dismantling clocks

[maglite1]

hello all , i decided to do the few irritating jobs on the car before i sell it , the window re setting worked a treat , anyway ive just decided to take the clocks out cos im bored ,i have no illuminaten on fuel gauge ( is blown bulb ) , the other problem is the erratic speedo usual fault works when it wants and sticks .

ive got the clocks next to me now and there is an acetate type pcb what the bulbs screw into , i can see the other proper pcb underneath , question is , am i undoing all the screws to seperate the white backing of the clocks from the black front part to get at the pcb ? .

wish fuel wasent so expensive as ide keep me pug i love it despite its niggles .

[maglite1]

to remove the instrument cluster/ clocks from the dashboard there are 3 torque screws immidiatly above instrument cluster , once these screws have been removed carfully pull the black trim toward you it is only held by clips now that seemed to pop off easily , pay attention to the heater vents as they are attached to this housing .

there are then 4 more torque screws 2 in bottom corners of instrument cluster and 2 in the top pointing toward roof , once these 4 screws are removed the cluster seems tight but i found that the small bracket the srews in the top pass through needed slight prise downward and cluster poped out easily .

there are 2 multi connectors on rear of instruments , there is a black clip that needs a small plastic bit pushing inward to allow the clip to be pulled up and allowing the multi plug to be removed .

remove all the screws that hold the white backing plastic to the black front , seperate the 2 halves of the clocks .

the actual clock faces temp fuel ect pull out with a bit of a wriggle ( take care ) as there are push fitting pins on the rear of each instrument connecting it to the pcb , these are like needles sliding indo holes so be gentle .

there is a metal clip that holds the wire ribbon needs removing , there is 1 torque screw holding the pcb the screw is next to the blue block connection that wiring harness goes to this screw appears to be the main earth connection between the pcb and the acetate pcb that bulbs are screwed into .

by this stage your inside the white plastic housing that encases the main pcb , if you look carfully around the edge of the pcb where it meets the white plastic housing there are several places where there are white plastic sprung bits that hold the pcb in place .

ive now got the pcb in hand and the only apparent dry joints appear to be the pins that push into the instruments , everything else on the board is much to fine to go near with soldering iron as there are micro resistors and components that are as amall as a match head , heres hoping anyway .

[steve_earwig]

Would sir care to take some pictures and post them?

[maglite1]

[steve_earwig]

Oooh lovely, one for the KB. Thankyou very much

[FarmerPug]

it definatley deserves to go to the kb.

[maglite1]

totaly happy , all clocks working perfectly and i tackled 3 illumination bulbs that had blown whilst i had clocks out , on a side note i noticed today that once the 4 screws holding cluster into dash are removed there are 2 blobs of plastic that form part of the dash that hold the clocks in , these are at top of clocks inbetween the 2 screws , thats where ya have to push dash up a bit or prise top of clocks downward to release them , heres a few photos just took now after re fitting , its dark out the pics where taken at 8.20 so ya can just see illuminated dash , im buzzin lol .

[FarmerPug]

well done, looking very nice.

[DRTDVL]

The light for the miles travelled/digital readout is very very dim on my car, is there a way to fix that or is the unit gone?

[Gary406]

probably the bulb has gone or it needs turning up, under steering wheel near the cabin fusebox there may be a dimmer switch, try it

mine is at the side of the headlight adjuster

[FarmerPug]

is that where it is, on a d9 the dimmer switch is just 1 button on the insturment cluster.

[DRTDVL]

nah it must be a bulb then, i wasn't sure if they where self lit or backlit via a bulb. Its piss poor dim without the lights on - having the lights on actually helps a bit but you can barely read it day or night. I might pull it apart tonight