Remove speedo needle WO trashing cluster

[Abailey21]

OK, this is my dilemma.

I have a 2000 civic with the stock cluster and I bought a CRV cluster from a member on here.

To preface; I AM ONLY LOOKING TO MATCH MY CURRENT MILEAGE!

I know I can swap the speedo/odometer assembly, but how can I safely remove the needle in order to swap the gauge faces?

Or should I just roll back the odometer on the CRV odo to match my current one?

 

[203CT]

I would like to know also because I couldn't find out how to do this two days ago.

 

[Abailey21]

I read on Honda Tech to gently move the needle over the pin and let it fall naturally, mark that spot and remove the needle with a fork pulling up gently.

I did that in the CRV cluster and the needle went flying across the room and broke when it hit the ground.

I'm not 100% I want to remove the needle from my stock cluster now lol

 

[cgpEJ6]

I read on Honda Tech to gently move the needle over the pin and let it fall naturally, mark that spot and remove the needle with a fork pulling up gently.

I did that in the CRV cluster and the needle went flying across the room and broke when it hit the ground.

I'm not 100% I want to remove the needle from my stock cluster now lol

That's correct but it's still more than likely that it get's messed up in the process and doesn't go back on in exactly the same position. It's really not worth it to take the needle off.

 

[Abailey21]

well, now that I busted the needle on the CRV speedo and I have the faceplate, and I was thinking of just cutting the center hole big enough to overlay it on top of the Stock speedo face?

 

[Abailey21]

Couple things I found that I didn't like...

I did the overlay idea and it didn't occour to me then, but no light makes it through both gauge faces. So if I keep the CRV cluster I need to cut off the stock faceplate.

Also I just assumed it would look like hell stock so I installed amber bulbs in the entire cluster and its very dim and dark. Not sure I like it or not.

 

[ntdave71694]

New method of removing speedo needle

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but I found a great trick that could help people that legitimately need to remove the needle. *Some people might prefer the brute force with a fork method but I like this better.

Simple: the headlight opening trick at a lower temperature.

Remove the odometer/speedometer unit from the rest of the cluster and pull the little circuit board off the back. There are four screws then it just pops off and should look like this:

Put the unit on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and toss it in the oven (NOT preheated). I set it as low as it would go which was 170°F. I was just winging it and didn't really monitor the time in there, but I removed it once the thermostat read 140°F. Be REALLY careful with this! Mine still works and nothing is melted but you never know, 141 could be 1 degree too much . Basically it was just a little too hot to hold for a long time when I took it out.

After it's out of the oven quickly get a fork and carefully wedge it under the needle. Give it a good pull and it should pop off! You should have this:

I've tried to remove the needle on my old cluster and it wouldn't budge for sh*t! This just took a firm pull which I was much more comfortable with... even though I essentially baked my odometer and it smells like last nights chicken cacciatore .

Edit: I forgot about realigning it! Apparently the speedometer will calibrate itself at 0 with the car turned on, so you might be able to just push it on then. I actually used a GPS speedometer app (Speedview, android) and pushed the needle back on lightly at 30. Test it at a few different speeds to make sure it doesn't read fast or slow. Voilà!

 

[mymmeryloss]

Sorry for bumping this old thread, but I found a great trick that could help people that legitimately need to remove the needle. *Some people might prefer the brute force with a fork method but I like this better.

Simple: the headlight opening trick at a lower temperature.

Remove the odometer/speedometer unit from the rest of the cluster and pull the little circuit board off the back. There are four screws then it just pops off and should look like this:

Put the unit on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and toss it in the oven (NOT preheated). I set it as low as it would go which was 170°F. I was just winging it and didn't really monitor the time in there, but I removed it once the thermostat read 140°F. Be REALLY careful with this! Mine still works and nothing is melted but you never know, 141 could be 1 degree too much . Basically it was just a little too hot to hold for a long time when I took it out.

After it's out of the oven quickly get a fork and carefully wedge it under the needle. Give it a good pull and it should pop off! You should have this:

I've tried to remove the needle on my old cluster and it wouldn't budge for sh*t! This just took a firm pull which I was much more comfortable with... even though I essentially baked my odometer and it smells like last nights chicken cacciatore .

Edit: I forgot about realigning it! Apparently the speedometer will calibrate itself at 0 with the car turned on, so you might be able to just push it on then. I actually used a GPS speedometer app (Speedview, android) and pushed the needle back on lightly at 30. Test it at a few different speeds to make sure it doesn't read fast or slow. Voilà!

Interesting. Nice little write up. You should do a diy writeup.