engifineer

Check the parts all around the tach motor with a magnifying glass. Look for even the smallest dab of solder, or a part that is not sitting squarely on its pads. Use something small to push lightly on the parts to make sure they dont move. If you are still having issues, I would be happy to take a look at it for you free of charge. If it takes a huge amount of work to fix, I will let you know before actually doing any work. But if it is fairly small I will just fix it and charge you nothing but return shipping. I cant promise I can fix it, but it is worth a shot if you run into a dead end and dont want to shell out a few hundred for a new one.

Luc1f3r

blah.

ill play with it again tonight when i get home and go from there i guess. anything else it could be? anyway way i could have "put it on correctly but done it wrong"... type thing?

engifineer

For it to drop to zero while cruising, but work other times I am leaning towards an issue with the corresponding electronics. I would say a loose needle on the spindle, but it would not line back up again when it started working again. Sounds like you have it put together properly, yet something else is happening. It being bound up while trying to work for a bit may not have been too good on the motor. If it were my customer, they would be receiving a new, pre-programmed cluster unless I could fix it within a few days.... *hint to the person that did this work*.

I would definitely push for HIM to fix this since he obviously sent it out untested and you are now having issues with it. Even if you correct it, I would expect my money back from him asap. That is what any good business would do if a customer has to fix their mistakes like this.

But it any case, I will check it out for free if you need. I hate to see people get screwed around like this.

If you end up needing a new one (hopefully not the case), I can try to work with some people I know work at dealers and get you a better price. Not sure how far I can work on that, but I will try.

Luc1f3r

ok, i sent paul an email and well see what he says and go from there.

just because i think Paul needs to be put on blast as much as possible, ill post my email here.

engifineer

so $180 was AFTER the 40% discount?? and just for the cluster? That is ridiculous unless I am reading wrong!!

Luc1f3r

it was $228 for:
mirror trim
red gauges with color change needles (red to white, though that didnt come out too well either)
black odo screen with red text
all havc in red with black and red screen
turn signals, high beams, 32L in white
ac **** stayed stock
and he pulled both seat belt warning lights for me.

engifineer

After the 40% discount it was that much? :o

In any case, we will work to get you fixed up as cheaply as possible.

Luc1f3r

i just drove to and from the gas station all of .5 miles round trip lol. (needed to do the dew!) needle seemed to be fine... imma have to hit the interstate again in an hour or so for a 25mile round trip ride so ill pay attention during that and see what happens....

engifineer

Good deal. Let us know if it starts messing up again.

SquallLHeart

i'm just watching the thread btw.... i'm still here.

Amoxaphobic

Ok, i am going to post this question here seeing how this is pretty much the same topic.

I did a swap last night and after the swap the tach did not work. When you plug in the board, you can hear a slight grinding noise that is coming from the tach motor. When you turn the car on, the tach does not move. Occasionally, the tach will try to jump up, but it will never get more than like a 1/4" from it's starting point.

I looked at the board and nothing is disconnected or burnt. All parts are still in tact and the points that I did check with my multimeter worked fine. When I move the needle around, the same grinding noise is made as when the board is plugged in. Kind of sounds like the teeth in the motor are just clicking on something.

Anyone know what this could be? Is it possible that the motor just went out? Could the motor go out by a faulty LED on the LED points? (The reason I ask that is because I connected two LEDs to a single point to make a color changing needle - one white and a red with a resistor to equal the load in a parallel circuit... both LEDs light up fine).

Anyone know where I can find a new motor? Or would I have to buy a whole new board?
Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

Luc1f3r

is this with your lights on or off or both? mine is only when the lights are on, if the lights are off, the tach works fine, which i think means there is some solder connecting points that dont need to be connected.... so check to see when it happens then recheck your soldering.

Amoxaphobic

Soldering is good, and the tach doesn't work with the lights on or off. The grinding noise occurs when the board is first plugged in, or when you manually move the needle when the board is not plugged in. The grinding from the manual turning of the needle leads me to believe that the motor is messed up somehow rather than a connection somewhere.

It just occured to me what your problem may be. If your problem is only with the lights on, then it may be relatively simple to fix. I do my color changing needles like Paul does, (but like whoa cheaper) so I think I may know what's going on with yours.

You will need to take your cluster out and dismantel it. On the tach there will be two elevated LEDs - one of them will have a resistor on it. I am guessing that one of the wires that is elevating the LED may be touching another. When you turn the lights on you may be creating a short, causing your tach to mess up. You can pull those wires apart and prevent them from touching. Also, check the solder points, you may have a bit of solder touching the two points together.

...Just a suggestion.

Luc1f3r

I WILL be PMing you tonight, i will take my cluster out and take a look, THANKS!

Amoxaphobic

Anything for a fellow SL member... let alone a fellow Arkansan.

engifineer

This is why I dont use elevated leds hanging out in mid air to do these. I solidly mount round boards on the white bezel and attach all circuitry that way so it stays where it should. Unless the glue comes loose nothing on mine can move at all. I dont use the leds on the board either, I add new leds and new circuits to do it. I can try to put together some info soon on it to help explain it if it will help.

Orangesuburban, if you still dont have it figured out when you take it out and look, let me know. I am back in town and will gladly take a look at it like we had planned. I will keep it down to parts and shipping as far as cost unless a major rework needs to be done, at which time I will contact you and let you know.

I just realized you were in AR! I camped there all last week on lake Ouachita, then spent this week in my home town (Miami, OK) watching the floods and moving my sister out as her house flooded!

Small world!

Luc1f3r

shoulda told me man, we coulda met up!

engifineer

Yeah, Little Rock is not too far from where we were! I love camping and hiking in AR, beautiful state for sure!

Like I said above, I back home now, so if you want to ship it, just let me know and I will take a look.

Luc1f3r

I GOT IT FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!

thank amox... the solder leads going to the two leds (for the color change needle) were touching, bent them back and now were rocking!!!!!!!!

eng, i sent you a PM about your services, but im not sure if it was here or scikotics lol.

Amoxaphobic

Glad to help!