Fixing soldering on VW MK3 cluster
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- This video demonstrates how to fix the instrument cluster on 94-99 VW Jetta or Golf instrument cluster. I forgot to mention in the video that when you are reassembling the cluster and putting the needles back on, you need to zero them. After putting the needles on just rotate them counterclockwise at least one turn and leave them at exactly zero.
I also fix clusters so feel free to email me at info at parts-rescue dot com if you'd like some help getting your cluster working. I typically charge $60 if all it needs is new soldering and you are not comfortable doing the work on this video. I charge $80 if it needs new stepper motors which is the case if the tachometer or speedometer are complete dead (wiggling back connector has no effect) or one of the needles is vibrating.
HERO! That's a word I'd like to use about you, sir.
My 95 I just purchased has this exact problem and I'm new to the H2O stuff with the dubs. I'm feeling a bit like I did at 15 learning about the air....
Thank you for posting this. You've helped me out dramatically.
along with using a card to cover the face, I was told by a guy that made my gauge overlays to use a fork as it will apply even pressure to lift the needle off. Good video.
Awesome, cheers, amazing to watch someone who knows what they're doing! Amazing knowledge you have, thank you so much for sharing. Been using an app on a phone for the last 6 years : ) Would happily send it to you but I'm in South Africa and shipping is super pricey.
thank you so much!!! just saved 330$ by doing this! 97 vr6 jetta
Thank you! Added some solder. I could tell on the right side that they were cracked and not contacting, which would make sense because I could wiggle the plug before and they'd contact and it would work.
you sir are a life saver!! I can't believe that worked !! thanks a bunch!!
Thank you very much, thoroughly informative. I'll try that on mine. Wish me luck!
My speedometer and Rpms don't work, but my temp and gas do work, I already changed the speed sensor but still nothing. I'll try this it was very helpful
Before you take it all the way out, you might try wiggling the connector with the engine running. That will confirm the problem is soldering. If it is not the soldering, you'll want to replace the stepper motors. You can buy them on eBay for $10 each.
Thanks for the info! :) Hopefully should be able to repair my cluster.
+ThomasXp Yea this definitely worked, speedo works all the time now.
Steve, very useful video. I have just been through a hassle replacing the speedo stepper motor, after which the speedo worked briefly, but then stopped again. The tach, which had been working fine is now dead too. Both needles vibrate at zero. After watching your video I examined the main connector pin solder joints, and found that I have several bad ones. I am wondering if my stepper motor was good all along, and I just need to resolder those pins. I will try it before I send the cluster off for repair. It may be that all the connecting and disconnecting of the main connectors cause both the tach and speedo to stop.
Thanks for sharing. Would this cause the tachometer to behave erratically?
Great work!
thanks for your videos they're very useful I got a 98 TDI and nothing works on the instrument cluster I replace the 109 really I had a no start situation and I wonder if this might be another relay please see if you know what number relay let me know thank you
que tal me puedes compartir unas imágenes del cluster cerca de los conectores se me dañaron las pistas y quiero restaurarlas o donde puedo conseguir el diagrama gracias
I resolder but it didnt work. All fuses good. Is there anything else to check. No speedometer, gas, temp.
Thanks friend very help full
I can fix the speedmeter, soldering the conectors, thank you, your videos help me so much, but the instrument of temperature is not working, maybe the termostate is bad or the stepper motor, i going to review first the termostate, do you have any idea about that? Again thank you so much, very good videos, congratulations.
This is GREAT!!!! Thanks so much!!
Awesome video, nice to have you share your knowledge. Where does one acquire a stepper motor should that prove to be the issue?
only the gauges don't work the speed of a speedometer the gas but the lights come on and it starts and works fine
My water temp needle doesn't goes all the way to the center when the engine is at working temperature (90 degrees celsius). You reckon a bit of solder would help? Or the motor isn't strong enough now. We've measure the temps from the coolant system and everything is as hot as it should. It's a 92 VR6 Vento. Thanks in advance, Regards, Richard.
thanks man !!
Which solder did you use for the job?
Amit Fogel , I'm wondering the same. Can u let me know what kind of solder?
So does it matter if the needle is at 60mph when you take it out or will everything reset when you reinstall it
This looks nothing like my vr6 clocks. Can you do a vid for them?
Thanks I did this but it is the same. I think the problem Is with the motors that move the Needles which show the speed and RPM
Hi Alejandro- Replacing the stepper motors is pretty easy. If you look at my other videos, I have a video on that as well. You can usually find them on eBay. Just use the part number you see on the side of the stepper motor.
