Mel's dad gave us their previous van (2005 Pontiac Montana) because they bought themselves a sweet new ride. He's wanted to get rid of it because the inspection is coming up in June 2013 and there were over $1500 worth of repairs necessary to pass inspection (wheel bearing - $200, rocker panels - $500, instrument cluster - $850). So he said we could have it if I fixed it up, then sell it and use the extra money for home schooling curriculum and expenses.
Today's blog post is about the instrument cluster. Dad was quoted $850 to replace the cluster because the temperature gauge was acting up. Once he gave us the van I did some research and found out that it's actually a quite common occurrence with these vehicles and fortunately, the fix was quite easy and rather cheap.
Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy
Process:
The first thing I had to do was taking off the trim around the panel, loosen 4 screws, unplug 2 plugs and the panel came right out.
The second thing was to pry open the little plastic latches, take off the needles with a fork (learned that on youtube at 2:06).
The third thing was to de-solder the 4 pins of the broken motor
The fourth thing was to re-solder the 4 pins of the replacement motor
The last thing was to put it all back together
Pictures:
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| The cluster after it was removed |
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| The rear of the panel with the 4 stepper motors visible |
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| The plastic covering the needles |
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| The front of the panel where the stepper motor pins came out |
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| The four stepper motor pins marked with a blue marker |
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| A braided soldering wick. I bought one on ebay for $3 bucks but it didn't get here in time so I just braided my own with some stripped copper wire |
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| After I got the broken motor out I re-drilled the holes with a tiny drill bit. I bought the entire set at princess auto for 2 or 3 bucks a couple of weeks ago; didn't think I'd need them this soon |
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| The opened up stepper motor that was broken. It is only about 1" diameter. The replacement motor only cost a couple of bucks on ebay and took about a week to get here |
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| After it was all put back together. Easiest $850 bucks I've made ever! |
Tools:
Screwdrivers
Soldering iron
Soldering wick
Materials:
Replacement stepper motor (X27-168)
Solder
Cost:
$5.00
Time:
1hr
Savings:
$845.00
Conclusion:
Works great
2 comments:
You made it !!!!!!!!! and this time it went faster then on Friday.... Glad for you . Hope you could enjoy the left over time of the weekend. Muetti
Really it's a nice information about cluster problem.I have the same cluster problem in my car.Thanks for your nice information.
Cluster repair services
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