Fixing Inaccurate Gas Gauge, Odometer not working/ not showing up and all the rest of the insterment panel With Video
Hey, I know a lot of people including myself that have owned just about any Dodge, Chrysler or Pontiac Vehicle There instrument panel quick working in at least 1 way but normally more i.e Odometer not working, light not working in the instrument panel and so on.
So Buick seems to be the very worse about having this problem. I have a 00 Regal gs and this is how I went about fixing the gauges and odometer. To see how I fixed the gas gauge scroll down or just click here to see the other how to page on fixing the gas gauges on these same vehicles.
So here we go The problem 99% if the time lies within the burnt resistors on the circuit board.
Don’t let the way that sounds scare you because all you need is about and hour of time a soldering iron screw driver and a quick trip to radio shack.
If you do not know how to solder. No problem click here to go to my detailed how to solder and de-solder tutorial.
This whole fix is less than 5 dollars. Your other option of taking it to a dealership because no other independent shops do this.
You take it to the dealer and the will charge you around 800 dollars and send the cluster off to a specialty repair facility and you will be without your car for around a week.
The choice is obvious
Here are the steps below with pictures and the video is below
- Remove the instrument cluster from the vehicle REMOVAL PROCEDURE IMPORTANT: The ignition switch must be in the OFF position when removing the instrument panel cluster.
- Remove the instrument panel cluster trim plate.
- Remove the screws from the instrument panel cluster.
- Rotate the top of the instrument panel cluster rearward and disengage the locating pins on the bottom of the instrument panel cluster.
Inst. Connector
- Disconnect the electrical connector from the instrument panel cluster.
- Remove the instrument panel cluster from the instrument panel.
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
Connect the electrical connector to the instrument panel cluster.
- Position the locating pins on the bottom of the instrument panel cluster to the pin receivers in the instrument panel.
- Install the instrument panel cluster rotating the top of the instrument panel cluster forward and engage the locating pins on the bottom of the instrument panel cluster.
- Install the screws the instrument panel cluster. Tighten Tighten the instrument panel cluster screws to 2 N.m (18 lb in).
- Install the instrument panel cluster trim plate.
So here are also some pictures from the one I personally did on my Buick regal gs
![[Google]]( http://jsautosource.com/_WpJsAS_com_a0709/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsenser/google-light.gif)
worked for me!!!! my LS didnt have the 3 on the other side because it didnt have the driver info.. works great now!
Works like a charm! Thank you! I also recommend getting the resin flux to keep your soldering iron clean.
Worked great for me, when I opened my cluster up one of the resistors was gone & while testing the other three to see how secure they were, one fell off so I decided to knock off the other two & put all 4 new ones on like you did. Thanks so much you rock!!!
Pete
Can you please explain what the plastic part of the resistor is and how do you know which way this plastic piece should be facing when installing? The driver information centre in my 2001 Buick just went dark. Sometimes I can see the display very, very faintly and I’d love to change the resistors.
This worked like a charm – unbelievable! Thank you so much for the step by step. The hard part was getting the panel off. it would be great to link to a site with that – I found one for removing the radio.
Thanks again – huge savings.
Thanks for the help you saved me $600dls I did it according with your Instructions Gracias!!!!
What kind/type of resistor did you say to use? The video was too blurry/ out of focus where you showed the package.
If I can get the dash panel off, I think you’ve saved me a lot of money.
Thanks
Worked great!!! everything was dead on down to the price for the resisters. The only minor issue is that the original resisters are flush mounted so it took a little work to get the prongs situated, other than that I can’t thank you enough. John
Geaorge rocks, with a resister it doesn’t matter which way it goes in, diodes go only one way.
Excellent article! Along with your description here (and the youtube video) I also found another YouTube video showing more details on the dis-assembly of the panels before you remove cluster. Here’s the link for others to see:
http://youtu.be/yC1JnljnfTY
I have an 01 Regal with center console (and automatic floor shifter), so getting the panels out of the way was a bit more involved, but not so much so. I ended up using the original resistors, just cleaned them up (removed the black oxide layer with a small fine file) so the solder would adhere. Seemed to work well.
Fundamentally, the problem is with the original design (from GM), these resistors get TOO HOT during regular use (PCB shows discoloration and original resistors are dark in color). Along with poor, corroded solder, they eventually failed. I wonder why GM didn’t have to recall these? It’s apparent it’s a wife spread failure.
Again thanks for the post!!
Thanks for the very informative vid. Odometer works great now. Saved me 500 bucks.
That is so cool to have my problem pin-pointed exactly. Another design weakness in this car. The fix worked perfect. The hardest part is removing the trim panel. With the money I saved on the IP, I can buy a new console panel that I damaged in the removal process.
Just finished repairing my 2000 Regal LS. Only the upper right four were present on my vehicle. Two were 120ohm, two were 150ohm. Worked great, thanks so much! WONDERFUL instructions.
Holy odometer! It worked great. When I bought the car, guy told me it had 180,000 miles on it. Smart guy had it kilometers last time it was working because it said 184,000 km but, I switched it over to miles and that equals 114,000. Pretty big difference. Thanks for the article. HUGE HELP. I had everything but the resistors. Ended up costing me two dollars and some change. NICE!
work perfect , thanks you save me a lot of time