Anyone else have a fuel gauge / odometer that goes in and out? When it's been cooler outside mine has been showing jibberish in the past, now it just plain doesn't show up until my car is warmed up. It has been suggested to me that it's a communication problem. Any ideas on how to fix? I'd rather not pay the dealership to troubleshoot and I'm not under warranty any longer.
It used to be fairly routine that when you replaced an odometer that the mileage reset to zero. You would just note that and when you resell, tell the next buyer that the cluster was replaced at xx mileage so the actual is xx plus what ever is shown. This is also reported (or should be) to CarFax, so someone looking at your vin would see the action.
FIXED!!! I have a 2018 HR-V LX with the same issue and after some research I found a fix that has been working for over a month now, even in temps down to the low 30's.
1. Adjust the steering wheel down and telescope it straight out all the way.
2. Pry off the trim around the instrument cluster.
3. Remove the Phillips screws that secure the cluster to the dash.
4. Remove the one electrical connector at the top of the back of the cluster assembly.
5. Remove the back from the cluster and disconnect the 2 wire beeper connector. Once apart, you'll find 8 pins in a vertical arrangement on the lower left.
6. With a low wattage soldering iron with a clean tip and some small gauge solder, reflow the joints in the picture.
- Use rosin core solder and clean the solder with rubbing alcohol prior to soldering to remove any dirt.
- Don't overheat the connections when soldering. Alternate your soldering by starting at pin 1 then 5, then 2, then 6, etc.
7. Re-assemble the cluster and re-install.
I always kill the motor before fueling up and it still does it. I'm starting to think it really has to do with something in the cluster. It's also hard to replicate the fault when you take it to dealership since its gone by the time you get there
So true.. have taken my car many times when I get there it come back on..the last time I took my car in they say I needed a new battery and replace the cluster panel.😂.Battery has been replaced twice in 4 years.. there is only 17259 miles on my car… I am really fed up…This was bought brand new….they say cluster going bad, 1347.67 for parts and labor 😡. Also said battery tested bad 164.22 to replace😡. Battery has been replace in less than 2 years…
I refuse to spend anymore money at Honda. Went somewhere else to purchase a battery.
they ask me why I wanted a new battery when it tested out ok😡
so I will just this lemon with no gas gauge…
FIXED!!! I have a 2018 HR-V LX with the same issue and after some research I found a fix that has been working for over a month now, even in temps down to the low 30's.
Just reporting that my 2018 HR-V has a similar issue and one that is more prominent in cold weather. What doesn't make a ton of sense to me is that simply hovering my hand over the cluster can either make the issue happen or make it disappear. Like really just hovering my hand a few inches over the dash. Not touching anything, not leaning on the steering wheel..just moving my hand left to right over the dash can drive this cluster crazy sometimes. Anyway the point of this post is that I was pulling the dash in preparation to inspect / solder these joints and quickly realized that the cluster was extremely sensitive to the steering wheel position. More out and up would exacerbate this cluster issue - in and down would make it go away (and the range in which there was no cluster issue still was a good amount to accommodate a lot of drivers, I think). Possible that certain positions just move a wiring harness which torques the panel or who knows. Maybe soldering is the actual fix, but also maybe just fiddling with the steering wheel position can work just as well. I'll try and pop back in if the steering wheel position ends up being a longer term fix.
Just reporting that my 2018 HR-V has a similar issue and one that is more prominent in cold weather. What doesn't make a ton of sense to me is that simply hovering my hand over the cluster can either make the issue happen or make it disappear. Like really just hovering my hand a few inches over the dash. Not touching anything, not leaning on the steering wheel..just moving my hand left to right over the dash can drive this cluster crazy sometimes. Anyway the point of this post is that I was pulling the dash in preparation to inspect / solder these joints and quickly realized that the cluster was extremely sensitive to the steering wheel position. More out and up would exacerbate this cluster issue - in and down would make it go away (and the range in which there was no cluster issue still was a good amount to accommodate a lot of drivers, I think). Possible that certain positions just move a wiring harness which torques the panel or who knows. Maybe soldering is the actual fix, but also maybe just fiddling with the steering wheel position can work just as well. I'll try and pop back in if the steering wheel position ends up being a longer term fix.
Passerby, you've taken "healing hands" to a new level! An update since my original November 1st post, my daughter has since moved from Charleston, SC (with mild winters that would cause her gauge cluster to fail when temps dipped into the 40's) to Chicago, (where temps in the 40's are considered to be spring-like) and the cluster is behaving, so I'm calling this one 'closed'.
