RPM Needle Not Settling At 0

[Dadasaurus_Rex]

I noticed my RPM gauge doesn't settle all the way back down to zero when I turn off the car. It sits just above the stopper almost at the 250 rpm mark I also noticed it sits at around 8 or 900 rpm warmed up in neutral / clutch in which I can safely assume is just showing higher than what the actual engine is running because of the lack of the needle settling back down upon shutoff.

I know there's a fix, is this invasive? Something I could do on a weekend? It's not a huge deal but I have slight ocd and it bothers me that it isn't correct. Would I be better off just buying a whole new set of gauges at this point? I can get a refurbished one for 70 bucks or I can send mine off and get it repaired for $100 with 1 day turnaround. What do you guys think?

 

[07 Boss]

Pull the needle off and put it back on in the right spot.

 

[Racer47]

What do you guys think?

I think it's called a tach.

 

[Juice]

Start looking for stepper motors and replacement procedures.

 

[Midlife Crises]

I’d plug my X4 into the OBD II port and see if the tach is actually wrong while operating before I got too excited.

 

[86GT351]

Probably a Stepper motor gone bad

 

[Dadasaurus_Rex]

Verdict seems to be stepper motor. I looked into it and I guess I have a bit of work to do.

 

[Juice]

How good are you at soldering electronic boards?
Solder wick or a sucker tool helps a lot removing the old motors.

 

[Dadasaurus_Rex]

How good are you at soldering electronic boards?
Solder wick or a sucker tool helps a lot removing the old motors.

I'm about average. I've done some light repairs of boards here and there. I had a C4 Corvette with the dreaded digital display and had to solder a couple times on that.

 

[Juice]

You should be fine replacing the motors. I rec you relpace all of them.
When you go to put the needles back, plug in the cluster and turn key ON. Let the motors "zero", and install needles. Fuel guage is the one you have to "remember".

 

[airsick]

I had to replace all six gauge motors for my GT, including tach and speedo. I got the new motors off of Amazon, along with the solidering iron, solder wick and a solder sucker (which broke, but was brilliant until it did).
I hadn't really done any soldering for 20 years until I did them, and it came back pretty quick and the motors are all still working a few years later!
There are videos on YouTube for soldering and also pulling out the dash parts.

As an alternative there are guys on ebay who are offering to do this exact job it for you if you're comfortable sending them parts of your car, for upwards of $250. They probably take at least a few weeks round trip though depending on your location and I don't know if your car will drive with the speedo taken out.

 

[Dadasaurus_Rex]

Thanks a ton for the info guys! I'm going to look at a GT500 this weekend so if I ultimately don't pull the trigger on that one I'll dive into this issue.