Originally Posted by Och

Welp, as many of you know, last summer I bought myself a gorgeous 94 LS400 in mint shape, only to have it stolen and stripped by some scumbags. I found it two weeks later, and it was missing basically the whole interior - seats, center console, gauge cluster, and other misc stuff. Since I didn't opt for theft insurance, I had to chose to either rebuild it, or junk it, and decided to give it a shot at rebuilding it.

Anyhow, I found a replacement cluster at a junk yard with 170k on it, and of course it suffered from all the symptoms that these clusters are prone to. I could've bought a working cluster, however the bastards that stole my cluster didn't disconnect the wires, but cut all the harnesses, so I had no choice but to get one at a junk yard, together with harnesses.

So right away I sent it to Jim Walker, and he did a wonderful job of repairing the backlighting - the cluster lights up bright, and doesn't blink. Much thanks for his great and lighting fast service - I am in Brooklyn and he is in Cali, and I had the cluster returned to me in three days!!!

But of course the cluster still suffered from the sticky RPM and Speedo needles, and the only solution I've found it to slam the dashboard with great force... only to have the speedo needle freeze up the next time I pull to a stop sign/red light. But from my observations, the needless only freeze if they are all the way down at 0, even if i'm driving 1mph, the speedo needle doesn't freeze.

So I decided to give it a shot at trying to repair it myself. I took the cluster out (there are plenty of tutorials on that on lexls.com). I took off the plexiglass cover from the top (its help by two screws and a few clips, very easy to remove) and exposed the needless.

The I got a drill with a very small drill bit, such as the picture below.



I drilled two holes, about 3/16" deep, just a tiny bit above the "0" reading, both at the speedo and tach, while gently lifting the needle with my finger - just like in these pictures.




Then I got two paper pins, like the ones you buy in staples. I've only had clear ones, but black ones would probably look much better. I clipped off the tip of each pin, to be only 1/8" long, just like so.



Then, I got some quick setting two part epoxy adhesive, which is found at home depot, in the paints department.



I mixed it up, and put a tiny bit of epoxy on the tip and base of each pin, and inserted them into the predrilled holes. Before I put the epoxy on, I made sure that the pins properly fit into the predrilled holes. You dont want to put the glue on, just to find out the pin doesn't fit, then it becomes a mess to clean it out.

Now I let it dry for 30 minutes and reassembled the cluster. Of course I took an opportunity to clean out all the dust that collected inside over the years, as well as the particles from drilling. This is what it looks like with the pins in place.



I haven't tested it yet - I just finished with it. I'm going to put it back in the car, and test drive it later on, and I'll let you guys know if it works.

Originally Posted by kitlchin

There is a crack round plastic disk inside the unit holding the speedometer spring in position or moved. This situation happens same to tacometer. Tapping the dash board will jerk the spring holding the needle to jump. Eventually, you have to repalce it because it is pain in the behind. I have replaced both of these units. Each of these is going to cost you about $250 from the dealer.

Originally Posted by CUMan

For those who are having the sticking speedometer and odometer needles on their 93-94 LS models, check out the Mr Whizard website (www.mrwhizard.com). They indicate that they now have a fix for this problem. The cost is $189.00.

Originally Posted by MAlvis

Once the gauge and two cover pieces are removed you can access the needle limit stop arm which is hidden under the cover pieces; see the 1st photo.

The sticking is the result of material transferring from the nylon needle stop to the steel stop limit. See the 2nd photo showing the nylon stop resting against the metal stop tang. The contact point between the two is the location of material transfer.

Cleaning off the material on the metal stop, perhaps along with cleaning the nylon needle stop, will eliminate to sticking needle problem. See the 3rd photo showing the imprint of material, before cleaning, on the metal stop which has transferred from the nylon tab. This small amount of material creates just enough cling to keep the speedometer or tachometer needle stuck at zero.

Originally Posted by CUMan

The problems with the LS clusters involve the early-90's to mid-90's models. I don't know if the problems persisted as late as the 97 models.

The sticky needles are caused by the back of the needle sticking to a stop designed to prevent the needles from dropping past 0 MPH. There is apparently a lubricant in that area which liquifies when the weather gets warm, thereby causing the needle to adhere to the stop.

The poster above solved the problem by preventing the needles from hitting the stop. An alternative fix is to remove the lubricant which is causing the problem; however, the area where the needle meets the stop is very difficult to access.

I would think that if the problem causing your needles to stick on a 97 model is the same as that in the earlier models, you could break the needles free by rapping on the dash area above the needles. This usually worked with the 93 model I had; however, I disliked doing this in fear of causing other problems with the electronics of the cluster. If rapping on the dash doesn't break the needles free from the stop, I would suspect that you have another problem within the cluster.

Originally Posted by CUMan

Yes, rapping on the dash apparently transfers enough energy to the sticking needles that they break free from the stop.

I will add that it always seemed more difficult to break the needles free when the weather was extremely hot. When the weather was just warm, my needles would usually work fine the rest of the day once I broke them free from the stops. However, in hot weather, the problem persisted all day. Any time I stopped, the speedometer needle would stick at zero. The tachometer would continue working because it did not go to zero. However, when I turned off the engine and restarted it, both needles would stick.

Originally Posted by CUMan

I will add that it always seemed more difficult to break the needles free when the weather was extremely hot. When the weather was just warm, my needles would usually work fine the rest of the day once I broke them free from the stops. However, in hot weather, the problem persisted all day. Any time I stopped, the speedometer needle would stick at zero. The tachometer would continue working because it did not go to zero. However, when I turned off the engine and restarted it, both needles would stick.