one_bad_55

I did find a guy locally that said he could program the HHR gauges. This really hasn't been a priority because it hasn't effected the car but it sure is annoying. He said he could program my VIN number and change the odometer reading into a used one. He also has cloning capabilities for the gauges so maybe that is the way to go to make sure everything is the same on the two different gauges. I think to clone the gauges they have to be the exact same part numbers.

Before I share his name I want to make sure he can do what he says he can do. I still want to take the old one out first and mess with it and get the part numbers.

one_bad_55

Well I finally pulled the gauge cluster to get all the part numbers off of it. I first disconnected the battery and decided since I had it out I would see if I could see anything obvious with the tach. I moved the needles around to see how they felt and the tach needle felt just like all the other needles but it sounded like it was dragging on the face of the gauge. I went a head and disassembled the the entire gauge cluster and looked at the circuit board and didn't see anything obvious. I checked to make sure the soldered joints on the stepper motors were good and they looked fine. Not finding anything I put it all back together making sure that none of the needles were dragging on the faces.

I put it back together, connected the battery and sure enough it was working like a dream. It has been over a week and it is still working so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Conclusion: Either unplugging the battery while I was working on it reset everything or the actual needle was dragging on the face and the motor wasn't strong enough to overcome the drag. Personallly I think it is the later of the two as the further around the needle got the more drag it had which would explain why it got stuck way off the gauge.

Well I will keep you posted if anything changes.

Thanks for all of your help.

RJ_RS_SS_350

That's great that you got it fixed up, must have been pretty annoying. Thanks for updating your thread, may help someone in the future.

Oldblue

Yeah!! Fixed, and thanks for confirming the fix.
Tearing it apart checking it out and trying something, instead of jumping on the old Internet and just buying a new gauge cluster.

firemangeorge

Interesting. So was the needle or shaft somehow slightly bent causing it to rub the gauge face ?
Or could the gauge face have somehow warped up a little behind that needle.

Over the years I've had several gauges with warped faceplates on some air tool equipment. In fact, I've got one on a compressor air line at work right now. Needle won't register past 30psi (150psi supply) but since the golf cart tires only take 22psi I haven't bother to fix it.

one_bad_55

The shaft of the motor was fine but none of the gauges are exactly centered in the holes on the gauge face. They are close but not perfect. The needle has a small clear tube if you will that slips over the motor shaft and then you press a little harder and the shaft goes into the needle base. The clear tube is how it gets the light up to the needle. I think the problem is on the bottom side of the needle in the center it is cone shaped and it is what was rubbing on the hole in the face, not the actual end of pointing needle. I just made sure not to press it in so far that it rubbed. It took me two or three times to get it right because you have to put some pressure on it to get it to go and a couple times I pushed it in too far. It is still working so I am happy if that is all it was.

I will tell anyone attempting this that getting the gauge panel out has it's challenges. And you cannot get to the back side of the gauges from under the dash. There is an interior clip on the top back of the gauges that goes into a slot in the dash and it is a booger to get loose. Then they have that funky wire connector that goes into the gauges. It is not for the faint of heart.