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How to re-calibrate your 94-97 Cluster (pic heavy)

15K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  deathphoenix99 
#1 ·
How to disassemble a 94-97 Gauge Cluster. (Picture Heavy)



Remove the 4 torx screws holding the front plastic cover in place. T-15 or you can use a 5.5mm socket.



Remove top clear plastic casing. This can allow you to access the needles in case you would like to recalibrate them.





Now to remove the gauges, you flip the cluster over and using a blunt object, of a screwdriver, press on the metal pins as so, apply even pressure and move to all of them to ease the cluster apart, it may take a couple of minutes, but by doing this method, you won’t destroy the foam underneath the face plate. If you press this foam down, the corresponding Warning lights will be illuminated when the gauge’s illumination bulbs are lit. Also, while removing the face plate, be careful not to damage the needles. I usually hold onto one of the corners while pushing the faceplate into my lap. Sometimes holding it on its side will help.





As you can see, the board is starting to push forward.







This is the foam that you need to be careful not to destroy.



This is the face plate without the housing.



To remove the circuit board from the stepper motors, you will need a T-8. There are 3 of them.







Now, using the same method as before, remove the circuit board from the stepper motors. Be sure not to lose the spring on the trip reset rod.







To recalibrate the tachometer, you need to change the capacitance going to it. The capacitor in question is in spot C103.

It’s the yellow tube that’s located between the two larger IC’s. Underneath it, there is the label C103.



In my case, I’m using a cluster calibrated for a 4.3L with a 2.2L. This is going from 6 cylinders to 4, meaning that the cluster will read 2/3’s what is should be. To fix this, I need the capacitance to be 150% what it is stock. Since the stock capacitor is 472K, or 4,700pF. I need this to be a 7,050pF capacitor. Since I’m going to be adding capacitors in parallel (numbers add up) I will use the stock capacitor and add a total of 2,350pF. Using a multi-pack from RadioShack ($5, 100 capacitors), I acquired more than enough to do the job. I ended up using (2) 1,000pF (#102), (1) 330pF (#331), and (2) 10pF (#10).



The first number in parenthesis is the quantity; the second number is the code that’s written on the caps. When ran in parallel, this adds up to be 2,350pF exactly, give or take the tolerance of the capacitors. With this is parallel with the original cap, it adds up to be 7,050pF which is exactly what is needed to recalibrate the cluster.
Now I decided to solder the caps on the opposite side of the stock one for accessibility and ease.





Once that’s done, let’s move onto recalibrating the Odometer. It’s held in place with 3 T-15 screws.







You will have to remove the needle in order to remove the odometer assembly. We will worry about recalibrating the needles at a later point.



Here you can see that I started to pop out the ODO on the right side.





To recalibrate this, you will have to remove the plastic strip on the bottom, and turn the dials individually, there’s a learning curve to this, and right now I can’t explain how to do so, but it takes some patience and about 5 minutes or less to do it. Once everything is moved, make sure all of the tabs are on the bottom. Place the plastic strip back over the tabs and reinstall everything in reverse of removal. Another method to correcting your mileage is to use the unit that’s in your current cluster, even if it didn’t come with a tachometer, it’s the same module. It’s actually easy to pop the cluster back together.













To recalibrate the needles, I leave the plastic face covering off and reinstall the cluster in my vehicle, or at least plug it in. Once plugged in, turn the ignition to ON, but do not start the vehicle, now the Speedometer, Tachometer, and Oil Pressure will be set on 0, if not, pop the needles off and install them on 0. Using a voltmeter, get the true voltage of the battery to set in the correct place. As for re-calibrating the Water temp, fuel level, and oil pressure, I will detail how to do so at a later date.

Once everything is set how you want it, wipe off the cluster to remove fingerprints, dust, and other debris. Reinstall the cover and you’re good to go.


I will update this with 95-97 pictures at a later time, however they are very similar to the 94 cluster.
 
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