Speedometer fix
 

Aiite so after 2 years I finally got tired of having a in-op speedo. And I was bored. I pulled the belt off from my waist that holds my retard arm down and got the bright idea to screw with it. Mine would work sometimes for a few miles as long as it was pretty hot in the car. When it was cold it stuck at 18. So, solder (tin) expands when hot and cools and contracts. The thought train started to gain speed there. It's gotta be a loose / faulty solder joint. Of course I checked all the circuit to the vss first!

Ok, so I pulled the green IC from the speedo and stuck the tip of my iron to each joint just to re-solder everything. Guess what. It has worked for a week. Fifteen degree weather, no erratic operation, perfect. If you're up for it give it a try before you bone out and get a junker. Seemed to work on mine. And it is a damn good excuse to drink a few beers.

Yep yep.

Sometimes those solder joints go bad after x number of years.

I had the same problem with my power mirrors.

Post up this fix in the Cluster Removal/Fix thread (check the Accord FAQ)

Re: Speedometer fix (JGAccorn)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JGAccorn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Aiite so after 2 years I finally got tired of having a in-op speedo. And I was bored. I pulled the belt off from my waist that holds my retard arm down and got the bright idea to screw with it. Mine would work sometimes for a few miles as long as it was pretty hot in the car. When it was cold it stuck at 18. So, solder (tin) expands when hot and cools and contracts. The thought train started to gain speed there. It's gotta be a loose / faulty solder joint. Of course I checked all the circuit to the vss first!

Ok, so I pulled the green IC from the speedo and stuck the tip of my iron to each joint just to re-solder everything. Guess what. It has worked for a week. Fifteen degree weather, no erratic operation, perfect. If you're up for it give it a try before you bone out and get a junker. Seemed to work on mine. And it is a damn good excuse to drink a few beers.</TD></TR></TABLE>
What year and model car is that on?

Re: Speedometer fix (Chiovnidca)
 

it is a 96 LX. It should be the same on 94-97 models with any trim level. Not sure about other years.

Re: Speedometer fix (JGAccorn)
 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JGAccorn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it is a 96 LX. It should be the same on 94-97 models with any trim level. Not sure about other years.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'll try to remember this the next time I get one in the shop.

Re: Speedometer fix (Chiovnidca)
 

Was going to swap in an SiR Cluster but I'll try it out... anything to keep a few $$$ in my pocket https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emthup.gif

Re: Speedometer fix (213374U)
 

it's quite strange how the cd era of accords tend to have this problem, I have got to experience that personally all but one of the accord I had, had this problem

Re: Speedometer fix (jdmishcb)
 

my speedo is kinda weird.... it comes and goes whenevr it wants it dosnt matter wat the temp is..any tips??

Same solution

You can try doing the soldering iron, or just replace the green IC.

Re: (TheMuffinMan)
 

wat does "IC" stand for?

Re: (loup05)
 

Integrated circuit, the green circuit board on the back of the speedometer.

It pulls right off, you can try to resolder the points or just get a known working one and swap it.

Re: (TheMuffinMan)
 

yeah, I actually stuck mine under a microscope and was looking at alot of the solder joints. There were 3 that looked really rough and cracked. That's what really gave me the idea of doing this. It has worked for a little over 2 weeks so far. I am about to do one of my friends this coming weekend. It it fixes his too i'm gonna call it a solid fix. Don't know how long it will last, guess i'll find out.

Re: (JGAccorn)
 

i think ima try it.. i gotta get a gun though.. i saw one at sears for 50 bucks

Re: Speedometer fix (JGAccorn)
 

Any way to test the cluster after soldering before re-installing it and all the dash? I might try your method before heading to the pull-n-save for another cluster.

Re: Speedometer fix (Volcom)
 

You should be able to plug in the cluster and test it without putting the entire dash back together.

Re: (loup05)
 

loup05, just go by Radio Shack. You can get a good iron for 12 bucks. You need to get a pencil tip iron.

Well, speedo still works but.... the timing belt decided to snap yesterday! 254K and 2 t-belts later the accorn is in the garage. Original motor and trans. Never been out, only t-belts, 1 clutch, tune ups and oil changes! Pretty damn good if ya ask me. Bought in when I was 18 with 54K on it.

Should've had 3 tbelts by that time.

~80k miles or 7 years

80 + 80 + 80 = 240

Bummer though - check the condition of the engine as it may be toasted

95 accord LX, the same problem: speedometer AND odometer quit working randomly, it started happening this last winter, coincidence? https://honda-tech.com/forums/images/smilies/emwink.gif will try your method, more details or pics would be helpful though.. can i mess up tachometer or fuel gauge while doing this??

