I bought a 94 Accord EX 5-speed about a month ago and have a question concerning the gauge lighting. All of my gauge faces light up fine, with a soft white backlight. However, the whgite gauge pointers/needles are not illuminated at all. It is very hard to see the pointers at night because you can only see where they block the back-lighting instead of being able to see the pointers themselves.

Is this normal? Thanks.

Terry


Modified by LeadSSled at 9:42 AM 10/3/2005

 

I've never seen a 5th gen with orange needles before, unless they were painted. I have a '94 EX also, and I have the same problem with the needles not being lit at night. Makes them very hard to see. None of the 5th gen accords had lit needles though, so I'm trying to figure out how to swap the 5th gen Prelude cluster into my Accord. The Prelude cluster has lit needles and the entire setup just looks cleaner IMO.

 

Wait, come to think of it... the cluster from the 97-99 (4cyl or 6cyl), or the 2000 (4cyl only), Acura CL fits just fine and looks pretty much the same except for the orange needles. So maybe the person who had the car before you swapped the CL cluster into the car. Which means that your odometer most likely does not read the correct mileage.

 

No, you're right - they are white. I had posted the original message after drving it in the dark this morning. I just thought I remembered them being red. I noticed when driving it at lunch that the needles are white. I fixed the original post. Thanks for the feedback on your EX - looks like it came from the foactiry this way.

And speaking of the odometer- mine stopped last week. I did a search on this forum and it looks like it is likely loose or corroded wiring or connector or maybe a cold solder joint. The speedometer still works fine, so it's not the VSS. I'll oull the cluster next weekend and take a closer look.

Thanks again!

 

Yeah, my odo went out on me a few weeks before my speedo kicked the bucket. At the time, I spent all day 5 or 6 days a week soldering and fixing old *** Air Force radios, so I just bought a new speedo module from the internet. Didn't feel like taking the damn thing apart and troubleshooting it. It didn't look too complicated though. So good luck with that.

 

Unfortunately, Thats' it. non-illuminated needles. Although that's an idea, Indiglow Speedo/tach needles.........

 

They don't have those glow needles for this car do they? My friends TwistedOzone.com store sells the needles but I don't think they make any for this car. I also don't like these needles.

I really like the reverse glow guages but not sure I can put them in myself and then don't want to have dealers not like it as the cluster has been opened I have heard a lot about that with ppl changing them when they go bad then no one wanting to buy the car becuase of the seal being broken. Wouldn't you have to break the seal when putting these guages in?

 

There is no seal on the gauge cluster and the reverse glow faces are really easy to put in. And no, nobody makes glowing needles for the 5th gen Accord cluster. The way it was designed simply doesn't allow for it, which is why I'm gonna try the Prelude cluster swap.