Coby7

Rebuilt a 2003 Suburban cluster, LEDed in blue, also sold and programmed a FOB for it. Also programmed 2 FOBs for a 2006 Uplander and sold & programmed 2 for a 2009 Chevy Silverado HD dually.

Refurbished a 2005 Mustang cluster with new stepper motors

In the shop today 2005 Sunfire cluster refurbished.

Just finished an other 2004 Silverado cluster LEDed in blue. Aside from the mileage looks pretty much like the one I did yesterday. It's almost getting boring...

In the shop so far today, I couldn't fix 2 Dodge FOBs, the transponder in one of them was cracked in two pieces and the other one was dropped in slush last winter. Salt and gold don't get along very well and salt always wins. Then refurbished a 2004 Avalanche cluster in blue.

In the shop today I repaired two of these babies, I really had to wrestle to get this one done every step of the way. Took me a little over an hour. It's for a 2013 KIA Rondo. Before : After:

It is hard to write the tone of voice...All good, I was just being sassy. Also maybe because I hate black. Only had one black ( a 2008 Cobalt ) seems like it was always dirty even after I just washed it. Did I mention I hate black. Here is the order of my life time vehicles. 1948 GMC pickup navy blue ( Wish I still had it ) 1962 Chevrolet Caprice white 1971 Chevrolet BelAir sky blue 1975 Chevrolet Corvette white 1963 Chevrolet Corvette white 1979 Chevrolet Monza coupe brown 1979 Chevrolet Citation Navy blue ( somewhat of a mistake ) 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Royal blue with white insert 1983 Chevrolet S10 Gold 1984 Chevrolet Corvette Ruby red Then the family arrived... 1991 ChevroletLumina Van Bluish 1993 GMC S15 extended Forest green 1998 Chevrolet Malibu Maroon ( mistake ) 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue forest green ( mistake #2 ) 2000 Chevrolet Sonoma 4 door Pewter 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander silver ( Best vehicle ever ) 1978 Susuki Carry white Then University 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt gold ( daughter #1 ) 2010 Cobalt Ruby red ( daughter #2 ) 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt black 2004 Mitsubishi Outlander navy blue 2011 Chevrolet Silverado silver 2016 Buick Encore Cocoa brown 2016 Chevrolet Trax Sunset orange I may have missed a few...

Then you're stuck in a groove, live a little or maybe you are color blind in which case stick with what works for you. Black is not a color, black is a lack of color.

In the shop this morning did a cluster repair for an 04 Sierra. Speedo and oil only. He'll be back!!!

You can get new buttons off of ebay, did this for a friend of mine. Once I was done I clear coated them and they stayed nice. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/AC-Dash-Button-Repair-Kit-Decal-Stickers-Replacement-for-Chevrolet-GMC-Tahoe/382692878265?fits=Year%3A2011&hash=item591a45e7b9:g:0pYAAOSwlINcIdSp:rk:4:pf:0&vxp=mtr

Today in the shop: This guy Tom that drove from 2 hours away insisted because he heard from a friend I was the best. Nice complement but I'm good at what I do because I've been doing it for 9 years on GM clusters. This particular cluster he brought me out of a 2002 F350 I had never seen before. Still took me all of 10 minutes to find the problem and 8 of those was taking it apart. Here's a picture of the cause of his failed cluster taken from my electronic microscope. Asked him for $20 when he got back home and tested it and he gave me $50 on the spot fully confident I had the problem fixed. Hope I don't get one of those calls!!!

I use 12 volt LEDs from http://www.led-switch.com/12 volt LED.htm

Keep training, you're not there yet kid!

Today in the shop, just finished a 2004 Tahoe cluster refurbish with not even 90k miles. What a nice truck for a 2004!!! Burgundy with gray accent. @tm +5.4°C ( +41.7°F )

Today in my shop, I repaired an other cluster, 2004 Sierra HD, LEDed in blue.

In the shop today, I rebuilt 2 clusters one of which I took in as partial payment, had him choose the one he wanted and kept the other one which I promptly put up for sale on Kijiji. Life is good.

Did one last week for a forum member from St-John and just did an other one of these. This time out of an 04. Copper migration on the backplane again. This one would half shut down, it would go from drawing 42ma to 21ma after 25 seconds but would not completely shut down. So in the process of rebuilding, I make it a point of cleaning any copper migration that I can see. Copper migration is often the reason why the High beam indicator stays on a dim lit. Then I cover it up with Kutex just because it's practical, comes with a small brush, does the job and not cumbersome on my bench. Did this one in blue as per customer request with all new motors. Took me all of 45 minutes.

Just finished a 2004 Impala cluster,

Last night around 10 o'clock I got a call from a trucker from Toronto that was in trouble with his cluster. He said he was hauling stuff for Brian Adams and had to be in Halifax today. Well it just so happen I had one for sale for a long time on Kijiji so I brought it over and installed it in his truck. He took it out for a spin and came back happy! He did not hesitate with the asking price at all and gave me a few brown ones. I never thought I'd ever sell this one... I checked and Brian Adams isn't on tour to Halifax for a little while yet so dunno!

Didn't even see the inside of my shop today spent most of the day snowblowing and shoveling...

Today in the shop, started out slow, older lady in her 2010 CTS came over because a friend told her I could probably help her. Repaired her key FOB and then she started on how she couldn't believe how much they wanted for an extra key at the dealer because she had lost one. $82 + tax + programming. ''Hello" . Anyway just so happened I had 4 Cadillac keys in my shop that I had ordered for somebody else and then reneged on our agreement, so I got stuck to foot the bill. So went down to the local hardware store with her and had one of them cut to her Caddy and programmed it for her. Did the repair, new battery and key for $40. Then did a cluster for a member on here, he said it wouldn't shutdown and would drain his battery in 3 days. He wanted OEM background so LEDed in warm white for him. Then I sold an Impala cluster I had here with the promise he'd bring the old one back. Now I have an other cluster coming over.

Just out of curiosity how clean was the inside of her car? Maybe detailing the inside would have been a pretty good gift too.

Today I did my first short bed single cab cluster repair in 8 years, it was a 2005 Silverado.

This morning I repaired a problem with a cluster somebody brought me after they had attempted a fix. After their attempt 5 gauges didn't work in the truck. Only Tach and Speed. It would work on the bench but not in the truck. I had this sumbitch apart 6 times then it struck me like a ton of bricks, the 5 gauges that didn't work were all fed by serial GMLan. I located the pin (PIN A6 ) and traced it. I can't believe why somebody would do this to a circuit board, they actually cut a trace on the board with an exacto knife. I jumpered the cut with a soldered piece of wire and now everything works.

08 and newer have LED lighting. I haven't challenged a color change on one of those yet and may never try. Getting up there in age and this precision stuff is getting harder and harder to do. I've just started on what I hope is my last batch of 1000 stepper motors and this time I mean it, when these are gone I'm done doing these.