Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
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From: Southwest, PA
Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
I replaced my temp needle assembly, removed and reinstalled my gas gauge needle, and removed and reinstalled my speedo needle.
I am pretty sure all of them are off of their original position by a lot.
Is there a method to put the needles back to their original position?
The picture below is with the key turned to II I believe.
I am pretty sure all of them are off of their original position by a lot.
Is there a method to put the needles back to their original position?
The picture below is with the key turned to II I believe.
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From: Commiefornia
Re: Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
The gauge cluster is a weird animal and I'm working on mine myself. I can't quite explain it well because like I said, it's a weird animal. The needles have a counter balance on them and when you power up the cluster, the cluster "looks" for this weight. First thing about the speedometer is that you'll need to remove the needle once again, with the cluster powered on, and get it to align with 0mph. Power off the cluster, power it on again and see if it retains its position.
Get a GPS unit and road test the cluster.
With the cluster exposed and the GPS by your side, maybe bring a friend with you in the car. Alright, so assuming that your speedometer needle moves in a linear fashion as you accelerate and looks about correct for your speed, go 60mph and verify with the GPS to see if the speed indicated by the speedometer is accurate. If it isn't, first try to maintain speed (cruise control?) take off the needle (as you are driving!) and align the needle so that it's pointing to the speed you're going as indicated by the GPS. It may take a few tries especially if you don't have a working cruise control and can't maintain a steady speed.
After that, you're done with the speedometer. I'm surprised you were able to take off the gas and temperature needles without breaking them off like I did! When you have your speedometer properly calibrated, the procedure is basically the same with the other gauges except they should be easy to play around with since you don't have to drive fast in order to calibrate them
Oh and btw, don't calibrate the speed at only say 20mph instead of 60MPH because I tried that and I found that it's better for the speedometer to be calibrated for highway speeds than for city speeds. I calibrated my speedometer cause it was off by 2MPH when I was cruising on the highway but accurate at say 20mph. Oh and I didn't use a GPS to gauge my speed, I used a Scangauge II which gets a readout from the ECU, telling me the car's MPH. So now, my car's indicated speed is the same as the ECU is getting, which it should be. You can't do this because you have an OBD-I car (92-95) civic and scan gauge only works on OBD-II vehicles.
Get a GPS unit and road test the cluster.
With the cluster exposed and the GPS by your side, maybe bring a friend with you in the car. Alright, so assuming that your speedometer needle moves in a linear fashion as you accelerate and looks about correct for your speed, go 60mph and verify with the GPS to see if the speed indicated by the speedometer is accurate. If it isn't, first try to maintain speed (cruise control?) take off the needle (as you are driving!) and align the needle so that it's pointing to the speed you're going as indicated by the GPS. It may take a few tries especially if you don't have a working cruise control and can't maintain a steady speed.
After that, you're done with the speedometer. I'm surprised you were able to take off the gas and temperature needles without breaking them off like I did! When you have your speedometer properly calibrated, the procedure is basically the same with the other gauges except they should be easy to play around with since you don't have to drive fast in order to calibrate them
Oh and btw, don't calibrate the speed at only say 20mph instead of 60MPH because I tried that and I found that it's better for the speedometer to be calibrated for highway speeds than for city speeds. I calibrated my speedometer cause it was off by 2MPH when I was cruising on the highway but accurate at say 20mph. Oh and I didn't use a GPS to gauge my speed, I used a Scangauge II which gets a readout from the ECU, telling me the car's MPH. So now, my car's indicated speed is the same as the ECU is getting, which it should be. You can't do this because you have an OBD-I car (92-95) civic and scan gauge only works on OBD-II vehicles.
Thread Starter
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Aug 2008
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From: Southwest, PA
Re: Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
That's about the best solution so far so I think I am going to go with it. For the gas gauge I'm just going to get a full tank with the needle off then set the needle at full. With the temp gauge I am going to let the motor be cold or at operating temp and put it where it needs to be. Speedo is the tricky one hah.
