How do you remove the gauge cluster

Wahoo

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2011
This is far as I got. I try to pull it towards me and it seems like wires are keepin it in there :/

I was trying to check the connection on the back for corrosion due to my low voltage problem.

Also my turbo signals on the dash don't light up but the bulbs look ok.

 
Take the plastic surround loose behind the cluster also. Then will help with the harness. Then take the little screw loose at center of cluster. Then I think a light socket on far right. Pop hood as u are working the cluster push the cable to give little slack to un hook. By taking the surrounding plastic loose it will help to work to get to the harness plug if it has never been out. It was s PITA . Maybe my not so good instructions will help. Good luck

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Take the plastic surround loose behind the cluster also. Then will help with the harness. Then take the little screw loose at center of cluster. Then I think a light socket on far right. Pop hood as u are working the cluster push the cable to give little slack to un hook. By taking the surrounding plastic loose it will help to work to get to the harness plug if it has never been out. It was s PITA . Maybe my not so good instructions will help. Good luck

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The white/light blue plastic that everything is mounted to is loose, I removed all the bolts. I can move everything a little but I'm afraid to pull it out and ruin the harness or something.
 
dont forget the speedo cable is hooked to it also.
How do I unhook everything? Does the harness have enough play to pull out the cluster bolted onto the white/light blue plastic(in picture)?

I'm sorry if I'm overly complicating this.

I assumed once I pulled the bolts out it should just pull out enough for me to unplug things from behind it?
 
Look at this riviera cluster it should come off like yours
riv circuit board 001.JPG
 

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I bet its the speedo cable, like tbone87 said push the speedo cable in from the engine side so it pulls rite out enough to detach the cable and the whole thing should come out.
 
Well I pulled the the dash surround(padded), and loosened up the steering column bolts to drop it down a inch or two, then removed half of the screws that hold the black plastic piece that the vents are attached to.

Leaned the cluster forward and pushed the speedo cable clip towards the front of the car and it unclipped with ease!

Now I just need to unhook the harness/green connector that is in the picture above of the riviera dash and it should pop out.

Too bad the contacts for the dash don't look corroded... But I don't have it completely out yet so maybe I will find that they are.





 
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take a tiny screwdriver and gently bend all the connectors out a little bit, then clean the contacts with a soft pencil eraser, followed by some rubbing alcohol on a q tip..
 
take a tiny screwdriver and gently bend all the connectors out a little bit, then clean the contacts with a soft pencil eraser, followed by some rubbing alcohol on a q tip..

Thanks for the tip! My LEDs came in today so im planning to put it all back together soon.
 
So should I bother with dielectric grease? Should I just put it on the bulbs and then on the contacts on the cluster for each of the sockets?
 
Well I installed all my LEDs, I used Dielectric grease on every socket and terminals, other than the main plug that was suggested to bend out the contacts. I attempted to bend out the contacts slightly but I didn't want to break them so I don't know if I really bent them out at all.

I hooked up all the connections and then pushed the cluster in and bolted it up, kinda sucks that you can't even feel if the main connector clicked in, because well it doesn't click.

I then put my key in the ignition and attempted to turn the key, and what do you know..... dead battery :(

So its charging currently, hopefully it will be fully charged soon and I can check to see if the bulbs now work, and maybe I will have full voltage.

I did all this because my car had low voltage on the scan master, I believe it might have been a true reading of the battery though.... so we will see once its full charged.

I did find some burn't out bulbs.

My alternator was tested good, so I hope this will either solve my charging system issue or voltage drop..
 
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