sco

Hi all,

After two trips to the dealer in the last two weeks and a request to fix a bad rattle in the instrument cluster resulting in no improvement and eating spare time on a Saturday I don't have I figure it's easier to try to fix it myself.

Has anyone removed the instrument cluster - if so - how did you do it?

It looks like there are a couple of clips below the cluster just above the steering wheel (behind the black plastic flaps visible when you drop the wheel to it's lowest height.) Is there anything else holding it in place?

Gomez

sco, sure it's behind there??...the poms found it was the seat but it sounded like the dash causing the rattle...see my post in the creak thread for the link....I think I've got the instructions here to remove it , will post it up after tea!!

Gomez.

sco

Gomez... I'm 99% sure it is the cluster. The cluster already has about 3mm of play and I can reproduce the noise by moving the cluster by hand when the car is idle.

Thanks for the tip on the seat though.. I'll check it as well.

Gomez

I find this very surprising but there seems to be only a single screw holding in the cluster!!! I'm having trouble copying from acrobat reader, but here's the gist of it.

Remove the steering column cover...two screws accessed from underneath. This will allow you to separate the upper and lower halves of the cover....be gentle, I think the key illumination wiring will be attached. Removal of the cover will reveal the inst cluster screw on the underside of the cluster....if the lot is moving 3mm then I'd say the screw will probably fall in your lap!!!

Tighten, then re-assemble....Voila, job done!

There is a caution about "replacing" the cluster if it is removed, to do with having to connect WDS to reprogram the cluster. This warning relates to a new cluster I'd say, not a refit of the original. If you disconnect the wiring to the cluster , be sure to disconnect the battery first. You should not have to disconnect it anyway, judging by your description of the symptoms.

Good luck, Gomez.

P.S. If it's this easy, I'm surprised the dealer hasn't fixed it......

sco

Gomez... you are the man. Thanks heaps. I don't what the dealer did... but it didn't fix the problem.

What is the PDF you're referring too? Thanks for the tip on not disconnecting the cluster... I read that somewhere else too.

Gomez

I bought a workshop manual on CD from the States on ebay for $20...Mazda Aust want a grand for much the same thing (including subscription update, though)....

Gomez.

sco

Well the whole lot looks like bad design.

There are three screws holding the bottom half of the steering wheel cover. Removed those. Then separated the two halves and disconnected the key illuminator from the bottom half. Removed the plastic piece immediately below the steering wheel. This revealed two screws holding the front of the instrument cluster to another piece of plastic, which has a deal of give. Undid these two screws and this allowed teh cluster to lift slightly - the back was still attached somehow. Played with it a bit and found I couldn't make much difference - the whole lot is just not secure. Reversed the process and put it all back together.

No wonder the dealer couldn't fix it... it's impossible to stop movement. I might try wedging some strips of rubber in around the top where it meets the rest of the dash. It sounds like plastic rubbing on plastic is the cause.

Does anyone else's instrument cluster move a fair bit if you grasp the top of it above the tacho and try and move it back and forth?

sco

BTW... glad we have security keys... it would take no time to hotwire the car if we didn't.

Gomez

Hmmmmm, just checked...No, mine is quiet secure, just a tiny bit of movement fore/aft. And no noise when I do it, either....I shall research further, sco, but the diagram shows only the one screw.
It's a U.S manual, but that should make no difference here....

Gomez.

sco

Thanks mate... your help is greatly appreciated.

How much is tiny (< 3mm)?

Makes me wonder if something that helps hold it in place is missing. Might pop into a dealer closer to home and see how new cars are.

Gomez

Yeah, probably up to 3mm if I tried, but it was well secured....didn't feel loose at all.....

Wozza

hey sco
I took mine out a while back to fit the starter button .
you can tighten it up .
first you gotta have ze big ***** to wiggle and pull backwards
one you get the two screws out . Gently lift up the cluster about 10 mm then rock from left to right and pull back to you firmly .

whats holding it in is three plastic tongue clips , once you mangae to get it to pop out you will have almost !@#!@# yourself as it need quite a tug .

have a look at the clips to see if there damage they screw onto the cluster and I would assume there part of the assembly and are not spare parts , but you will notice there is a nice bit of flock around the edge of the cluster that takes up some gap , have a look at that and see if its in place , the rattle could be the loom on the back of the cluster rubbing up against the dash mouldin it has a place it sits in so you could rap some 3mm foam around it .
Also look if the openings in the dash moulding are not damage or distorted .

You never now you may have got a pleb putting your car together and had the clips forced , but once you get the cluster out it should be evident anyway you can always glue some filler
around the clips squares if its to big

sco

Thanks Wozza... sounds like a project for next weekend.

Gomez

There you go...not enough weeties!!! Good one Wozza!

Wozza

Oh yeah I forgot to mention as Gomez said disconnect the battery .
Ignorance is bliss I didnt know about the nasties about removing the cluster , all that happened to me was you loose the trip reading in the cluster everything else is ok , oh and the obligatory

lock to lock of the steering wheel to clear the dcs not functioning light then turn of the key then on again and your right

:D

DJ Freon

I'll say that mine is pretty loose. And yes, it does squeak and rattle. After reading this I'm going to go home and try and secure it better. Thanks guys.

sco

Finally got around to looking at this again.

Had weeties for breakfast and gave the cluster a good yank forward after removing the two screws and it came off no worries.

There was flock around the edge. After mucking around a bit to see what bits rubbing on what bits produced what sounds, I worked out that it seemed to be a bit of plastic rubbing on the dash and the sound seemed to be coming from the extreme right side of the cluster. So I grabbed a bit of rubber with a self adhesive back left over from some speakers I made (about 5 x 1mm cross section) and cut a couple of small pieces about 8mm long. I placed these pieces right on the ends of the flocked section to stop the left and right hand side plastic from contacting the dash.

Well it worked - rattle is gone. Have one more down near the gear stick - it's next.

sco

Ok, after about 1600kms on bumpy roads I can confirm that the rattle is gone.

Also, the one around the gear stick is gone. Solution to that was to remove the gear **** and the plastic cover (which the gear stick cover is attached to). Put some more of that rubber either side of where the plastic clips from the cover clip into the fake aluminium strips.

O.T. Averaged 10L/100 on the highway cruising in 6th gear using cruise control. Cruise control is a dream in sixth just above 3000rpm - handles hills well and keeps the speed within 1-2 km/h up and down hill. An absolute treat to drive on long trips.

jgoldstein2000

Do you think I can get my dealer to fix this? I have the same problem and it is driving me insane!

skc

sco

Where can you get this adhesive rubber that you used from?

skc

Frank Patrick

If anyone gets this little pain in the *** noise- (clear lense chatter in cluster) just had my dealer fix this- there are small (plastic) points that eveentually break-the lense then has a small movement- noticable on bumps-- my dealer fixed witha clear (invisible) caulking- now- quite as a mouse

sco

Not sure... Mine was left over from some speakers I built (it came in the kit). It's about 5x1mm rubber with an adhesive back... kind of like weather strip, but smaller.

sco