Has anyone repaird their cluster guage ?

[LordBritish]

My tachometer is broken. The needle was stuck in the red today and sometimes it's report 0 RPMs while idling.

I understand that my stepper motor needs to be replaced.

I read this guide:
http://mustangforums.com/forum/2005-2014-mustangs/635290-how-to-rebuild-your-cluster.html

It looks simple enough and I have a soldering iron.

I was reading about solder wicks that can pull out the solder. I never used those but it looks simple enough.

Do you recommend a solder pump or a solder wick?

 

[07SGT4743]

I've done this job on two different cars and found it was pretty straight forward. Don't use the larger gun type soldering irons, you want to use the smaller pen type irons. The boards are fairly fragile and expensive to replace. There are kits available that include the motors, iron and the pump to suck out the old solder. Also, I found two types of motors were available; US made and Chinese made. Supposedly the US ones yield better results.

It's not difficult, but you need to be patient when trying to remove the old solder, just use a little heat at a time. I also replaced all the motors at one time as it was cheap enough and I didn't feel like pulling the dash multiple times.

Another tip I recommend is before removing the needles, place a small piece of masking tape of the face of the face and accurately mark the resting position of the needles. This will normally get you back in business but just in case, you may want to just press the needles back on lightly and put the cluster back in without the clear plastic cover and go for a test drive. If you need to make any adjustments, it's much quicker than having to take the entire assembly out each time. Good luck.

 

[nawagner]

Use the braid over a pump, be patient, and use the pen type as mentioned above.

 

[ixtlan]

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28571&highlight=stepper

 

[thump_rrr]

I use the pump but I also have a wick available if needed.
I replaced 3 stepper motors so far. Speedo, Tach, Fuel Gauge.

 

[ixtlan]

I replaced them all at once. I figured one or two were going the others were not far behind.
Not a problem since.