Passerby, you've taken "healing hands" to a new level! An update since my original November 1st post, my daughter has since moved from Charleston, SC (with mild winters that would cause her gauge cluster to fail when temps dipped into the 40's) to Chicago, (where temps in the 40's are considered to be spring-like) and the cluster is behaving, so I'm calling this one 'closed'.
lol, yeah. makes for a fun trick when it happens with passengers.
either way, THANK YOU for posting the detailed photos and the write up. If my magical steering wheel adjustment trick fails, I'll probably go the soldering route next! I just happen to do a lot of soldering, so I'm not too worried, but still reluctant to fiddle around in there unless I absolutely need to.
Not too long ago my Tacoma suffered from a very similar issue albeit with a much less important gauge. And it was the same, you know, bad solder joints failing issue that was apparently widespread.
FIXED!!! I have a 2018 HR-V LX with the same issue and after some research I found a fix that has been working for over a month now, even in temps down to the low 30's.
1. Adjust the steering wheel down and telescope it straight out all the way.
2. Pry off the trim around the instrument cluster.
3. Remove the Phillips screws that secure the cluster to the dash.
4. Remove the one electrical connector at the top of the back of the cluster assembly.
5. Remove the back from the cluster and disconnect the 2 wire beeper connector. Once apart, you'll find 8 pins in a vertical arrangement on the lower left.
6. With a low wattage soldering iron with a clean tip and some small gauge solder, reflow the joints in the picture.
- Use rosin core solder and clean the solder with rubbing alcohol prior to soldering to remove any dirt.
- Don't overheat the connections when soldering. Alternate your soldering by starting at pin 1 then 5, then 2, then 6, etc.
7. Re-assemble the cluster and re-install.
Ok. So my steering wheel adjustments ultimately didn't appear to solve the issue completely, so I took things a step further thanks to your amazing write up. I only wanted to share some more detailed shots and a few tips. Overall I'm pretty floored that these joints were really pretty severely cracked - full circumference and quite a few in bad shape:
Removing the trim like this is always a bit scary ... I used a plastic tool to get the first clip but basically just ripped the whole trim off to allow access to the 3 screws you need to remove. One indicated here.
This is the top most set of screws. I removed both (for a total of 4 screws), but I think you only need to remove the far one. There's a little detent that comes undone with very little effort:
There's one connection on the back of the cluster. Simply depress the middle button and wiggle it out gently. Removing the cluster is a bit of a Mensa test....after some finagling... it seemed like tipping the unit towards you and sliding it to the left was helpful. Careful of the mileage reset wand sticking out awkwardly.
TAKE NOTE: Once the cluster is removed. In the next step, be careful when removing the back cover, there is a delicate wire running a small fan to keep some linear regulator cool or something like that. I bet if you yanked it it would just come undone, but best not to press your luck. Just peer in and disconnect that wire. The connector (JST something something?) has guides that should make it easy to reassemble / not reverse it, but worth noting the orientation all the same:
Once out, there are 7 screws and then two little clips pointed to in red that you need to pry on light to remove the back cover (see note above!):
I'm a goon and love to splash solder everywhere, so I masked out the region on wanted to work on so I'd have less risk of flinging solder balls somewhere they shouldn't be. I used low tack painter's tape, because that was within arms reach, but kapton tape would likely be more appropriate. Some solder is more susceptible than others to this. I used 63/37 - 60/40 seems to do this less - but I've learned the splashing lesson more than once and really didn't want to deal with this. I was concerned that this being an industrial application, that the solder would be some crazy high temp stuff, but that really didn't seem to be the case. Just a few touches was all it took.
So, yeah, so far so good. It used to be that moving the steering wheel in the cold would 100% affect this cluster, but no matter how I move the cluster now, I can't get the cluster to freak out and overall it has been reliable. But, it hasn't been too long. Fingers crossed!!
In case the Imgur links die here's a link to the gallery (should've just used these, but now I'm too lazy to go back...):
This should be a recall already. My 2019 HRV just started having these problems. Gauge completely went out a week or so ago, but came back on after 5 minutes of driving. Then a few days ago, I noticed at a red light that it was showing just gibberish, but went back to normal when I started to move. Both times were in the morning on the way to work, but I live in Florida and it doesn’t get that cold. I’ve also had an issue for the past year+ that my gas gauge is wrong. It’s about 1/4 tank off and I have to rely on mileage to make sure I don’t run out of gas. I thought this was a sensor issue, but maybe it has to do with the cluster as well? Is anyone else having the gas gauge issue as well?
This should be a recall already. My 2019 HRV just started having these problems. Gauge completely went out a week or so ago, but came back on after 5 minutes of driving. Then a few days ago, I noticed at a red light that it was showing just gibberish, but went back to normal when I started to move. Both times were in the morning on the way to work, but I live in Florida and it doesn’t get that cold. I’ve also had an issue for the past year+ that my gas gauge is wrong. It’s about 1/4 tank off and I have to rely on mileage to make sure I don’t run out of gas. I thought this was a sensor issue, but maybe it has to do with the cluster as well? Is anyone else having the gas gauge issue as well?
