[V8] Instrument cluster fix

[ville.hiivola at suomi24.fi]

How did you remove the board under the gauges, where there are wires 
passing through just next to the tach gauge..?
I ended up having to cut them up and rewiring each wire since i 
wasn't able to desolder all of them at the same time from the board so 
it would come off. What a pain!



>----Alkuperäinen viesti----

>Lähettäjä: Armanmik at earthlink.net

>Päivämäärä: 08.04.2010 18:29

>Vastaanottaja: <v8 at audifans.com>

>Aihe: [V8] Instrument cluster fix

>

>

> From 2005 posting:

>

>

>> I had similar very symptoms on my V8 - fuel and temp gauges dropped 
sporadically to zero, came

>> back with a whack on the dash pads. The pc traces were fine, the 
problem was cold solder joints

>> at the pins that the interboard ribbon cables connect to.

>> 

>> These are assembled by "wave soldering" - does the whole pc board at 
one pass.

>> 

>> Problem is that if there's enough heat to solder the big parts (high 
thermal mass), it is too

>> much for the ICs and other smaller parts and they get toasted.

>> 

>> I've seen this on other electronics equipment - *exactly* the same 
thing, cold solder joints on

>> the large pin connectors - PC power supplies are good for that.

>> 

>> Cure is remove the cluster, take the boards off one at a time, and 
with a fine pencil iron,

>> re-solder the bases of the interboard connection pins one by one. 
Put it all back together (now

>> is also THE time to change all the burned out dash lights) and 
dollars to donuts your problems

>> will be cured. I found four bad ones and some more suspect ones. You 
will be able to wiggle (as

>> opposed to flex) the pins slightly in the pc board if the solder 
joint is bad. Also, a cold

>> solder joint is "grainy" or "pebbly" instead of smooth and shiny. 
Use a magnifying glass.

>> 

>> Use some contact enhancer on re-assembly just as extra insurance.

>> 

>> I did mine almost two years (now SEVEN years!!!) ago, and that part 
(at least) has worked flawlessly since.

>> 

>> Best Regards,

>> 

>> Mike Arman V8Q, lights, blinks, starts, runs (be afraid . . . )

>

>

>

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