96 Accord EX Speedometer, Gas gauge, clock issue **RESOLVED**
 

This issue is resolved but I will post it here anyway just in case other may have this issue. Sadly I didn't think to take pictures of the cluster until after I put it back together.

I just got this car from a friend who got it from his room mates girlfriend. Meaning he knows nothing about the car other than the speedo hasn't worked in quite a while. So I get the benefit of guessing how many miles are on it. anyway on the problem.

I used my mighty Google-Fu powers to find out that it seems to be a common problem with regard to the solder joints breaking. So I took the cluster apart to look at the solder. I removed the old solder on every joint I could. and re-soldered them.

I put the cluster back together and it was bouncy (meaning the needle jumped around but showed speed). But ran into the issue that the gas gauge stopped working.

I took it back apart and fired up the Google again and read on a Civic forum that I probably broke one of the small wires leading from the connecting pin to the coil on the gauge. And sure enough I found a broken wire. The only picture I thought to take.
Attachment 17527
I circled the spot where the wire broke.

I put it back together again and the gas gauge works again but now the speedo is broken again. AHHHH!!!!

Ok third time is the charm. I took it apart and looked closely at the speedo board. I noticed one of the electrolytic capacitors looked like it was leaking. I looked up the data sheet for it and found something amazing.
Attachment 17528
The caps are rated at a max life of 1000 hrs. 1000 HRS!! Are you kidding me? My car is 17 years old. That is what 149,019 hrs. So definitely time to replace them. I put it all back together again and guess what? IT WORKS!! It works smoothly with no bounce. WOO HOO!

As for the clock it didn't work either so I used what I learned with the speedo. I found a cracked solder joint so I removed and re-soldered the clock board and replaced the cap on it. And now it works also.

So cliffs notes version is if your speedo is not working check for broken solder joints and replace the caps. Then be very VERY careful when putting the gas gauge in not to over tighten the screws and break the connections.

Great post, Rodville!