So, today I took on the daunting task of repairing my instrument cluster in my '04 Av. When I bought the truck recently, none of the gauges worked, multiple lights were burnt out and the PRNDL display would fade in and out. I have been very keen on doing as much work on the truck myself as I can.
I have had very little experience with soldering, so before I made the attempt, I did get a simple electronics kit (fm radio) and did that so I at least had some inkling behind what was going on.
Got a cluster repair kit off of Amazon that had the 6 stepper motors and a selection of various coloured LED bulbs. It was around $60 CDN, but did come with a soldering iron, solder sucker, solder and a needle removal tool as well. I also purchased a proper soldering station where I could adjust the temp of the iron. All in all, I probably spent a little bit more than what it would cost to have someone repair it that actually knew what they were doing. My thought/mantra was, "I can't screw it up any more than it already is!"
Took the cluster out, removed all the covers and needles and got to work. I only ripped off 3 of the 24 soldering pads for the stepper motors, which I took as a win, because in a lot of the YouTube videos that I watched, this is a common problem and usually a lot more go missing. Then I re-flooded the chips that handle the PRNDL display, added new blue LEDs, and soldered in the new stepper motors using jumper wires where I tore out the pads.
To my great surprise, the damn thing actually worked! Needed a couple of tweaks to the needles to get them set appropriately, but I don't need to use the speedometer app on my phone any longer, and I can see how much gas I have left!!!
Glad that I took this project on myself. Although I have done a lot of woodworking in my life, electronics were never something that I had really done much with. Now I have a lot more confidence that I can make this stuff work!
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I would love to hear from anyone who has taken on the same project and know how it went for them. ALso, if there is anyone who is thinking of doing it, my biggest bit of advice would be to watch the videos online and TAKE YOUR TIME.
I have had very little experience with soldering, so before I made the attempt, I did get a simple electronics kit (fm radio) and did that so I at least had some inkling behind what was going on.
Got a cluster repair kit off of Amazon that had the 6 stepper motors and a selection of various coloured LED bulbs. It was around $60 CDN, but did come with a soldering iron, solder sucker, solder and a needle removal tool as well. I also purchased a proper soldering station where I could adjust the temp of the iron. All in all, I probably spent a little bit more than what it would cost to have someone repair it that actually knew what they were doing. My thought/mantra was, "I can't screw it up any more than it already is!"
Took the cluster out, removed all the covers and needles and got to work. I only ripped off 3 of the 24 soldering pads for the stepper motors, which I took as a win, because in a lot of the YouTube videos that I watched, this is a common problem and usually a lot more go missing. Then I re-flooded the chips that handle the PRNDL display, added new blue LEDs, and soldered in the new stepper motors using jumper wires where I tore out the pads.
To my great surprise, the damn thing actually worked! Needed a couple of tweaks to the needles to get them set appropriately, but I don't need to use the speedometer app on my phone any longer, and I can see how much gas I have left!!!
Glad that I took this project on myself. Although I have done a lot of woodworking in my life, electronics were never something that I had really done much with. Now I have a lot more confidence that I can make this stuff work!
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I would love to hear from anyone who has taken on the same project and know how it went for them. ALso, if there is anyone who is thinking of doing it, my biggest bit of advice would be to watch the videos online and TAKE YOUR TIME.