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Well I took apart my stock r/t cluster just to see the components of it. I have taken a few first gen clusters apart, and they are extremely similar. One big thing I noticed, is that DC got cheap on these clusters, and did not use screws in all the motor assemblies. Main reason I wanted to get down to the motors, is to see if they are interchangable with different clusters, and from what I can tell, they are. The motor only has four electrical connectors which is driven by the circuit board. I read in the FSM if one motor fails, you would have to replace the entire cluster, but I see otherwise as long as your willing to remove the needle on the motor your replacing. I would be changing the MPH motor to my SRT cluster because its a little "loose" and is wobbly when I do the self test (which I will post a video), but I don't want to throw the MPH off. (I do know its 3500 rpms and 75 MPH in 5th gear, but I dont want to fumble with the needle at that speed trying to stick it on.) Well here are the pics of me taking it apart.

Everything together, with the paper


Paper cover taken off, using a T15 bit for all of these screws.


Where the odo hooks up


Odo clip removed. Two very small pins up have to push in. I used a toothpick.


After that, I gently removed the circuit board. You must be careful not to crack the board and pull evenly everywhere.

Backside where the LEDs and lights are


After removing the front clear panel, you are left with this


Which can be taken out of the white part


The backside, once you turn it around


Some shots of the motors. As you can see in these pics, there are a lot of screws not in the yellow part. Trying to save screws, DC huh?








The odometer, which I removed using a T10 bit.




Part # that was on the front


Here is the motor assembly. They are interchangeble, so if one of yours is all bouncy, you can swap it out from one with another cluster. Just keep in mind, you need to pull the needle off, and calibrating it can be a pain.


Video showing needle bouncy (on MPH gauge)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PwwdukMnlw

Swaped the motor assemble, much better results
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVydF5SklWc

Hopefully someone can make good use of this information and anatomy of a cluster.


Here is a single pic of my srt board

As you can see, the board itself is a different color.

not bad at all. Don't know if i would take mine apart (prolly because it wouldn't go back together)

Nice. Just out of curiousity, is the mileage of the vehicle stored on the odomoter circuit board? If so, then theoritically another cluster can be purchased, then taken apart and put back together with the old odometer to keep the same exact mileage versus finding a cluster with close mileage?

Just a random thought.

Thanks for sharing.

Nope It is stored on the main board on one of the chips.

magnus wrote:Nice. Just out of curiousity, is the mileage of the vehicle stored on the odomoter circuit board? If so, then theoritically another cluster can be purchased, then taken apart and put back together with the old odometer to keep the same exact mileage versus finding a cluster with close mileage?

Just a random thought.

Thanks for sharing.

No. I swapped odo boards when I did my cluster swap years ago and no change, it's stored on the main cluster board.

FYI/N.B.: Non tach and tach boards are non interchangable.

In these videos, I do the cluster self test. As you can see, the MPH needle is very bouncy, which is why I might attempt to switch out the motors. I'll let ya'll know how it goes if I attempt it. Crosses fingers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDUweDg0Mbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PwwdukMnlw

Did it look like the ODO chip had a memory chip installed on it to store the ODO reading? Wonder if it would be easy enough to remove the ODO chip from one cluster to another and get the correct ODO reading. I will have to give it a try and if all else fails oh well.

2k1MotorSport wrote:not bad at all. Don't know if i would take mine apart (prolly because it wouldn't go back together)

Doh

U may have just inspired me to swap my LED's to blue LOL it looks so easy

GREAT write up, Thanks !

-Nick

CrashTeam wrote:U may have just inspired me to swap my LED's to blue LOL it looks so easy

it is!

and nice write up. i would never do that tho lol

Thanks guys. Also added some info on the needle motor assembly.

So, what part actually controls the signal for the MPH? I’m thinking about doing an SRT swap, but would really like to keep my odometer accurate. Could I swap the face to an SRT face, the MPH motor to an SRT one, and keep my stock board so my odometer stays perfect?

