1996 Dodge Neon Instrument Panel

I did pretty much the same thing that motor1258 did. This was on my third gauge cluster to be in the car. This solution simply does not work. Yeah whacking the top of the dash will sometimes get the gauges to work but not always. I have a bit of a temper and would get pretty annoyed by their non-compliance. I ended up breaking my dash from hitting it too much. So now I had a broken dash on top of my stubborn gauges. I just found a solution online that should be a permanent fix. Basically you take the gauges out, take them apart and re-sodder the pens on each plug back to the circuit board. I am going to try it and hopefully this ends my frustration.

The vibration isthe cause that problem, because the electronics component inside of the board get cold, weld cold, so you have to look for weld cold ann reweld it and the will be gone for ever

Laaaaaaaaaaaame the problem is the conectors on the cluster, plain and simple they are junk , tighten it up , if that doesnt work get a new gauge cluster . or used from a wreckers

Best Solution posted on Aug 23, 2008

motor11996 Dodge Neon Instrument Panel - guru_s.gif /> Rank: Guru
Rating: 87%, 20 votes
Had same problem on my 95' about 3 times in 7 or 8 years. Pulled trim panel off around gauges/speedo cluster. 4 screws if I remember correctly, and pulled the instrument cluster out far enough to disconnect plug at back off cluster. Now, the plug that is there,in the dash, that connects to back of cluster, I wiggled or whatever I had to do, ( maybe push it out through the back, then feed it back through hole to front) to get it to come out through the front. Now, see all those little male spades inside the cluster where that connector attaches, I took a pair of small needle nose pliers and bent the very ends of them all,slightly, enough to make better contact with plug in dash, but not so much that they wont go back in to females in dash plug. Then I re-attached plug to back of cluster, after a little di-electric grease applied in plug, pushed cluster back in to position, & just lined up plug in hole where it came out, without putting it in from backside again, so as to allow spades to go deeper in plug, to also aid in getting better contact. The cluster will go back where it was pretty well, but not enough difference to cause any problems, tightened it back in with screws, snapped my trim back on, and fired it up, and all was working again. What I found was that the temperature would kind of dictate when the gauges acted up, so I figured plastic, expansion, contraction might be the cause. For a while, a good wack on top of the dash above the cluster, and everything would come back on, for a while. Anyway, might seem a little tedious but it really only took me about an hour the first time, and a half hour thereafter. Good Luck, hope it cures yours too. Let me know how it goes.