7at11

My tach is on my COUCH~ I need to know what joints to resolder, more descriptive than "the circular surface mount components" becuase I'm ignorant and don't know which ones those are in order to fix the erratic tachometer problems that plauges some of us to death. Help ya'll, I am STUCK.


Thanks,
Alex

7at11

Well, I can detail the entire process now.... to get to the dash, take of the steering wheel column cover (two screws, then gently squeeze/pull apart) then several screws to loosen the gauge cluster part of the dash (see RX7 manual at iluvmyrx7.com for diagrams). Three very tight push clips hold this part of the dash around the top. I used a screwdriver to pry apart the two sections of the dash to an extent and pulled and wiggled to get it off, it was quite difficult. Be very careful to watch the rest of the dash when you're pulling, as I pulled too hard and have a some misaligned pieces now (rampant cursing.....). There are about six to eight wiring harnesses to unclip, I had someone in the passenger seat reach over while someone outside the car looking in the windshield guided them, because the wires are very short and don't allow much visual inspection. Unclip all those by squeezing the tabs) and twist to loosen the light for the cigarrette lighter and it will pop out. Then remove that section of dashboard from the car. Several screws hold the cluster into the dash, remove these and press in the clips from one side to the other to separate the two halves. This can be difficult, as the clips want to pop back in as soon as you go on to the next one. You can use pennies inserted between the halves to keep them apart, and more than two hands helps as well. Then unscrew the tachometer from the plastic base. Apparently the solder joints that were cracked on my tach (as described in other posts) are the round ones on the very back of the tach... they are hard to find the first time, and are between the white plastic electric part of the tach and the face...look between these two pieces to find them. Mine were indeed cracked, exactly as described elsewhere. You must remove the needle to get the face off. Be careful with this, it is easy to break. The flourescent part of the needle is what is attached to the motor, not the black. I held the needle portion with thumb and forefinger on both sides of the black and used leverage against the gauge face to pull it off... seemingly no other method/amount of tugging worked (you must be firm, but pull it straight up!). It is tight.

With the needle off you can separate the face from the motor and get to the joints. I resoldered all of them, even though only a couple were cracked (use a magnifying glass to see better).

Now, with all that said, beware that this DID NOT fix my tach problem, even though my solder joints were definately cracked. I am going to take everything apart again this weekend and try again. The posts underneath the joints could also be cracked apparently, and I will inspect those as well. My problem has also seemingly been ignition wire related, so it may be a combination of things. Oh, and I didn't get the needle recalibrated correctly either with the method I used.... so if anyone has a sure-fire method fill me in. I have confidence this is at least part of my problem, if anyone has any questions PM me I'd be glad to at least offer more of what was involved.