Removing instrument panel on a 1.8 Meridian

[limey]

Hi,

We have a 1.8 Meridian year 2000 on an X plate.

Recently the speedo/milometer has developed an intermittent fault - basically the speedo works but will intermittently stop with the needle falling to zero and the mile-ometer does not count.

I went to remove the instrument panel yesterday but had a real struggle - the only way i could remove the cables (yellow and blue) was to unclip the plastic cover on the instrument panel, but this exposed the dials and long story short the rev counter and temp gauge are now knackered!

The question I have is how to remove the instrument panel as a whole unit. The steering column was set to its lowest position but the steering wheel position makes it very tight to manoeuvre the panel and get access to unplug the cables.

I plan on replacing the instrument panel with either a new unit or second hand from ebay. Whether this resolves the original problem I do not know, but at least we should have a working temp gauge and a correctly zeroed rev counter!!

Any help would be gratefully appreciated!

Cheers

[Niall]

Welcome
It wont resolve our original problem. I will put a drink on the fact it will be your speedo sensor which is located on top of the diff on the back of the gearbox. Can pick them up on here or ebay for about £20

With regards to getting the dials out, unscrew them and pull the top forwards. squeeze your hand round and ontop of the coloured plugs is a black clip. you need to pull that back towards where the wires enter the plug and it will release. do this with both then you need to drop the wheel as far as possible, pull the top of the dials down and out towards the left hand side of the car. Its tight but fits!

[rocker8742]

Or there are 2 13mm nuts on the steering column you can undo to drop it further

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Or there are 2 13mm nuts on the steering column you can undo to drop it further

[Oil-burner]

Or there are 2 13mm nuts on the steering column you can undo to drop it further

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Or there are 2 13mm nuts on the steering column you can undo to drop it further

+ 1 for sensor!

Piece of piss to fit, probably quicker than taking the instrument panel out once you find the sensor!

[Eeyore]

its the sensor thats the problem. Ill be doing a guide to getting speedos out at some point.

update: guide is awaiting approval. check the guides section soon.

[limey]

thanks guys, seems that I was heading down the wrong path and now we have a partly busted instrument panel - i knocked the needle on the temp gauge and now it doesn't work at all...

re: the speedo sensor, does anyone have a piccy where I can find it?

Also re the 13mm nuts on the steering column, are they obvious to locate?

Cheers!