fixinto Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 (edited) Anybody out there with a 96ish pathy that the tachometer just flakes out on you? I will give you a better description. At first i noticed that between say, 2400rpm and 2800 rpm it would...sortof skip or speed up a little through that range. it did that for i dont know, 8 months to a year. then last weekend i was sitting at a light, and it just pegged out past redline and 8k. i was like...um.... so i bumped the dash and bam, started working again. It didn't flake on me again for a few days then it happend again. bumping the dash did not help her this time. eventually it started functioning correctly, it was tryin to wind it back down as the RPM's would drop. well i finally got tired of watching it flake out ( lets face it, we love our tach's) hehe. Today on my lunch hour at work, i yanked the instrument cluster out of the dash and took the tachometer out and redid the solder on the back of the board. slapped it back in and bam works perfect. the "skip or speed up" from 2400 to 2800 even went away. Not real surprising considering the solder on the back of those bad boys is what? 16ish yrs old now. The whole thing was simple. just the 2 bolts holding on the plastic cover, the 4 bolts in the cluser, unplug a few wire harness plugs, undo a zip tie and you have the cluster in your hands. then pop off the clear plastic piece depressing the tabs delicately, *remember they r 16yrs old and plastic. Take the 4 screws out of the back and the tach pulls out forward. Then put some flux on..i dont know pretty much everything and reflow it. upto you whether you wipe the flux off or not. then put it back together in the reverse order. and there you have it. A fully functional tach without having to replace Jack or dook either one. bout an hour of your time. (thats taking care with the plastic cover on the dash and the plastic front of the cluster) probably do it faster now that i have done it before. Anyways if anyone has a tachometer that is bein a pain in the bum...well hopefully this will help you out. Have a good one ladies and gents, and keep on fixin her, because well.. she is worth it. Hopefully this holds up i will keep u guys and gals posted, but im pretty confident in it since it even fixed the skip. 187k and still rollin strong. Edited February 13, 2013 by fixinto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 I get the same thing but with my speedo, have to smack the cluster or top of the dash for her to turn back (my speedo just sometimes stops working) scary as all get out when it does with the cruise control set. I might end up doing something like this, so you just went through removed the old solder and re soldered the connections? Thanks for the nice write up -Kyle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HitMan Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Mine is doing the skipping thing right now and I could not figure out why at exactly the same range of RPM. Good to know its something simple to fix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 Mine is doing the skipping thing right now and I could not figure out why at exactly the same range of RPM. Good to know its something simple to fix! Rock on man, happy i could help with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 I get the same thing but with my speedo, have to smack the cluster or top of the dash for her to turn back (my speedo just sometimes stops working) scary as all get out when it does with the cruise control set. I might end up doing something like this, so you just went through removed the old solder and re soldered the connections? Thanks for the nice write up -Kyle actually i just added flux to the old solder and reflowed it, i could tell what was cold because it came off the pad right when the heat touched it. so i added some solder to those spots, if i would have been thinking about it and not in a rush on my lunch break at work i would have included some detailed pictures. but ya if you wanna remove the solder thats fine, but i find it easier and way less of a pain in the butt to just add solder where needed and reflow with fresh flux. the joints turn out solid, and its less than half the work. Looked factory when i was finished, "probably better than factory" but i have been in the electronics repair industry for over 12 yrs. still yet, its very simple. just take ur time and dont hold the iron on the pad too long. hopefully that helps you out man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 You wouldn't by chance have a guide as what connections to solder would you? my Tacho just took a schizophrenic dump a few days ago, and i want to try this to see if it will fix it. Thanks -Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted August 13, 2013 Author Share Posted August 13, 2013 You wouldn't by chance have a guide as what connections to solder would you? my Tacho just took a schizophrenic dump a few days ago, and i want to try this to see if it will fix it. Thanks -Kyle Sorry Kyle, i didnt take any pictures at all, but if you look at the back of the board, just reflow or "add solder" to everything, there isnt that much there at all, the entire reflow as i like to call it, took about 6 to 8 minutes, the rest was just tearin it down and back up. Hope that helps u out. If you have some old electronics that r