@@skskarda Thanks man. I got a question. I found the number of the motor which is: stepper motor 91 225 002. I wonder if this would work with the speedometer and the RPM.
@@Itsalejandrox I checked my email and confirmed that stepper motor number you shared is exactly what I have purchased in the past. It is the same for both speedometer and the tachometer so you are good there. If you can't find someone selling them on eBay, I have purchased them from suppliers on AliExpress before. Just be clear that it absolutely needs to be that part number. I had an issue one time when they tried to substitute it (I seemed to recall 002 was instead 008) and found that the pin or shaft was too long.
@@skskarda Thanks man I really appreciate that you took the time to answer.. yeah I would buy that motor and install it. hopefully it would work, again thank you very much !!
Do you still do repairs? The stepper motors on mine need replacing as well as the soldering fix.
what diameter solder is that?
Did you figure out what size solder?
I think this is my issue.. I haven't repaired it yet, but when i wiggle the connectors on the back, the cluster intermittently works. One other question. If my air bag light is flickering as well, do you think that these connections are the culprit? Thanks
+Dany Heatley Just soldered my cluster and it works perfect now. Thanks!
So, is this a fix when the entire cluster doesn’t work? None of my needles move, but the lights light up. I cleaned up the valve head ground and the two under the battery tray to no avail. What do you charge for the resolder?
pgslaugh yeah it should work it's really easy too
Awesome Video! Helps a bunch, camera guy sucks though...
Thanks. My 9yr old daughter took the video for me. Sorry about that. :)
Parts Rescue lol it's cool👍 this helped out a lot a will save me a lot of 💵💵
Hi are you still doing repairs????
Greetings, I have a 1997 VW cabrio with a glitchy tachometer. Do you still do repairs? If so i'd like to also have the steppers replaced just because i don't want to tear the dash apart again once i get it back. Please let me know how to get in touch.
Hi Donald- You can reach out to me using the contact us button at my website, parts-rescue.com. Make sure to watch your spam folder for my reply. I don't fix many clusters now but could probably help you out but I should note that I am not available for roughly a month due to other commitments. If you have a friend that is comfortable with soldering, I'd be happy to sell you a few stepper motors or tell you were you can buy them.
hi, just want to ask what type of bulbs used for the cluster
There are two different light bulbs in the back of the cluster. Orange are indicator lights and green at top are what drives most of the illumination. I typically get them from pelican parts. Green are part number 893-919-040-A-M97. Orange are part number 4A0-919-040-C-M97
No flux?
I moved this video to a new channel so I realized that caused all my old comments to disappear. I am still happy to help out so feel free to ask questions.
Parts Rescue how soon contact you to send you my cluster to be repaired. Miners has this issue.
Would this also be the cause of the two small LCD screens not working??? Very curious because I HV a vr6 cluster where the screens are dead, nothing happens when unplug in the connectors. Currently running the 2.0 basic cluster which works good except for my RPMs being off by 300-400 rpm
Do you still fix these instrument clusters? If so can you contact me please. if not I have questions but would prefer you do it .
thanks much
Larry
So what was wrong with this cluster? What wasnt working? I have a 93 jetta that I just picked up and the tach, speedo, temp, and none of the lights work and I'm trying to figure out if it's a plug issue or something else
An easy way to figure out whether the soldering on the plug is bad is to wiggle the connect in the back of the cluster while the vehicle is on. Bad soldering on the connector can be seen when wiggling the connector in the back. is 93 a MK3 or MK2? I have fixed close to 100 mk3 clusters over the years. I have never seen one where the only problem was lights out except where the light bulbs were burnt out. Usually it is either intermittent issue (soldering) or a dead tachometer and/or speedometer (bad stepper motor). If it is just the back lighting (not turn signals, indicators, etc.), there are only two light bulbs and they are likely both burnt out. They are cheap and easy to replace.
You can buy light bulbs at Pelican Parts. There are two green bulbs that provide illumination. Part number 893-919-040-A-M97. In case you have any bad indicators, you might want to buy those also. The part number for the indicator bulbs is 4A0-919-040-C-M97
It is an MK3 and I will start working in it tomorrow and check the connection, the left and right indicator lights work and also the high beam indicator, the tach speedometer and temp do nothing, but the fuel guage works, no backlights, and also noticed the oil pressure sensor light flashes but it is getting good oil pressure.
How much do you charge for the resolder and how do I get in touch with you?
You can send me an email: info at parts-rescue.com. Please provide a description of the problem statement. The time and cost to repair is different depending on whether the problem is soldering or stepper motors but I can fix both.
Could you show how to get the cluster out of the car?