The needles are pretty easy to get off actually, just used 2 small flatheads, one on each side, and gently lifted up on the base of the needle.
The needles are pretty easy to get off actually, just used 2 small flatheads, one on each side, and gently lifted up on the base of the needle.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 926
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From: Commiefornia
Re: Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
Well you're lucky because people have been able to remove the tachometer and speedometer needles but seem to break off the temperature and fuel gauges.
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 59
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From: KS, USA
Re: Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
Well, I was going to replace mine cuz I don't like the red needles... after reading this, I think I will leave them be. Hope you guys got them working decently.
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Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 47
Likes: 0
Re: Guage Cluster Needles Replaced And Need Reset To Original Position
The gauge cluster is a weird animal and I'm working on mine myself. I can't quite explain it well because like I said, it's a weird animal. The needles have a counter balance on them and when you power up the cluster, the cluster "looks" for this weight. First thing about the speedometer is that you'll need to remove the needle once again, with the cluster powered on, and get it to align with 0mph. Power off the cluster, power it on again and see if it retains its position.
Get a GPS unit and road test the cluster.
With the cluster exposed and the GPS by your side, maybe bring a friend with you in the car. Alright, so assuming that your speedometer needle moves in a linear fashion as you accelerate and looks about correct for your speed, go 60mph and verify with the GPS to see if the speed indicated by the speedometer is accurate. If it isn't, first try to maintain speed (cruise control?) take off the needle (as you are driving!) and align the needle so that it's pointing to the speed you're going as indicated by the GPS. It may take a few tries especially if you don't have a working cruise control and can't maintain a steady speed.
After that, you're done with the speedometer. I'm surprised you were able to take off the gas and temperature needles without breaking them off like I did! When you have your speedometer properly calibrated, the procedure is basically the same with the other gauges except they should be easy to play around with since you don't have to drive fast in order to calibrate them
Oh and btw, don't calibrate the speed at only say 20mph instead of 60MPH because I tried that and I found that it's better for the speedometer to be calibrated for highway speeds than for city speeds. I calibrated my speedometer cause it was off by 2MPH when I was cruising on the highway but accurate at say 20mph. Oh and I didn't use a GPS to gauge my speed, I used a Scangauge II which gets a readout from the ECU, telling me the car's MPH. So now, my car's indicated speed is the same as the ECU is getting, which it should be. You can't do this because you have an OBD-I car (92-95) civic and scan gauge only works on OBD-II vehicles.
Get a GPS unit and road test the cluster.
With the cluster exposed and the GPS by your side, maybe bring a friend with you in the car. Alright, so assuming that your speedometer needle moves in a linear fashion as you accelerate and looks about correct for your speed, go 60mph and verify with the GPS to see if the speed indicated by the speedometer is accurate. If it isn't, first try to maintain speed (cruise control?) take off the needle (as you are driving!) and align the needle so that it's pointing to the speed you're going as indicated by the GPS. It may take a few tries especially if you don't have a working cruise control and can't maintain a steady speed.
After that, you're done with the speedometer. I'm surprised you were able to take off the gas and temperature needles without breaking them off like I did! When you have your speedometer properly calibrated, the procedure is basically the same with the other gauges except they should be easy to play around with since you don't have to drive fast in order to calibrate them
Oh and btw, don't calibrate the speed at only say 20mph instead of 60MPH because I tried that and I found that it's better for the speedometer to be calibrated for highway speeds than for city speeds. I calibrated my speedometer cause it was off by 2MPH when I was cruising on the highway but accurate at say 20mph. Oh and I didn't use a GPS to gauge my speed, I used a Scangauge II which gets a readout from the ECU, telling me the car's MPH. So now, my car's indicated speed is the same as the ECU is getting, which it should be. You can't do this because you have an OBD-I car (92-95) civic and scan gauge only works on OBD-II vehicles.
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Jan 15, 2005 02:42 PM
