Thanks for the reply i’ll do this

 

Which company did you go with?

 

rapid_electronics, an ebay seller.
it looks like I did this about a year ago.

 

I'm having the same fuel gauge issues as well - If I start the car it will show some reading of fuel, I can then shut the car off, restart it, and I will get a different fuel gauge reading.

My speedometer has also quit working. I am running a Wiring Specialties harness for my LS1 swap and all 4 needles usually do a full sweep when the key is turned on. The speedometer does not move anymore during this sweep. Yesterday I tried putting the cluster into diagnosis mode, and it would not go into it. I tried probably 30-40 times following the steps in the FSM, but I couldn't get the cluster to enter self-test mode. The FSM says to replace the cluster if this happens. Has anyone here had any luck with replacing the speedo stepper motor or repairing a solder connection inside the cluster to resolve a non-working speedo in addition to fixing the solder connections for the fuel gauge?

 

Thank you Riche. Worked like a charm! I do want to share one piece of advice I learned along the way. Removing the LCD screens must be done very carefully. I first unhooked the clips and lifted them with my nail just enough to clear the clips. Then I fed gift package decorative ribbon underneath to provide pulling leverage from under. I fed two strands for the odometer lcd and one strand for the shift lcd. This way you dont crack the glass with a screw driver. The ribbon may break a few times just keep feeding more and pull evenly and slowly on both sides. No cracks and no bent pins. Good luck everyone!

 

I currently have two 05-07 type G's and had another in the past. All had cluster issues. Amazingly the issues are quite consistent. The following issues are what I've seen with mine, the same occurred in all of them except for one with working MM:

• dim sections
• fuel gauge
• cruise "set" light
• left blinker light
• manual mode nada

I looked around a fair bit and still haven't found any DIY for the italicized items. So that leads me to question #1. Has anyone isolated which sections to reflow for those problems?

Of course the fuel gauge fix is pretty well detailed, and I realize people tend to live with dim spots and no cruise light, but the final two are quite important imo. Left blinker not showing on the dash results in me driving around unknowingly blinking for long periods of time. No manual mode sucks. Once you learn how to use that correctly, it's something you'll want to use on every spirited drive. Otherwise you're basically not able to take advantage of the 05- rev match - one of the main reasons I didn't just pick up an 03-04 with their "never crack" dash.

Part #2, I'll add a 2024 repair testimony. I sent one of my clusters off for repair to one of the Ebay people. I forget the user name of the one in particular but it was one of the cheaper listings as I just wanted to give it a try. I'd been living with lame clusters for some years now, mainly since I don't drive my G's daily. Anyway, I was impressed with their very quick return and good communication initially. Fuel gauge is working now. All is not ideal however. Odo illumination is still slightly dim and the cluster came back with something loose inside that rattles. Sounds like either a small screw of maybe a solder ball that fell down in there. I'll be taking the assembly apart to remove that soon.

Luckily this cluster had no MM issue, because the only thing they fixed on the cluster is the fuel gauge, despite them sending me a message after I made payment saying to simply put a letter in the box telling them everything that was wrong with the unit in detail. As soon as they received my package they sent me an email saying they only fix the fuel gauge and odo backlighting and nothing else. OK, it would have been nice to know this in advance.

At that point my choice was to either have them go ahead and do a partial repair or eat two shipping charges and get the cluster back "unfixed". I tried in three different messages to explain to them that these clusters have other issues and asked if they'd repair all of them...and that I'd gladly pay a bit extra for that, as will others. That fell on deaf ears, or better yet fell to an obtuse email responder who didn't seem to be anything more than a "go between". I never got a straight answer back. They'd say things like "thanks for the information" and then would say something else like, "your cluster should be ready soon", etc. Frustrating. Got it back only slight better than before (with a new rattle). So as you can imagine, I'm ready to start tackling this myself, which is why I'm here.

Final question for Riche if you're still around. What size soldering tip can I get away with on this micro repair and what type. My iron is pretty standard so it appears the smallest tip I can use with it is 0.031" / 0.79mm with conical tip. There's also a screwdriver tipped one around that size too. For this particular fix, which type would you suggest?

 

@Scorpi0 Do you have any insight on G.Whiz last question?

 

Anything from about 1-3mm tip should be fine. For the small amount of work you're doing, you can probably get away with almost anything available. All you have to do is get the joint hot so the solder reflows.

 

.031” tip might work. Thats about the size of most of the joints. But I do remember there being even smaller ones that are impossible to do by hand. So if you want to hit all the solder joints by hand, forget it!! Its not gonna happen. They are also too close to eachother so you run the risk of melting 2 of them together. I have even tried using a heat gun to heat up the whole board thinking that might soften them up a bit and make it work, but I dont think that gets it hot enough.

Here’s a full pic of the cluster and all the joints.