Hello all,

Yesterday I decided to take a chance and try to change the factory color from orange to blue (to match my Laser Blue Protoge5). Everything was going well, as I sanded away on the backside of the faceplate to remove the orange film... And then snap! The temp needle broke. I told my slef that that wasn't bad, cause it wasn't that important. I pushed my luck, and decided to sand off more of the faceplate near the fuel needle, and surprise surprise, snap!

I spent a couple of hours trying glue crazy glue the small needles back on, and they do somewhat work, but I wouldn't say that they're giving me the most accurate reading.

So, I was wondering if anyone:

1. knows where I could find 2 potentiometers to replace the ones that I broke. BTW, these two pots simply unscrew from the back, so changing them is a cinch.

2. a 2003 MP5 compatible gauge cluster (ideally blue display) or a factory cluster. (in Ottawa, Canada)

I know I was an idiot to try and change the color, so please don't remind me!

Thanks for any help you may provide,

Dan.

 

for starters Danglazar, Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to our Club. There are TWO BIG fridge'S in the corner with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have.

make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom don't care....and take it easy.

oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!!

as for the gauges....its going to be hard to find those...however the same gauge cluster is in the 2001 and 2002 as is in the 2003 so your options are greater.....you could always try salvage yards....

 

Thanks for the welcome!

Good idea, I will definitely look for it (gauge cluster) at salvage yards... I'm still trying to get the right blue color on the temp/fuel gauge by using a paint for glass - either I put on too much and there's not enough light, or too little and the blue color is crap.

Once I find a used gauge cluster that I know works, I will try to make the other gauges in the cluster blue; if I happen to break them, I will still have a backup.

Also, do you know if the memory chip for the odometer is only located in the car itself, or on the gauge cluster too (will I still retain my mileage info if I switch gauges)? Logically I know that it shouldn't reset cause anyone trying to sell a used protege could simply swap for another cluster with lower mileage to get a better price, but I just want to make sure.

I hope that the empty fuel light lights up when I need to fill up! I'm assuming that as long as the broken needle is free to move, it will still indicate that I need to fuel up at the correct time...

Thanks,

Dan.

 

So, did sanding off the orange film actually work?

Any ES level gauge cluster will fit, and retain the white faces. Just beware that in 2002.5 the color of the gauges changed from white to pewter.

It's my understanding that the odometer info is stored within the cluster. You may need to swap odometers if that's even possible.

 

Sanding off the orange film does work to make the display clear. If you do try to sand it off, I wouldn't remove the two screws holding the display - this will prevent you from braking the needle, but make your sanding job very hard. I think the safest and fastest way would be to purposely break the needle close to the actual orange needle so that it breaks the plastic, and not only the metal pin (perpendicular to the orange needle) that holds the needle up; this way, it will be a cinch to crazy glue it back on. I broke both of them too low, so I now it's like I have to glue back a sowing needle together and make sure that it is straight when it sets - not fun, but worth the effort if I don't need to buy an expensive cluster.

I tried to paint the bulbs blue at first, but I put too much paint so not enough light was coming through, so then I took of the paint, and tried to paint the back of the gauge display. and that was too dark too (but I can see some blue come through). I might have the time this weekend to play around with the color, so I'll let you know how it goes... Another option would be to forget the paint, and by a transparent blue film that I could tape to the back of the gauge display to give it a more uniform color.

I'll try to keep my responses shorter from now on... :-)

D.