Re: Speedometer fix (JGAccorn)
 

Bumping this - just did this today and speedometer now works great. Thanks!

Re: Speedometer fix
 

So I have a similar problem--speedo is stuck at 20 and odo doesn't work. Occasionally, the speedo will kick in and start working, usually during hour-long drives, and the odo will come back on with it. 90% of the time, however, my speedo is stuck at 20.
I gave this method a shot yesterday--however--I do not know
nearly anything about soldering or circuitry. I bought an iron, read
a few tips, and searched high and low for specifics on the re-soldering process, especially pictures, but to no avail. So I winged it. I simply touched the tip to as many of the metal blobs as I could get to (on the back of the Speedo PCB, not the big cluster one) until they started to pool then I released. After so much guesswork, I gave up and decided to rehook it to see if it'd work. Alas, it is still at 20mph. Now, also, my dash light won't come on and my fuel meter is stuck on full (when my tank has been near E since yesterday). I'd like to get my fuel meter working again, and I'd like to see if anyone had any specifics for me on the circuit board process. Maybe I'm far too amateur for this, but I'm 22 years old and broke, dammit. I have to at least try!

Re: Speedometer fix
 

ayoyo, so i just joined this sight, and cant seem to find what i was looking for after i actually signed in, after finding it on google. it was a link that one of you had posted (i think it was you "themuffinman"), on the process of taking out the center console to get at/behind the dash and to the cluster itself, if u wouldnt mind sending me/posting that link please doso..... sorry if its my stupidity that kept me from seeing it somewhere else
-thanks

Re: Speedometer fix
 

1996 accord v6 (if it matters).....

Re: Speedometer fix
 

96 Honda Accord LX 4cyl

Same has been happening here, usually only when it's cold. 140K miles now, will pull this off over the weekend.
Believe it or not, Honda's aren't the only victims to cold solder points - I had to pull off the entire panel in the Supra and re-solder every point.

I was also told there is a connector on the back held in by a compression washer + screw - I can update when I pull it off and inspect, but might be something to watch out for if you've got it pulled out.

Re: Speedometer fix
 

Did the reflow fix.

Seemed to work so far. Figured I'd add in my pics.

I used this bernzomatic torch with the pen tip. A real soldering iron with a pointy tip would be better, but this is all I had.

http://media.toolking.com/catalog/pr...tane_Torch.jpg

Took apart the dash to get to the cluster.

Great writeup here:
http://www.superhonda.com/forum/f94/...-420kb-274853/

Separated the white and the black parts of the cluster:

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../WP_000023.jpg

Unscrewed the speedometer gauge (look at the tutorial above to see which screws).

Popped off the Speedo PCB:

Attachment 446090

Then I proceeded to reflow some of the joints. To do this, I just touched the tip of the iron on the join and held it till the joint got liquidy. I also fed in some thin solder I had, you might not need to, I just did it cause I had it lying around.

You can see in the pics some of the ones I touched up. If you look at the speedo, you can see 4 pins in a row (2 and 2), I focused on the points where they pin into on the PCB.

I'm pretty sure it is these 4:

Attachment 446091

If you're pretty good with it, touch up anyones that you can. I did, so I'm not sure if touching just those 4 would fix it. Any ones that were reachable, I did. Didn't touch any that had glue around them.

Hope this helps someone.

Re: Speedometer fix
 

I took mine apart and tried to reflow the solder, but it lasted less than a week... first time I'd ever used a soldering iron though so I put it down to operator error. Next I tried baking the whole thing at 385 for 10 mins (preheated the oven, set the PCB on some rolls of foil propping it at the screw holes, on a cookie sheet...you can find instructions on baking computer video cards which is what I adapted)

worked flawlessly from october to february, in feb it started twitching and wigging out once in a while, by april it totally quit working in the cold again. (I guess it's not a morning person ;) ) Probably will pop it out and try again, although now that it's not below 35 much at night it's working all day again so if it keeps working I may just put it off until I can buy a replacement board.

Edit: I suggest this cause it's a lot simpler than trying to reflow solder manually and not everybody has an iron. and at least for me, it worked a lot better. By the end of the 10 mins I could smell a little solder smell, but it dissipated pretty quickly. I wouldn't want to do it regularly without having a dedicated oven/toaster oven for it, but my personal risk assessment is that it isn't going to hurt anything once in a while.