Pics of Temp Gauge & Speedometer Removal

tig · tig's Garage

My 1998 911 Carrera has several unique factory options including sunroof-delete and 15” Fuchs (most ‘88s were ordered with 16” Fuchs). When I purchased it in 1997 I needed to replace the tires and because I was autocrossing I appreciated the slightly lower gearing provided by the 205/55R15 (F) and 225/50R15 (R) that were recommended to me. In the end I actually really liked the look of these slightly lower profile tires as well.

However, the slightly lower OD resulted in my speedometer reading 5-6% high and my odometer measuring miles travelled 5-6% too fast. I just lived with both these conditions until this week. The “rich” speedometer always made me feel like I was going faster than I was which probably helped me avoid some tickets.
And normally the errant odometer would not be a big deal but when I bought this car in 1997 it only had 6800 miles on it. But the fact that I was racking up “extra miles” was not THAT BIG a deal to me, or I would have done something about it like sending the speedometer into be recalibrated.
The car now shows just under 33K miles. This means it really has traveled about 31.5K miles.

Last week my temperature gauge stopped working. I was able to prove it was not the sending unit by verifying that touching the lead that goes to the sender to ground didn’t cause the gauge to peg, so it was either a broken wire or the gauge. My mechanic had another ’88 in his shop and was able to hook it’s gauge up to my car and it worked fine.
So now I have two gauges that are in need of work. I’ve decided to send them off to North Hollywood Speedometer. To do that I need to pull them. Besides changing the oil, replacing the battery, and a few other little things I’ve never really had the need to actually work on m Porsche. Given out pristine this car is I was a bit nervous about doing this myself. My other adventure in car rehibilitation was much less stressful: a ’78 Toyota FJ40 that I restored. A slip of the screwdriver there was really no big deal. It could take it. But my Porsche!?!?
I decided to dive in and poked around here and elsewhere for pictures and instructions for pulling gauges and didn’t find anything very helpful. The Bently manual is sorta useful but not really.
In the end it was super easy and I didn't scratch or mar anything. I would have had a lot more confidence if I had seen some pictures though. So I’ve decided to post the pictures of this job here in the hopes that the next guy benefits.
Enjoy!

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dw1 · 07-10-2009, 04:45 AM

To avoid marring the dash or the gage bezel with a screwdriver, I usually start the gage removal by pushing on the back of the gage by reaching in from the trunk. After the first one is out, the gage hole provides access for the next one, etc.

One thing I found very helpful was to lubricate the elastomeric gage-securing sleeve with a typical "rubber/plastic protective" product.

(I got quite a bit of practice when I recently cleaned the gage faces, and when I changed the gage bulbs to led's and then decided to change them back.)

DW SD · 07-10-2009, 06:41 AM

As dw1 said, reach around from the trunk. Nice car!

Doug

BLEW911 · 07-10-2009, 06:50 AM

Maybe put in a numbered temp gauge?

Don

TV74911S · 07-10-2009, 09:14 AM

Great looking car.

There is a tech note on the site that explains the process of removing the guages from early 911s that I found after a certain amoung of digging....they suggest the same approach you used. Can't remember the link, but I think I found it by doing a search using guage removal. This a future project for me as well - I need to replace rusty bezels.

bonkers · 07-10-2009, 03:55 PM

Beautiful car!

Thanks for the photos of the guage removal. Like you, I had read descriptions but not actually seen any photos of the procedure.

dan88911 · 07-10-2009, 10:14 PM

Thanks, Ckindel I can relate to everything you said. I have a low mileage 88 purchased a few years ago. I have perform some upgrades with the help of this forum as well. I like that stance you've got with that tire setup.

stevemfr · 07-11-2009, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dw1

To avoid marring the dash or the gage bezel with a screwdriver, I usually start the gage removal by pushing on the back of the gage by reaching in from the trunk. After the first one is out, the gage hole provides access for the next one, etc.

One thing I found very helpful was to lubricate the elastomeric gage-securing sleeve with a typical "rubber/plastic protective" product.

(I got quite a bit of practice when I recently cleaned the gage faces, and when I changed the gage bulbs to led's and then decided to change them back.)

Or at least put a folded rag under the screwdriver as a fulcrum...

Nazgul280 · Nazgul280's Garage

x038F and dw1, thank you for posting these tips! As most everyone, I too was hesitant on prying anything too hard, so I got cold feet and did a search here. Your tips saved me a lot of aggravation, as I was prying between the plastic bezel and rubber housing instead of the dash and rubber.

I would have struggled with it and probably ripped something if it wasn't for this post, so thank you.

I was pleasantly surprised that you can push the back of the gauges from the luggage area! I was expecting a firewall, but then I thought there's no need for a firewall there! ha ha!

These instructions helped me pop out the gauge in less than a minute.