DIY: Swapping Instrument Cluster Needle Assemblies

This DIY is for if you need to swap the needle assemblies between instrument clusters of the same part number. Whether you bought a used instrument cluster and want to keep your original mileage on the odometer (instead of having to document mileages from your old one, and calculate it from the new cluster, or having it be wrong from the chassis mileage from the car, which will be a pain when trying to sell it, because you DO have to notify buyers of that.), sorry, I got away from my original point... Whether you bought a used cluster, or you simply bought brand new needle assemblies from Honda (like I did), this DIY will work for you.

This is for a 98-00 Manual instrument cluster. The only other instrument cluster I have experience with is a 98-00 V6 cluster, and it was the Ford cluster. It is pretty much the same as this, but no tabs in the back (you'll see this pictured later), and it was all once piece. So with that being said, do this at your own risk, and if you have a different cluster, just know it won't look identical to this DIY.

Okay, on to the pictures.
Oem goodness.



First of all, you need to remove the instrument cluster from the car obviously. I didn't take pictures, because honestly if you can't do that, then you don't even need to attempt this.

Once you have the cluster out, remove the clear cover, and the black housing via tabs pictured below:














Now on the back of each needle motor, there will be these 2 tabs holding it in place.
You will need to bend these outwards to remove the assembly.


There are 4 sets of these tabs, for each needle obviously.


Once you have the tabs bent, you simply lift up on the assembly to pop it out of where it's connected on the circuit board.




Do that with all 3, and you have this:


You just pop the new needle assembly in reverse of the way it was removed.
Put pressure on the middle of it where it attaches, to ensure it pops into place properly. It will "pop" into place. Don't push so hard to break anything, just a snug "pop." You'll know when it's in. (thatswhatshesaidlololol)


Do that with all 3:


Don't forget to bend the tabs on the back the way they should be bent to hold it in place, then just put the instrument cluster back together in reverse of removal and you're good to go! You now have new needle assemblies in with your original circuit board to keep your original mileage!
Out with the old, in with the new.

 

niceeeeee ! rep for you !

so in theory you could remove the faces and motors to add foil tap to help out with leds?

 

Exactly why I have this experience with my old V6 cluster. The foil tape helps out a lot, but only really with a cluster which you've taken the filter off the back. If you still have the filter it evenly disperses the light, without the filter not so much. So yeah, I used foil tape. I wouldn't need it unless I took the filter off again, though.


But yeah... do this, to put foil tape behind. Takes like 10 mins TOPs to do this.

 

$180.

 

Would this work with swapping the 01,02 gauges into the 98-00 cluster?

 

Bax, you're my hero. Now text me the part numbers and where you bought the assemblies from.

 

Oooh I am going to look at this later when I have more time. At work right now.

I don't think that's possible, I believe the faces are different.

 

:roy:

Honestly, I don't see that working. But I mean, you can try. Each needle motor has 3 or 4 pins that go into them from the circuit board, so I highly doubt that each one will be the exact same, being that the clusters are already so different.
But you can always be the guinea pig. lol

i looked everywhere on the online websites for dealerships, and couldn't find ****. But I figured what the hell, I'll go ask the dealership how much a new cluster is, then he told me I could buy individual pieces like this.

The part numbers are
78120-S84-A41 that's for the speedometer
78125-S84-A01
78130-S84-A01
I can't remember which one of those last two are tachometer and the gas/temp.

Chris do you remember if you have the Ford cluster? Ithought all V6 models had them, but someone told me that they had a ford cluster in their I4 manual.

 

Haha, let me try to find the damned short circuit for my temp, if all else fails... time to waste money.

 

I'll never take apart my cluster out of fear. I even have bulbs that are out

Good job Bax