macdaddyslomo

splice into the green/white wire...and continue the worshipping

KrayzieFox

You are officially my god ... it's just too bad I didn't wait long enough before trying this out to find out I can actually remove those things. Well my gauge is broken now, and the dealership wants $475 for the whole thing, whereas a salvage yard I went to wants $100. Either way, I don't feel like paying that much, so I'm gonna glue it for now until I find an opportunity to snag a replacement gauge for cheap.

macdaddyslomo

try www.car-part.com I have seen them as cheap as $40

KrayzieFox

Thanks for the tip, I'll go ahead and look all over for it. I guess just to make sure I'm looking in the right spot, is the green/white wire that needs to be spliced into on top of the gauge pod? I took a pic of where I thought it would be, so am I lookin in the right spot or am I completely off?

macdaddyslomo

You are correct sir.

PhantomLX

There have been maybe 1 or 2 people successfull with the butter knife technic. & plenty who failed, so I wouldnt consider it a working technic.

Sory about the temp guage (I would of cut a slit) I did make warnigs.

BUT I put a dab od glue on the little pin thingie and pushed her in & twisted the thing up to the fullest point and down, and let her set and dry, she works now but takes 5-10 min to go down after the car is off (just a temp fix until the junk yard part comes through.

I explaine the temp needle was the tough one, & this exact reason is why most shops wont do it on a 01+ Protege.

If you found one and they did it your lucky, but by shopping arround, everyshop will do it untill I tell them its a 3rd Gen Protege, then they say, they dont want to be responsible to pay $300+ for replacement (Mazda charges around 300$ for a new cluster)

For anybody else in this position, another option would be to make the circle openings used for the temp and gas needles larger.

And again, that butter knife technic has been proven to be hog wash for all but a handfull of Proteges, ME looking at my temp guage from the bottom dont see it as posible as the needle and plastic peice it goes into are a cap thats snaped & glued together, I geuss you must be popoing the the cap off , because I doubt the pin needle that holds it in place will come out then go back in. Either way by checking all the bords msprotege & clubprotege, they all say the same thing, its possible to be successfull, but unlikely.

Good luck

macdaddyslomo

thats funny...I did it...and an old member Blue Ledz(he told me about this way) has had his needles on and off multiple times,and actually did a write up on this on club protege...

And I hate to come off high and mighty but Phantom please dont ever assume you know more than me about this car. I had already done this probably before you even bought your car

PhantomLX

I aint even going to start (like I said a handfull have gotten it done, but on the most part it DONT work, and dont assume what I know)

Broken Neddles thread

This here will break down a guage disasembly for a swap (you can do this from the one you get from the junk yard to keep your real millage)

How to guage disasembly

EDIT:I see the links are not working, I will fix this tonight when I get home

PhantomLX

More Broken temp needles

PhantomLX

And still more broken needles

PhantomLX

Still I find More

macdaddyslomo

Because they didnt do it the way I said to...lots of people break needles....As I said I did this myself a long time ago, then i found the right way to do it, tested it and it works. Trying to argue that with me is pointless and will in fact just cause me to pull rank on you, period

PhantomLX

Yes some have done it the way you say to, read the threads, there are people relating to the guy with the broken needle and explaines how he done it himself (your technic failed) and aswell the gentleman who writes the how too disasemble the guage cluster also goes into the ishues behind removing the needles (and yes people have done it, but more have failed)

I wouldnt Preach something as a method that works unless it works on more then just a few cars.

N-E-Ways, why not Pop of the gas needle to see if you can do it (the cluster is broken none the less) and that should pop off then go back on no prob so go ahead and try. If it works, count yourself lucky as someone who got it done.

macdaddyslomo

Once again I HAVE DONE IT, IT WORKS. PERIOD. Those who have broken their needles using this method didnt do it correctly.