Hi all

Had a few good tips from here so thought I'd give something back.

Speedo pointer light went out after flickering for a while, it's a surface mount LED so not as easy as a bulb change.

If you want to attempt this you need a steady hand, good soldering skills and a good few hours spare time to fill in, easy in the curreent climate.

If not I'm told you can find people to do the job for £100+

I'd recommend you practice on an old scrap board before diving in.

So here goes:-

 

1/ drop the steering column and extend as far as poss towards you

2/ press in the lighting switch, turn a little clockwise then pull towards you, the switch will release and pull from the dash

3 / detach from the wiring, small tag presses in towards the wires, then pull off

4/ remove the surrounding grey plastic trim, easing at each end towards you with a flat screwdriver, 2 clips

5/ same other side of the column, 2 clips

6/ pull the plastic trim under the instruments towards you, attached by cloth trim to column so just move it out the way

7/ remove the 2 torqe screws from bottom of instrument panel, mag screwdriver or carefully, if they drop you may never see them again

8/ push an old cd/dvd (or any one of the wife's) between top of instruments and dash binacle, works great to release the top clips

9/ ease unit out and turn to release multi plug, lift small tag this will push plug out

10/ on desk, remove glass and front cover, matchsticks can help hold the 6 tags open

11/ ease the 2 pegs out top and 1 bottom, back cover comes off

12/ slide 2 forks under pointers where possible, I used thin cardboard (gives better support) to protect the dials as easily marked, they pop off and do fly so expect to chase them, they pull straight off, a push fit

13/ remove 2 dial backgrounds, held at the middle by two tabs, thin srewdriver underneath, carefully work them up and off

14/ press two tabs on white light guide panel and remove

15/ the black cover now unclips so you can access both sides of the board, better access for soldering

I changed the original white LED's for red, giving red pointers, considered changing background to blue, but more time needed and decided not to push my luck, the pointer LED's are on full time so must usually fail first

16/ now the fun soldering bit, i found it easier to melt one side and twist slightly, the other contact will snap off, so pads need to be cleaned up for new LED, used a match to hold them in place then heated to fuse each side, difficult to get flat and level but will do the job, make sure you fit them right way round, therwise don't work, corner notch is the clue, note before you work on them

17/ reverse order to rebuild, I connected panel to car first and checked all ok

 

Only prob i have now is fuel is reading empty! might reset itself

Hope the photos help, will update where needed soon and pic of panel at night

 

Regards

R

 

 

 

That's an interesting first post and I'm sure it will help some people out.

I'll move it to the Guides section.

26 minutes ago, john999boy said:

That's an interesting first post and I'm sure it will help some people out.

I'll move it to the Guides section.

thanks

will i be able to edit it to link photos to text etc?

8 minutes ago, NotThatWayThisWay said:

thanks

will i be able to edit it to link photos to text etc?

Non Freedom members only have a certain amount of time to edit posts before that ability is unavailable. I think it's 60 min?

To get extra storage and unlimited editing time etc check out the hyperlink.

 

On 22/01/2021 at 17:29, NotThatWayThisWay said:

UPDATED photos and text

 

Hi all

Had a few good tips from here so thought I'd give something back.

Speedo pointer light went out after flickering for a while, it's a surface mount LED so not as easy as a bulb change.

If you want to attempt this you need a steady hand, good soldering skills and a good few hours spare time to fill in, easy in the current climate.

If not I'm told you can find people to do the job for £100+

I'd recommend you practice on an old scrap board before diving in, good clean tinned soldering iron and solder paste may be easier.

So here goes:-

 

1/ drop the steering column and extend as far as poss towards you

2/ press in the lighting switch, turn a little clockwise then pull towards you, the switch will release and pull from the dash

3 / detach from the wiring, small tag presses in towards the wires, then pull off

4/ remove the surrounding grey plastic trim, easing at each end towards you with a flat screwdriver, 2 clips

5/ same other side of the column, 2 clips

6/ pull the plastic trim under the instruments towards you, attached by cloth trim to column so just move it out the way

7/ remove the 2 torqe screws from bottom of instrument panel, mag screwdriver or carefully, if they drop you may never see them again

8/ push an old cd/dvd (or any one of the wife's) between top of instruments and dash binacle, works great to release the top clips

9/ ease unit out and turn to release multi plug, lift small tag this will push plug out

10/ on desk, remove glass and front cover, matchsticks can help hold the 6 tags open

11/ ease the 2 pegs out top and 1 bottom, back cover comes off

12/ slide 2 forks under pointers where possible, I used thin cardboard (gives better support) to protect the dials as easily marked, they pop off and do fly so expect to chase them, they pull straight off, a push fit, Caution! - Note the positions of pointers on gauges so they can be refitted in exactly same position, powering the board on for led test may move them!!, photo of rest positions may help

13/ remove 2 dial backgrounds, held at the middle by two tabs, thin srewdriver underneath, carefully work them up and off

14/ press two tabs on white light guide panel and remove

15/ the black cover now unclips so you can access both sides of the board, better access for soldering

I changed the original white LED's for red, giving red pointers, considered changing background to blue, but more time needed and decided not to push my luck, the pointer LED's are on full time so must usually fail first

16/ now the fun soldering bit, i found it easier to melt one side and twist slightly, the other contact will snap off, so pads need to be cleaned up for new LED, used a match to hold them in place then heated to fuse each side, difficult to get flat and level but will do the job, make sure you fit them right way round, therwise don't work, corner notch is the clue, note before you work on them

17/ reverse order to rebuild, I connected panel to car first and checked all ok

 

Only prob i have now is fuel is reading empty! might reset itself, to fill tank and reset, temp should normally be 90'c, rpm just over 800, to check speedo against roadside speed check board or compare with another car

Hope the photos help, will update where needed soon and pic of panel at night

 

Regards

 

 

R

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fantastic guide. I have a flickering light to the speedo needle, could you tell me the exact type of surface mount led I'd need.

14 hours ago, Pritcher said:

Fantastic guide. I have a flickering light to the speedo needle, could you tell me the exact type of surface mount led I'd need.

Yes mine flickered just before going off, then invisible in the dark!

I used these.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SMD-SMT-Surface-Mount-LED-1210-3528-PLCC-2-Blue-Red-Green-Warm-Cool-White-RGB/392851933552?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=661746934317&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

The 3528 relates to the size (3.5mm x 2.8mm).

If you just replace one, not sure if the cool white or warm white will be the best match, (think it's warm white?) get both and test them, i made up a 3v button battery and leads to check all the other leds while i was in there.

 

Remember photos before you start, (cold, ign on) then when rebuilding, don't push the pointers fully home until tested on car and happy, i'm going down that route to re-synch mine as missed that step, though not far out, how accurate are they from new??

 

Have fun and hope it goes smoothly, let me know

 

Regards

Richard