broken layin around you can practice on that to get the flow down and stuff without muckin up the pads or traces. but anything you see with a pin stickin up, heat it up after adding additional flux "not just the core of the solder but a stand alone flux" you will see the joint become shiney. thats how u know it is fully melted. then remove heat. Say you add flux then heat the joint and the solder pulls away from the pad and toward the pin sticking throught the board, thats Definately a bad spot so add some solder there "in those cases i sucked the old solder up using a solder sucker and added completely fresh solder, U can also use wick to remove it, just dont "scoot" it on the board because thats an easy way to rip old traces or pads. Just lay it flat, touch the iron to the back of it, u will see the solder flow into the wick, while keeping the tip on the back of the wick, pull directly up on the wick to remove it cleanly from the pad. then remove the heat. that will ensure you do not "weld" or solder the wick to the pad. Sorry for taking a bit to get back to you on this, ive had a whole lot going on lately. I hope this helps you out. Have a good one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB3829 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Thanks fixinto!........I tried your suggestion and it worked for 2 days but then it started acting up again at startup (pegged at 8K) but then went back to normal after a few miles......I applied flux to every spot on the back of the board then heated it to the point of melting and added more solder. Did I do something wrong or should I try the same procedure again? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Yeah, it didn't work for me either, so im just going to the junkyard and getting a new manual cluster for my car, and putting my speedometer in. -Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 (edited) Thanks fixinto!........I tried your suggestion and it worked for 2 days but then it started acting up again at startup (pegged at 8K) but then went back to normal after a few miles......I applied flux to every spot on the back of the board then heated it to the point of melting and added more solder. Did I do something wrong or should I try the same procedure again? Thanks! Sorry it didn't work out for you, what that tells me is more than likely, you missed the actual cold solder joint that is causing the problem when you reflowed the bored. i did mine about a year and 4 or 5 thousand miles ago and its still working like its brand new. But its a learned skill just like anything else and ive been soldering for a living for 13 years now. So ya maybe you need to hit it again, Pay special attention to where the "motor" comes through and connects to the board around those post sticking up. Man i wish i would have recorded it with my phone while i was doing it to show you guys what i was talking about. I was pressed for time in a major way though because i was doing it on my lunch break at work. GL to you man, and just be careful and take your time. Heck get every silver spot on the bored adding solder where you need to. And heating up IC legs to remelt them to the board also. Be sure your soldering iron tip is clean and shiny before you start that. You dont want to bridge the pins. and remember, Its not actually broke until you can no longer fix it. =) and heck it never hurts trying if its already broken. Patrick Edited October 2, 2013 by fixinto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fixinto Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 (edited) Yeah, it didn't work for me either, so im just going to the junkyard and getting a new manual cluster for my car, and putting my speedometer in. -Kyle Hi there Kyle, I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you man. what that tells me is more than likely, you missed the actual cold solder joint that is causing the problem when you reflowed the bored. I did mine about a year and 4 or 5 thousand miles ago and its still working like its brand new. But its a learned skill just like anything else and ive been soldering for a living for 13 years now. So ya maybe you need to hit it again, Pay special attention to where the "motor" comes through and connects to the board around those post sticking up. Man i wish i would have recorded it with my phone while i was doing it to show you guys what i was talking about. I was pressed for time in a major way though because i was doing it on my lunch break at work. Like i told the other fella, Be sure your tip is tinned and clean, "wet sponge is great for wiping off extra solder on the tip" and reflow the only IC in the circuit. Or ya man u can hit a JY and grab a cluster if there are some around there. But it looks like a decently common problem so they may have the same issue. Just patients and practice. any electronics device that works sometimes or u can bump it and it will work is usually one of 2 things, a cold solder joint or cracked trace or lan. 98 percent of the time its just a cold solder joint. I would venture to say on these since they arnt under any strain physically that 99.8 percent of the time its probably a cold joint. GL and i hope you get your cluster fixed up bud ~ Patrick Edited October 2, 2013 by fixinto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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