I have a video for that.
ua-cam.com/video/1Yu0wtUg6W8/v-deo.html
was lookking ot get me an used golf mk3 cabrio from 97. The clusterdid not work. the only thing that work was the odo reading but not caunting. Nothing is working what can it be?
Do the indicator lights work? Most clusters can be fixed. Try taking it partially out (see my other video) and wiggle the connector in back with the car running.
Steve Skarda the bulbs from the check lamps work, de odo total km stays on but dont count more when i drive. the blinker lights in de cockpit work. everthing but the fuel, rpm, cooling temp, and speed meter dont work. I am thinking to buy this car but i cant try i out. i thaugt mabye its an none thig for this mk3. excuse my english im from holland... I also noticed that there was black deposifs in de exhaust normal?
That is a little odd. It could be that the soldering for the power to the gauges is bad but that is an unusual problem statement. It is cheaper mom for the speedometer and/tachometer to stop working but I don't think I have ever seen a bad fuel and temperature gauge. That is a power problem. If it is soldering wiggling the connector will clearly tell you that. If it is a power supply in the cluster that is beyond what I know how to fix and I have only seen it a handful of times.
Alright thank you. I have a smal crappy subaru vivio 660 cc. No options and also from 97. I can trade it for the golf mark 3 1.6 cabrio 100 hp. I only have to pay 300 euros. The both cars has new inspection and the golf has about 150 000 kilometers drove it good
THIS ALSO FIXED MFA FROM INTERMITTENTLY WORKING AND CLUSTER GAUGES! Easy 2 min fix! Cheats
I know this is an older video but do you still offer this service
I am happy to offer free advice and guidance on how to fix cluster problems on your own but I no longer offer the service to repair them. What is going on with yours?
@@skskarda my speedometer and odometer don't move and my fuel gauge has become more sensitive dropping down or going up on acceleration/braking/turns prior to it being down for few month it was working normally
@@mr4toes If you tap the dashboard can you bring them to life even for just a moment? Could you pull it out (see my other video) and wiggle the connector and get it to move? Those would confirm bad soldering. I will say that I have tested and repaired hundreds of clusters and never seen a gas gauge problem. I would suspect that is a problem outside the cluster if it is not the soldering. If you don't get any response from wiggling the connector my next move would be to replace stepper motors. I have a few leftover I could sell you.
@@skskarda i pulled it out last week to check the connectors or see if it fixed itself and no luck still same issues. how difficult is it to change the stepper motors and would that be affecting the odometer as well
@@mr4toes do you really mean odometer or tachometer? If the odometer and speedometer are not working I would bet the problem is your speed sensor. You have check that? It works by sending a pulse to the cluster.
My speedo and fuel meter keep going to zero :(((((
speed and tach flickering at 0.. Could this be the problem?
No. If the needle is flickering at zero, my experience is that you need new stepper motor(s). The procedure in the video is nearly the same and you can buy those on eBay. I have seen U.S. sellers on eBay occasionally but usually I need to buy them from sellers in China and I have always had a good experience other than the fact it can take a few weeks for delivery.
alright ill look into buying 2 new motors and see if it fixes it
do you still do this?
I may need to send you my cluster. 99 cabrio. I soldered pins, changed speed sensor, wiggled conector. still intermitant speed and tach. they either work at cranking car and stay working or dont work and stay dont working. seems to work when car is cold. not one or the other..its both or neither. when not working, speedometer quivers. this began the same day I replaced the car battery. how should i proceed?
Hi David- If you are comfortable with the soldering, would you be comfortable changing out the stepper motors? Normally, when 1 or both stepper motors go out, the tach and/or the speedometer go complete dead (might vibrate but won't work). However, there are only two problems I know how to fix.
1. Intermittent - Fix soldering.
2. Dead tach and/or speedometer - Replace stepper motors.
More than 95% of the bad clusters fall into one of those categories. The fact that you said it is both the tach and the speedometer does lead me to believe the problem is likely with the cluster and not something else in the car. However, normally intermittent problems like you describe are bad soldering >95% of the time although that is not common on a 1999 as they improved soldering in later years. So the only other thing to try is replacing the stepper motors. You can usually find them online for $15-20 each.
Ultimately, you can send it to me but I would hate to have you spend money shipping only to find out I can't fix it and I am a bit nervous since it doesn't fit in one of the problems I am confident I can fix.
hey Steve, when I put cluster back in, the needles pointed straight down can i just push them over to zero?
Yes. I forgot to show that in the video. You need to set the needles to zero when you put them back on. The stepper motor has a mechanical stop so all you have to do is rotate the needle counter clockwise until you can feel the stepper motor hits its stop and the needles are at zero.
thank you! you are a gentleman and a scholar! :)