Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting speedo cluster needles aiming wrong

I took my gauge cluster apart on my 98 SVT to work on them and my idea of marking the needle was to take it off at the rest pin and put them back on so their back at the rest pin (obviously wasn't what that meant when they say "mark the pin")

So I now have my needles all aimed wrong (i.e. my RPM needle doesnt sit on the rest pin w/ engine off and when started it jumps to 5000, its way off. And my speedo is at 20mph when in nuetral) I probably did the same thing w/ the gas gauge and temp.

How can I fix this problem w/ my needles so that they are back in their original factory position? Help is greatly apreciated.

Im assuming ppl that change their gauges have this problem so hopefully those ppl will chime in.

Start the car and put the RPM needle at 750 at idle. The speedo I has someone drive down the highway and we went side by side at 55 (W/O traffic) and I put the needle on to match his speed.

Another way (I had another car with inaccurate speedometer):

Drive on a stretch of highway with mile markers. Use a good watch and adjust your speed until you consistently come up with 60 second miles. That's your 60mph setting. Check it by trying other speeds and working out what the time should be.

This avoids the inaccuracy of another car's speedometer, and is easy to re-check later.

Well when i typed this thread i kinda freaked out and thought i would have to take it to FORD to have it reprogrammed. I did alot of searching and am going to try a few tricks i read. Since i dont have the ODB2 sensor thing i am going to try this:

1)turn key to on position (not started) and set needles at 0 on tach and MPH. this way i will be somewhat close.

2)for RPM gauge,let car idle for a while till it gets to normal idling speed (aprox 750-1000RPMS) set needle there. Then to check see if gas shut off is at 7,000 RPM

3)to set the MPH use road w/ mile markers and a stop watch and caculate it that way.

4) to set temp, i belive my car when warmed up it rests pretty close to the middle of the temp gaug . so ill set the pin there. is this about right for all SVT's?

5) fill up tank put needle of F

Any comments or sugestions to this would be great...also if you know the answer to my question in step (4) that would be great.

thanks

What makes the needles go out of sync when you take them off the cluster? Does the shaft "unwind" if so, can't you raise the needle past the stop point and turn it counterclockwise 1 revoltion?

What is the shape of the shaft the needle is on? Is it square, octagonal???


I've always wondered about this problem....


Auiotour??

I fixed all the gauges w/ the method i posted earlier...that method will work.

As far as how the needles lose their configuration i dont know...if i did i wouldnt have had to fix them . but you definatly need to mark them b4 you take them out or you will need one of those computer programs or the method i used above to fix them. took me a while driving around to get the speedo just right but it worked and is now exact...more exact then how it came from the factory i think personally. The tach was simple and the temp and gas was too.