96 neon speedo fluctuates on MPH..

[yickgeewai]

i have a 1996 dodge neon.. once in a while when i hit some sort of bump the speedo starts to fluctuate... it bounces all around from 75 mph then it would drop to 0 mph.. then it would go back up.. its really weird. i am trying to diagnose the problem.. could it be a gear problem? or a cable problem? i am really flustered and really dont have time to try to find out what the problem is.. any help would be appreciated... thanks

[dodgeneonACR98]

First off, I want to Welcome you to Dodge Talk. Hope you enjoy your stay here!

This may sound far fetched to you but I beleive it may be just the fact that you need a new alt belt. A few years ago I signed up here for the same exact reason. I wanted to find out what was causing my speedo to go nuts........No one I mean no one had the answer for me.(the right one anyhow).......... About 2-3 months later my alt belt blew off the pulley, I drove it on home and noticed that when the battery started to die the guages started to go crazy. The very next morning I put on a new alt belt and have had no issues again....Should be an easy fix man!!! Good Luck

[yickgeewai]

thanks for the reply... i guess i can look to see how the belt is.. what i dont get is why when i do hit a bump it starts to bounce around and then when i hit a bump again it ends up being fine.. its really weird

[sleeperrt]

ACR, has a good point, it COULD flux, because when you it a bump the car actually twists and therefor the engine will actually rotate slightly and when that happens, and the belt is bad or loose it will actually become real loose lol

[dodgeneonACR98]

Good point Sleeperrt!!! The engine mounts flex during a bump as well as when you go into a turn. One thing you can do about that is to replace a broken/torn mount. One of the weakest points on these cars is the motor mounts. The front one in general.
If your mounts arent torn apart or otherwise useless, you can buy prothane engine mount inserts. They will stiffen up the mounts and it will actually make the car perform better. But for now just change your alt belt and see what happens. It's not an expensive thing to do and if it's been a while you just as well change all the belts.

Good Luck!

[95moparracer]

um acr thats not the problem i dont think .... im pretty sure i know ur problem! in my first gen when i would wheel hop like mad it would happen to me! take off the top dash cover thinger and unscrew ur cluster... if its not the alternator belt like the say then this is the problem... ur connecters to ur cluster are loose! i had this problem was a bitch to get rid!

[scottrachel01]

On mine if I push on the cluster near the temp gauge I can get it to act funny. Try that too.

[dodgeneonACR98]

I think you are wrong 95! I am haveing trouble with my guage cluster right now. It don't act funny, instead it dies! All the guages die and the dinger sounds off if the lights are on at night. I can tap the front of the cluster with my knuckle and if that don't snap it back into reality I smack the top of the dash just above it. Sometimes that don't work and I turn the key on and off a few times.

When my alt belt was bad the speedo was the only thing messed up. it would read 85 mph when I was going 10! Or it would just bounce up and down when it wasnt working.
However after the car warmed up or I drove a few miles it would straighten up. That is until I blew it off.

Atleast we gave him/her two options to look at.
yickgeewai: If you can tap your dash cluster when it goes nuts and it straightens up it's your guage cluster. If not change your alt belt. If that don't help, change the VSS and see what that does. The VSS is the Vehicle Speed Sensor. Good Luck!

[scottrachel01]

Mine also had the whole dash die twice. The dinger and all, I hit the dash and it came back on also. I know my alt belt needs changed but I'll do that when I yank the motor to put in a nicer body.If I push on the cluster the gauges act goofy. Let us know what the prob is!!!

[dodgeneonACR98]

I seen some place a How-to on the subject....Neons.org or maybe Allpar.com.
Good Luck!

[95moparracer]

the way he described it acr sounds like the cluster problem to me... i was just saying try the cluster first then mess with the belt if it dont fix problem! guess we really need to know wether its just the speedo or all the gauges that go hay wire!

[EZ4U2CHere]

It sounds exactly like a cluster problem.
Take your cluster out, take it apart so you can get to the circuit board, get your soldering gun out and re-melt the circled connections (pic stolen from the org). All you want to do is touch them enough so the solder flows. You'll know when it changes color.

http://www.neons.org/faqinfo/images/cluster.jpg

[crazylike]

i am more likely to think it is the cluster acting up as the guages go dead but if i push on th e front like i was plugging in a power plug it will usually come back on. otherwise i whack it a couple of times and it will usually fix itself.

[EZ4U2CHere]

It's those pins that are circled in the pic above.

[TX_Firehawk]

Ya guys this is an easy fix. I had to do mine a few months back and fixed the speedo jumping around and the whole cluster going out some times.

[dodgeneonACR98]

Right now I have my cluster taken apart and I am looking at the solder joints on the front side. It is easy to find the problem! Looking at it and inspecting the 10 horizontal pins (on the right side), it is easy to see that the solder on the pins is cracked. Easy fix!!

Looks as if we may have a How-To here in the near future. And I think my iron is heated up by now! Good Luck with yours!! I will post again and let you know how mine works out. Later

[dodgeneonACR98]

I am out of solder and a couple of those pins could really use some. It seems that the middle 6 pins have alot less solder than the 4 out side pins. The broken ones on mine are from right to left. On the top 5 pins it's 1 and 2. On the bottom 5 pins it's 1-2-3.

For me just heating up the pins did nothing but make the board hot. The solder would not melt together. I had to rubb it lightly to get the sloder to join. If you are new to soldering as I am, I would recomend that you practice b4 you just try to drop some solder on it. Once you figure out the trick to getting just the right amount then solder the pins. It wont take very much and you will have soldered a couple pins together. Good Luck!

[yickgeewai]

Hey guys,

Thank you very much for your help on solving my problem. This cluster problem sounds pretty accurate with my problem. Thanks again and thanks for all the other peoples advise also. It really helps when people have a problem and they get together and try to solve it like a team.

Right on,
YICKGEEWAI

[davyboy04]

I have a similiar cluster problem. Except my speedo is perfectly fine. My tach doesnt work... and the digital odometer/tripometer won't turn on.

Any suggestions?

[TX_Firehawk]

Do what is stated above~


Heat up the solder on all the pins that are circled above and it should fix it.

[DOHCpacesetter4]

its bad connections in the back of the cluster. this is especialy true if you know you have a good batter and alternator