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How to remove instrument cluster needles

6K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  DrewPT 
#1 ·
Hello,
my oil pressure & fuel economy gauge doesn't work when i start the car, both will work after a while, or after giving the dash a couple of taps, i took a part the whole thing cleaned the connections and sockets. the same!!
i found a low mileage cluster at the junk yard, i bought it so cheap and want to swap the needles and the plate as the one from the junk yard is so faded.
 
#2 ·
It's a bit fiddly.

The first thing you have to do is to note where the needles are pointing "at rest", meaning when all power is off. The ones that come to a stop on a peg you have to lift over the peg to see where the resting point really is.

The needles are pressure fitted to a shaft so all you really need to do is to find a way to pry the needles off without marring anything. I've used a piece of cardboard for leverage and a plastic spatula to pry the needles off. The attachment to the shaft can be surprisingly strong.

On reinstallation you have to make sure the needle is at exactly the right angle.

Good luck.
 
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#10 ·
Soapy warm water did the trick, not all of it but looks better, one more question, the junk yard odometer has a 140K on it, but the gears are broken, i searched online to buy the gears, they are expensive, do you guys have another solution ? i want to clean, paint the needles, change the gears and put on online to sell it.
 
#11 ·
Is the circular portion integral with the orange needle? I think the aluminum ones from the w116 cluster would look great with my dark blue interior (would they interchange?), but I have pristine orange needles on a low-mileage cluster I plan to use. Is it not workable to combine both?
 
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