about finding the correct clock position.
 
i took apart the circa-90 gauge cluster once to install some gauge faces (i wont say what color...)
needless to say, i will not be messing around in there again! such a pain in the ass.

the needles do come out though, the actual needle (just the white part) comes off, but must be re-glued back on... and the 'axle' as it was described earlier and the needle together comes out as well

BUT LIKE I SAID, dont mess with it, she bite. sorry cant be any help, maybe its time for a new cluster/new gauges!!
 
Sure a good scan tool is going to tell you all those parameters in real time. RPM, Volts, Fuel Level, Temperature, Vehicle Speed and I suppose oil pressure if that model still uses a real sending unit for oil PSI.

I love all the gauges in my Heep, I know the volt gauge is a bit flaky and it mostly reads low but the oil in PSI and temp in FARENHEIT make for some imformative gauges VS. say like in my high performance supercharged Ford Mustang which has temp and oil gauges with a scale like this L__NORMAL__H, which is crap. And when my alternator went out at 48k miles not even the idiot light let me know. :bs:
 
Yea I love having all the gauges too. I wish there was a tranny temp one in there too... But anyway, I know my jeep is running fine. It's just reading everything incorrectly. I think I pulled them all out at random positions, instead of when they were all zero'd. I've been doing a little reading around and it looks like some cars need re-calibration a couple times. My friend is a Volvo tech, I'll see if I can swing by and use his MODUS to get everything straight.
 
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