GAUGES: tachometer off

[Torqstr]

Hey guys, I recently installed some reverse glow gauges and some chrome trim rings, but now it seems that my tach is off quite a bit.

My original tach broke when trying to re-install the needle, so I had to go and yank a tach (just the actual electro-mechanical part INSIDE of the cluster) from a 93 automatic car, I don't think that would make a difference.

Anyway I installed it into my cluster and finished putting everything together. But when I installed the cluster in the dash I could not get it to zero out right. I tried adjusting the little resistors at the top of the cluster, and if I got it to read at 0 rpms with the key in the ON position, then my gauge would only go up to like 4500rpms and it felt like the motor was redlining. So now when I turn the key to ON the gauge rests at about 300-400rpms, but still when I hit 5000rpms it feels more like the motor is doing 5500-6000.

What can I do to fix this situation?

[Kurobei]

How did you take the needle off? There is a right and wrong way to do it....however it is a really hard thing to do if ur doing a face swap. I don't have those aftermarket reverse gauges but I don't think you are really supposed to pull the needles off in the first place? I think the holes on the aftermarket gauges are slightly bigger and they should slide right over the original gauges without any pulling the needles off. You can ask my friend Anthony jdm_inspired to be sure coz he just installed some just recently....

Anyways

If you pull the needle completely out of the gauge.... (with the metal pin behind it) you are basically screwed. What u need to do is pull the actual needle section off the "pin" pivot really carefully, leaving it in the copper wire spool. Then use a screwdriver to take the small screws off the face. When taking off the needle, it depends on how stuck the needle is on the pivot.

(YOU MUST DO THIS REALLY CAREFULLY!) Basically if you feel the needle pop up just slightly from it's base....you just messed ur whole gauge up. You'll know what i'm talking about once you practice on the junkyard accord. If you messed up it's pivot and it "popped" the needle won't reset back to 0mph if you push it to say 50mph with ur finger. It should reset back to 0mph steady and easily. Another way of telling the needle is off is by manually placing it to say 30, 80 120 etc. and if it appears slugish in resetting itself or if it doesn't land exactly on the 0mph rest pin, your gauge is off.

The way I did it was pull needles off a junk accord. I took pivot and all off and got pliers and pulled the pin out without damaging or making the pivot hole bigger.

Then on the original gauge, I got a heat gun and carefully warmed up the needle on the gauge to make the plastic expand. (BE CAREFUL NOT TO WARP YOUR ORIGINAL GAUGE.... the heat gun can damage it real easy if u leave it in one place too long)

When the needle looked a little sweaty, I got some scissors and kinda started chopping and pulling it off real easy.

(This is a for sure way to take off the needle without messing with the pin pivots calibration in the wire spool.)

After you are done, throw the damaged needle away and use the junk needle u got from the junkyard. You should have already pulled out the metal pin behind it REALLY CAREFULLY without expanding it's hole and carefully push that new needle on the bare pin pivot on your gauge.

Thats it! You'll now have a swapped face. You can use this method to replace your usdm gauges with EDM or JDM gauges but it's a really semi-hard process to do if your not careful and don't take your time.

Those e-bay reverse gauges shouldn't be hard to install tho.... they should really slip over the original gauges...but if u yank any needle in the process by mistake just enough, there is a possibility of messing it up.

I hope this helps, but I believe u should just buy another tach and start all over.

[Torqstr]

yep. I think the gauges are just screwed.