Rpm Gauge Pinned all the way around! & Timing Chain Question?
 

I can see this forum is going to be of great help!
The rpm gauge is now pinned at like 12,000 rpm or something silly at the stop.
When I turn off the 1997 Park Ave it tries to move back and if I bang the dash it does move a bit (to 6 o'clock position) but no where near enough to try to get it get back to zero rpm. It stays pinned now after starting a the 8 o'clock position approximately.
It was working before it went into the shop what have they done? Or is it just another electrical glitch happening here? Any ideas welcome as to what is wrong?:mad:
The new to me ride is a non super charged 3.8 and has 82k miles on it.
The plastic intake,water pump,thermostat, coolant elbow, was just replaced and tons of stuff like filters, cabin, engine,fuel etc as well.

One more question about timing chain or belt, does this 3.8 at a certain mileage require a new timing chain or is it life of motor?
Thanks in advance for some help here!:thumbup2

RPM gauge sounds like a bad stepper motor. My cluster does the same thing randomly. It'll work sometimes but most of the time its wayy off and pins at 7k.

If you want to fix it by the way you can solder in a new motor yourself or send it off to repair (costs around $50-100 depending on the cluster and they usually replace all the motors, leds, and calibrate it)

Thanks..How hard is it to remove the cluster?
Send it off for repairs...to who???

Isn't very hard at all in the Bonne to remove the cluster, shouldn't be too bad in a Park Ave.

I had mine repaired by a guy on ebay. Here's a link to a listing of his for Buick's http://www.ebay.com/itm/Buick-Speedo...item415f2164b7

Thank You for the link very helpful indeed, not expensive either!

Well The rpm needle somehow re-set it self back to working again...
This car certainly has it's host of electrical gremlins.

in order to replace the cluster, pop off the cover on the end of the dash, with the door open and there will be one 7mm screw you need to remove, then pop off the "wood" trim on either side of the dash by just prying it up gently. then just gently pry off the entire bezel around the cluster and radio. you will need to unhook the connectors for the dic controls and the internal temp gauge. internal temp gauge is behind the 9 holes behind your keys when they're in the ignition.

Yup just wait. In a few days it'll be acting up again. I think what happens is when the stepper motor goes bad it'll slip/stick in place sometimes and then wherever the needle is it treats that as 0.

5 months later the rpm is still working and has stayed withing normal operating range perfectly since I installed the new Odyssey battery.