My fuel gauge has never worked properly since I bought the car about 6 or 7 years ago, then about 5 years ago it stopped altogether.
For the last year the Temp. gauge has been playing up. It suddenly shoots up to 120 degrees and turns on the aux. fans for a few minutes and then drops back to the normal 80 degrees.
I have had the cluster out so many times I can do it blind folded. Last week I was flexing the circuit board ( had it in pieces ) and noticed the fuel gauge worked if I pressed on the little part at the top of the photo and bent the board slightly.
I then started applying a 15 watt soldering iron to the connections to try and reflow the solder. The first one promptly fell off.......almost giving me a heart attack as I can't afford a new cluster. I managed to resolder it on ( 1st one top left...with the big blob of solder ) and now the fuel gauge works.
Is 15w too hot for a board like this and are we able to get "smaller" irons ? I was on the RS site and the smallest I could find was an 11w battery powered iron.
Finally......any tips on how to put a little extra solder onto these tiny things ? Mine is a 15w Antex as shown on RS's site....bought about 25-30 years ago. Nothing much has changed. The tip is sort of flat and oval shaped.
For the last year the Temp. gauge has been playing up. It suddenly shoots up to 120 degrees and turns on the aux. fans for a few minutes and then drops back to the normal 80 degrees.
I have had the cluster out so many times I can do it blind folded. Last week I was flexing the circuit board ( had it in pieces ) and noticed the fuel gauge worked if I pressed on the little part at the top of the photo and bent the board slightly.
I then started applying a 15 watt soldering iron to the connections to try and reflow the solder. The first one promptly fell off.......almost giving me a heart attack as I can't afford a new cluster. I managed to resolder it on ( 1st one top left...with the big blob of solder ) and now the fuel gauge works.
Is 15w too hot for a board like this and are we able to get "smaller" irons ? I was on the RS site and the smallest I could find was an 11w battery powered iron.
Finally......any tips on how to put a little extra solder onto these tiny things ? Mine is a 15w Antex as shown on RS's site....bought about 25-30 years ago. Nothing much has changed. The tip is sort of flat and oval shaped.