TheRandom1 wrote:So, what part actually controls the signal for the MPH? I’m thinking about doing an SRT swap, but would really like to keep my odometer accurate. Could I swap the face to an SRT face, the MPH motor to an SRT one, and keep my stock board so my odometer stays perfect?

All of the needle motors are the same. The only reason I swapped one of mine out was because it was bad, and bounced the needle very bad. ( but I also got my srt cluster for 40 bucks ) If you have a 120 or 140 cluster, and just swap the face, it will be off on the MPH reading. You must swap the entire cluster, including the board to make sure the MPH reading is correct. I accepted the fact that my SRT cluster is 36033 miles higher than what I atually have, but I documented it, and also recorded and took pics of me doing the gauge swap.

Damn... alright thanks.

How does the black guage trim come out? Is it attached to the lens or the body of the cluster?
Id like to paint mine yellow.

has anyone figured out how to change the miles so that it is correct when you swap clusters?

I know the BASICS on how it keeps track. i will be lloking into this and hopefully come up with a solution to this problem. chances are it will cost a little money

relenger wrote:I know the BASICS on how it keeps track. i will be lloking into this and hopefully come up with a solution to this problem. chances are it will cost a little money

If anyone finds this out it'd be great!! I went fron a non-tach to a tach with 55,000 more miles on it then my non-tach had!! Since the boards were non-interchangeable i couldn't just swap the boards over to carry the miliage. It's got to be one of the chips on the boards, i guess it's a matter of finding out which one!

Length of the needles is just shy of 2" for the tach and speedo, and just shy of 1-1/2" for the fuel and temp, from dead center. Just in case, you know, someone plans on replacing their needles with clock hands. Like me...

i have a question about the odo part you took out
i recently got picked up a new gauge cluster form the pick a part yard from a 2000 neon with a tach
(mine does nto have one) every thing work exept for the odo is wrong
can i swap the odo parts and i would have the right milage on it or not?
i really need an answer before i spend a lot of money to have this done at the dealarship

As long as it's from another Neon (not SRT-4) I believe it will work. Should be 2 screws on the back of the board that hold it in if I'm not mistaken.

TheRandom1 wrote:As long as it's from another Neon (not SRT-4) I believe it will work. Should be 2 screws on the back of the board that hold it in if I'm not mistaken.

well will that really work? because according to this post it will not
and its a 2000 neon se cluster from an automatic
just trying to find out if it works or not
if i do it the worst that will happen is i have to put the gauge back to the way it was orginally
if you know of anybody that has tried this

Actually, the original post is about swapping motors out, has nothing at all to do with the odometer.

And I'm fairly certain it won't work, as the clips or something is different on the SRT odometer/board versus the regular Neon odometer/board.

but i have a non srt board both are stock neon boards
so would it really work or not?
and yes i know but but this is the only post about the odo board in the cluster

If it's a non SRT board it SHOULD work. Best way to find out is to plug it in and see. If it works, great. If not, swap the other one back in, it's easy.

TheRandom1 wrote:If it's a non SRT board it SHOULD work. Best way to find out is to plug it in and see. If it works, great. If not, swap the other one back in, it's easy.

ok i will try tomorrow
but in other post i have found they say it does not work
but try i will and hey if it works because of the same years that would be awesome
or call the dodge dealer on Monday and see if they can change the mileage on the cluster



well i did try and changing the odo boards and it did not work at all
so now time to call the dodge dealer and see if they can change the milage

Question regarding the cluster pointers (mileage, RPM, temp and fuel pointers) how to recalibrate the pins?? I have an extra cluster that I want to paint the pointers of...possibly swap pins from another model if possible.

speed and rpm are easy - they go to zero with ignition on. others are more complicated. fill the tank and stick the needle to the "full" position
no idea for the temp. a 5 Volt source could help...
or you wait till the angine has it's "normal" temp and you stick the needle to that position...