banandana
02-18-2019, 02:58 PM
If your analog S13 cluster speedometer doesnt work, and you don't have a bad speed sensor or wiring break from the sensor to the cluster, this might be what's wrong with the PCB
https://i.imgur.com/y2gpLIS.png
Bigger Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/gqI5Tsf.jpg
Note the missing capacitor in the group of 5 in this picture; that capacitor was the faulty one on one of the boards I had fixed, and removing it caused the speedometer to work again. I would recommend replacing the capacitor and not simply removing it.
These capacitors seem to blow (some look like decoupling capacitors), which causes the signal to get all fucked up. I tested the caps with an ohmeter and it had really weird resistance values on some of them. Notably, if there's a cap that's discolored, it could be replaced or pulled with a high chance of fixing the board. I don't have a capacitance meter, but if you wanted to find the capacitance you'd have to pull the cap and figure that out. I would have done this if I had one, but had a spare donor board to pull caps off of, to make it work.
I'd imagine the actual part that goes bad is probably easy to afford; they can't be any more than a few cents each.
These clusters do not simply 'go bad' over time, and it's convenient that these surface mount caps are on this side of the PCB, which makes it easy to access as opposed to the other side. I'm sure the S14 might have similar problems in the future, because these things are getting older over the years.
Don't throw out dead clusters; all this shit is fixable and it's SAD seeing them go for 100-250 freedom dollars on ebay.
Here's a video of me bench testing the thing after fixing it. I don't expect everyone to have the tools and whatnot lying around to do/test this, but you can pull surface mount caps off a board using a butane torch with a hot air attachment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qJAMsnTYuc
https://i.imgur.com/y2gpLIS.png
Bigger Picture:
https://i.imgur.com/gqI5Tsf.jpg
Note the missing capacitor in the group of 5 in this picture; that capacitor was the faulty one on one of the boards I had fixed, and removing it caused the speedometer to work again. I would recommend replacing the capacitor and not simply removing it.
These capacitors seem to blow (some look like decoupling capacitors), which causes the signal to get all fucked up. I tested the caps with an ohmeter and it had really weird resistance values on some of them. Notably, if there's a cap that's discolored, it could be replaced or pulled with a high chance of fixing the board. I don't have a capacitance meter, but if you wanted to find the capacitance you'd have to pull the cap and figure that out. I would have done this if I had one, but had a spare donor board to pull caps off of, to make it work.
I'd imagine the actual part that goes bad is probably easy to afford; they can't be any more than a few cents each.
These clusters do not simply 'go bad' over time, and it's convenient that these surface mount caps are on this side of the PCB, which makes it easy to access as opposed to the other side. I'm sure the S14 might have similar problems in the future, because these things are getting older over the years.
Don't throw out dead clusters; all this shit is fixable and it's SAD seeing them go for 100-250 freedom dollars on ebay.
Here's a video of me bench testing the thing after fixing it. I don't expect everyone to have the tools and whatnot lying around to do/test this, but you can pull surface mount caps off a board using a butane torch with a hot air attachment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qJAMsnTYuc