LED swap gone bad
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,643
From: Clearwater, FL
LED swap gone bad
my tach needle doesnt work any more..
would one of you other modders please tell me what i need to do to fix my needle? when i idle it is at 0rmps. when i drive it NEVER gets over 1k. i can put it in park or N and rev it, but it wont go over 3k, ever... it worked fine before i shipped it off.... does it sound like Paul just didnt put the needle on right or what? please tell me its something simple and Paul didnt ruin my gauges!
thanks in advance guys!
(P.S. if you want you gauges swaped DONT use ledmods.net)
would one of you other modders please tell me what i need to do to fix my needle? when i idle it is at 0rmps. when i drive it NEVER gets over 1k. i can put it in park or N and rev it, but it wont go over 3k, ever... it worked fine before i shipped it off.... does it sound like Paul just didnt put the needle on right or what? please tell me its something simple and Paul didnt ruin my gauges!
thanks in advance guys!
(P.S. if you want you gauges swaped DONT use ledmods.net)
Senior Member
Unique Scionikz
SL Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,360
From: Duarte, California
Re: LED swap gone bad
Originally Posted by orangesuburban
(P.S. if you want you gauges swaped DONT use ledmods.net)
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 9,731
From: Minneapolis, MN
Answered as well in the ledmods.net thread. Jeremy will take good care of you on the wheel controls as well. Still baffles me that someone does a swap and doesnt do a simple look and check to make sure the needle is on correctly....
If you fix that and the tach still doesnt work, let us know. I can try to give you some things to check based on the circuit mapping I have done so far on the gauge components.
If you fix that and the tach still doesnt work, let us know. I can try to give you some things to check based on the circuit mapping I have done so far on the gauge components.
Senior Member
SoCal tC Club
SL Member
Team N.V.S.
Scinergy
Scion Evolution
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 15,699
^^ engifineer FTW! 
remember folks... my number is located in my sig for anyone who needs some help. i'll help as best as i can.
also.... if it is indeed not because of the needle being pushed in too far... i have one major suspect as far as what happened... just because of another incident i've had to fix myself.
remember folks... my number is located in my sig for anyone who needs some help. i'll help as best as i can.
also.... if it is indeed not because of the needle being pushed in too far... i have one major suspect as far as what happened... just because of another incident i've had to fix myself.
Senior Member
SL Member
Team ScioNRG
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 655
From: White Plains, NY
Originally Posted by SquallLHeart
i added a little tidbit to my last post if you didn't see.
if it's not the needle being in too far.. i have another suspicion on what it could be.
if it's not the needle being in too far.. i have another suspicion on what it could be.
Senior Member
SoCal tC Club
SL Member
Team N.V.S.
Scinergy
Scion Evolution
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 15,699
it all has to do with clean soldering work, and cleaning everything after you're done. (not that i'm accusing anyone of it..... hmm....)
but miscellaneous pieces of solder crap that lay floating around can create shorts or jump certain components and actually cause the motor or other things to malfunction.
i had an individual with a faulty speedometer come in that had issues with the needle and motor moving... after opening it up and just visually analyzing it... i somehow spotted the smallest damn piece of solder that was stuck on one of the capacitors which was creating a short.
after removing it... speedo worked again perfectly.
but miscellaneous pieces of solder crap that lay floating around can create shorts or jump certain components and actually cause the motor or other things to malfunction.
i had an individual with a faulty speedometer come in that had issues with the needle and motor moving... after opening it up and just visually analyzing it... i somehow spotted the smallest damn piece of solder that was stuck on one of the capacitors which was creating a short.
after removing it... speedo worked again perfectly.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,643
From: Clearwater, FL
so yes, like everyone thought, i pulled the needle too far... now what?
i tried riding around for a few minutes without the needle on there, then putting it on pointing were i thought it should be, and that worked for a second or two, then when it dropped to idle it would go past the 0.... so what do i do now?
i tried riding around for a few minutes without the needle on there, then putting it on pointing were i thought it should be, and that worked for a second or two, then when it dropped to idle it would go past the 0.... so what do i do now?
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,643
From: Clearwater, FL
also, on start up, the tach goes all the way, with the other gauges, so i guess that means the motor works, correct? its just a matter of getting the needle on there correct...
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,643
From: Clearwater, FL
is this what yall are gona tell me to do next?
if so, then what am i doing wrong? i tried it twice but it still doesnt seem right. start up it goes all the way and back. it stops at 0 but some times it goes below and it seems like it idles a lot lower then it used to. and doesnt accelerate as it used to...
15.) After 5-10 minutes, the polish should be dry and you can start putting the needles back in. Line up the needle pin with the housing and push down slightly, but not all the way in. Turn the needle counter-clockwise (for the gas gauge, turn the needle clockwise) until you feel it snag. That's the stop point. Pull the needle housing up and place it at your marking on the gauge to align the needle properly. Once it's all lined up push down the housing until its almost flush with the gauge. (Don't push too hard or the housing will be too close to the face of the gauge and will end up rubbing against it and the needle won't respond as quickly as usual. Also try to push the housing in as straight as possible or the housing will spiral around the pin and you'll not be perfectly on the stop point.)
if so, then what am i doing wrong? i tried it twice but it still doesnt seem right. start up it goes all the way and back. it stops at 0 but some times it goes below and it seems like it idles a lot lower then it used to. and doesnt accelerate as it used to...
Senior Member
SL Member
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 596
From: Streamwood, IL
I had this same problem with my speedo after doing my own gauges. Turns out I had touched one of the small capacitors (small grey boxy looking things on the board) with my soldering iron while working. It was enough to cause it to disconnect from the board. My speedo would jump around and do all kinds of crazy stuff.
Anyways, long story short, I ended up using a multimeter to trace the circuit path and find the offending capacitor. I'm sure Jeremy remembers my phone calls...haha.
Anyways, long story short, I ended up using a multimeter to trace the circuit path and find the offending capacitor. I'm sure Jeremy remembers my phone calls...haha.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Scikotics
SL Member
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 1,643
From: Clearwater, FL
hmm, ok. so after doing the proper steps, the proper way (i believe) heres what i got:
Start up sweep: works fine.
at city speeds (normal roads, stop and go traffic) it seems like it works fine
at hwy speeds (constant 60-70mph without major change) it drops to 0 and doesnt move.
at city speeds the idle is around 300-400rpms
come to a stop after hwy speeds its at 0 and stays there till moving again.
i can put it in neutral and it plays around fine and doesnt seem to stick or anything...
Start up sweep: works fine.
at city speeds (normal roads, stop and go traffic) it seems like it works fine
at hwy speeds (constant 60-70mph without major change) it drops to 0 and doesnt move.
at city speeds the idle is around 300-400rpms
come to a stop after hwy speeds its at 0 and stays there till moving again.
i can put it in neutral and it plays around fine and doesnt seem to stick or anything...