Trip Reset Question

[lab guy]

I just got my 87 NA 944 last November and the trip reset button has never worked (speedometer and odometer work fine). So last weekend I decided to try to fix it. When I pull the dash vents out there was no switch or mechanican lever attached to the mounting hole. I also pulled out the instrument cluster to see if there were any wires of cables that may have come undone but there's nothing there? PO must have yanked it all. So my question is:
What is suppose to be there? a push button switch? springs? or cables?

If any one has a picture of the mechanism that would really help.

Thanks

______
Guards Red 87 944 NA

[Z-man]

What appears to be a lever for the vents closest to the rigth side of the instrument cluster is actually the trip reset button. press it and the trip odo will reset to zero. Be careful NOT to hit it while moving: that has been known to break both the trip odo and the speedo odometer.

-Z.

[lab guy]

Z
I know where button is. The button isn't connected to anything. What does the button push?
Thanks

[toolboy62]

The reset button actually is just a little plastic thingy, it's supposed to press an electrical switch that fits into a hole in the dash frame. The electrical switch activates a solenoid in the speedo that resets the trip meter.

Why VDO just couldn't put a button through the face of the speedo like everyone else is beyond me, but oh well.

nate

(a little too intimately familiar with the cluster on my car)

[Z-man]

lab guy:
what toolboy said.

I too, am too intimately familiar with the cluster in my car, yet I still can't get the dash lights to work! :grr:
-Z.

[toolboy62]

Z-man,

I bought a used cluster off the classified forum, I mixed and matched parts to get mine working, would you be interested in the leftovers? I can tell you that you shouldn't use the right hand combo gauge (oil press is f'ed up) and you won't have an odo gear... give me a couple more weeks to sort it out

nate

[swimmingly]

Originally posted by toolboy62
The reset button actually is just a little plastic thingy, it's supposed to press an electrical switch that fits into a hole in the dash frame. The electrical switch activates a solenoid in the speedo that resets the trip meter.

The "electrical switch" that nate is refering to is a little box (off the top of my head, I'd say its dimensions are 1" x 1" x 1/4", although it's been a while since I pulled the vent thing) that's attached to wires that lead back to the instrument cluster. On the front of the box, there's a little circle button that is suppose to be pushed in with the end of "little plastic thingy" (actual button that you press from the vent). On the back, there's a little plastic thing that sticks out that's suppose to go into that hole in the dash frame.

-Matt

[Z-man]

Nate:
You're better off without the odo reset button -- it has a tendency to kill both the trip and real odo's.

I have not hit that button in 2 years, for fear of the odo breaking.

Regarding the 'left-overs' in the cluster: the real fix would be to pull the old circuit board and replace it with a good one, which IMHO, is near an impossible task! Even if I got the old one off, I'd have no guarantees that I can get the new circuit board off without ripping the connections!

I'd rather have all my other guages working and use my little 'bling bling' blue neon light from K-Mart the times I drive my car at night.

-Z.

[944jeff]

Z-man- mine broke and for reference... i was not moving when I reset it!

[toolboy62]

Z-man,

my "leftovers" would include a new backplate with the traces attached, you could just clean them up and swap your gauges over. I think these are just a little oxidized and maybe a pencil eraser would bring them back. your call.

Only thing I really screwed up was the clear plexi over the gauges and the housing, I inadvertantly got some overspray on the inside and I wiped the blue off the high beam filter trying to clean it up.

nate

[Zero10]

If your dash lights are not working, perhaps I can lend a hand?
How much troubleshooting have you done on them?

You could take toolboy62's idea, just switch your instruments into his back plate.
As long as the oxidation is on the outside of the circuit paths, and not on the connections, I would leave it. If you remove it, more will form, slowly using up all of the conductor!

[lab guy]

Wow! my question sure generated allot of conversation about gauges. Thanks all for all the info. Anyone know were I can get the missing switch and wiring?

Lab Guy
Guards Red 87 944 NA

[rennbay]

Z-man- mine broke and for reference... i was not moving when I reset it!

If a moving reset is enough to kill your gear for good, that just means that it was about to go on its own anyway. The OEM ones just start to fall apart after 15 to 20 years.