I never noticed a fuel gauge issue, but it was very uncommon for my gauge to go out completely, only very frequently showing gobbledygook, but the fuel gauge was still visible - although it did happen. That was part of my motivation for risking the fix. The fuel gauge disappearing was my primary concern.
After thinking about this some more though and if you're really having that issue, the whole situation is absolutely absurd. Like, I just thought the display was hosed, but the data would otherwise be fine. If what you're saying is actually happening, it seems possible / likely that your odometer isn't recording changes either - have you checked on that? That seems like a fairly big deal and something that Honda would be more motivated to fix as part of a recall rather than risk having scores of their cars under reporting mileage.
After going through this process, and seeing quotes from dealers for >$1k for the cluster alone, I chose to fix this issue myself at my own risk. Of course after, I did check out the used market. On eBay you can find troves of used clusters for <$100. All of which advertise their mileage! As others have pointed out there's probably some process for updating the mileage ... but the possibilities for fraud here are comical terrifying. It seems outrageously dumb that this data would be stored / tied to something that takes literally 10 min for anybody with two hands an a screwdriver to corrupt. After this I did attempt to figure out of my car had perhaps fallen victim to this because my car has other issues, but I'll stop there. Maybe the clusters can't just be swapped and require some update, I never tried. The cluster with the fix above has been going strong.
@Passerby Great job of posting the cause of failure, illustrations, and your repair. Thanks for posting this.
I'd say this is defiantly a manufacturing concern, since it's fairly common, and also that all of the joints have seemed to fail. Seems to me, like they may have used poor quality solder.
Since this failure is not a safety issue, I wouldn't expect a recall to be issued. However, I would think that a customer satisfaction program, such as the one for the starter button, should be issued.
I have my 2019 at the dealer right now. Diagnosed with this same issue, they quoted me a price of $1900 to replace the instrument cluster BUT it is on national backorder, thus I'd have to pay for it and wait until it finally comes in I'll deal with it until this is considered a recall!
@Passerby Great job of posting the cause of failure, illustrations, and your repair. Thanks for posting this.
I'd say this is defiantly a manufacturing concern, since it's fairly common, and also that all of the joints have seemed to fail. Seems to me, like they may have used poor quality solder.
Since this failure is not a safety issue, I wouldn't expect a recall to be issued. However, I would think that a customer satisfaction program, such as the one for the starter button, should be issued.
There was an issue with the CHMSL on the 8th gen Civic coupes BUT only those with the subwoofer option - the bass would vibrate and crack the solder connection causing the light (LED) to fail - it was an easy fix to just remove the light assembly and hit the 2 wires with a hot soldering iron to get the solder to re-form etc.
Sounds like Honda is still using the same solder !
I have my 2019 at the dealer right now. Diagnosed with this same issue, they quoted me a price of $1900 to replace the instrument cluster BUT it is on national backorder, thus I'd have to pay for it and wait until it finally comes in I'll deal with it until this is considered a recall!
I think I'd be placing a call to Honda. I'm with you, I'd never pay that kind of money to get a gas gauge fixed. Of course they may only offer to pay half, but $900 would still be too much.
I had a Saturn that the gauge crapped out on. I never did fix it. I knew what my MPG and tank capacity was and I just reset the trip-meter every time I filled up.
I think I'd be placing a call to Honda. I'm with you, I'd never pay that kind of money to get a gas gauge fixed. Of course they may only offer to pay half, but $900 would still be too much.
I had a Saturn that the gauge crapped out on. I never did fix it. I knew what my MPG and tank capacity was and I just reset the trip-meter every time I filled up.
sad reality of modern cars - everything is interlocked and controlled through expensive components - the simplest thing fails and the cost to replace is outlandish !
Sadly, re-soldering cracked connections on automotive electronic circuit boards is common and not unique to Honda's.
GM windshield wiper motor circuit boards and Dodge Ram cluster circuit boards right off the top of my head.
For a non-technical person, I wonder if an independent mechanic would even try to repair/solder the HRV cluster circuit board?
Soldering any circuit board comes with risk and it could be worse after an attempted repair.
Anyone or any shop would not give a warranty nor would they be liable if the repair made the cluster worse.
The other option, that others mentioned, was a used cluster, which would have minimal warranty and then programming it with the correct mileage and likely VIN number.
Not sure if that is a good option either.
Yeah, a while back the compass and temperature sensor display on my Toyota Tacoma crapped out; same deal, poor solder joint that just failed. At the time I had done very little soldering and the fix wasn't pretty despite only needing just a touch up, but it did the trick.
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