Cheap and (almost) Easy TPMS Fix

[djk5077]

As I now own a car with the government mandated tpms sensors, I was brainstorming what to do about the warning light while installing my winter wheels a few weeks ago. I decided I'd rather not pony up the cost of equipment to reset the sensors myself or pay the dealer to reprogram them. That basically leaves just ignoring the light or the classic electrical tape fix. I really hate having orange warning lights illuminated on my dash, if for no other reason than people always asking what that light is? or why it's on? like the car might blow up at any minute. That left the tape fix, but it can look kinda sloppy. So, I decided to go a little more in-depth with it and cover the light at the source. Out came the gauges so that I could put the tape over the light on the back of the gauge face.

Got them this far....


Then flipped them over and removed the white plastic cover. Just had the pc board left to go. I released the tabs circled in red in the pic below, but it was still caught somewhere down the middle of the board.



Seemed like it was at the base of the needles (the large round silver parts) I didn't want to twist/pull too hard on the board, so I settled for putting the tape right on the face of the gauges for now. Anyone have any experience with taking these gauges apart? Or anyone inspired to try something similar now that might be able to figure out how to get that last part out of the way? I'm mostly happy with it as there is no orange light and you can't see the tape at all at night. During the day though the tape sticks out a bit, so I'd really like to complete this how I originally intended. Any help/advise would be appreciated.

[Ingo]

Frankly, I admire you got this far. I've got the exact same issue. Could not figure out how to get the cluster out, so far. Please advise how you got to this point.

After that I'm afraid that's as far as you can go. DO NOT< EVER< FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER< NO MATTER WHAT< pull the needles off the instruments. They'll never work again. And given that, I see no way to get to the LED light itself... That leaves only the tape, which I'm pretty much resigned to. I wouldn't really mind to much, if I just could get there. So please let us have your removal of the cluster, (even if I could likely find it with some research...)

Thanks in advance.

[matsayz]

When I owned an Xterra I helped a guy change the color on his dash/cluster, we followed these instructions in the link below. Basically just mark the position with tape or a marker/whatever and take a close up picture

How-to: Remove the Gauge Cluster and Install Reverse LCD's - Second Generation Nissan Xterra Forums (2005+)

[djk5077]

Frankly, I admire you got this far. I've got the exact same issue. Could not figure out how to get the cluster out, so far. Please advise how you got to this point.

Here's a link that gives a few tips on how to remove the gauge cluster. Anyone removed an 08-09 WRX gauge cluster? - NASIOC

What worked for me was starting at the red arrows in the pic below. I pulled out at the bottom of the shroud (pulling towards me) then worked my way around the inside following the yellow arrows. Once I got to about the blue marks, I was able to reach the back lip of the shroud on the outside and continue pulling around to the top. Once the shroud is off, there are two screws at the top of the gauges and the bottom has two more of the same kind of clips that held the shroud in place. Hopefully that helps.



Hopefully I'll get a chance to mess with it some more this weekend. I've got another idea I'd like to try and I'll post something up if it's successful.

Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter?

[Mikie13]

What if you just take a sharpie or some black nailpolish/paint to the warning light on the gauge face? May look cleaner than tape.

[djk5077]

Update. The electrical tape right on the gauge face worked well, but I still thought I could do a bit better.

So, I pulled the gauges back apart and found that the face can be lifted slightly from the white plastic surround (as seen in the first pic above) without having to pull the needles or anything else off. I set a piece of tape on the end of a thin ruler and set it over where the tpms light is and marked the ruler at the edge of the gauge cluster. Then used a screw driver to lift the edge of the gauge face and slid the ruler under the face to the mark with the tape sticky side up. Remove screw driver, press on the tpms light to pick up the tape, slide ruler out.

Gauges look completely stock, no tpms light visible, and it's completely free.

[teflon_jones]

Are you going to remove the tape when you put your summer tires back on?

[Axex]

Hey there's a guy on NASIOC that found a way to get rid of his, his username is Overland04 so maybe hit him up if you want help with a more permanent solution. Here's what he did:

"Since there is no wire to unplug or the thought of looking at electrical tape in my dash would drive me up a wall. I decided to disassemble the cluster and un-solder the led for the warning light. If you cut the wire it will just keep the light on, it the signal from the module that keeps it off."

Link:Overland04's Path to a Killer Daily Driver | 2011 SWP WRX - Page 27 - NASIOC

[djk5077]

Are you going to remove the tape when you put your summer tires back on?

I wasn't planning on it. I'm not sure how I'd even get the tape back out now. I figure I check my tire pressure regularly enough on my own that I'm not worried about having the light permanently blocked. I also don't have to worry about looking at the light when the batteries in the stock wheel sensors start failing sometime down the road.

Hey there's a guy on NASIOC that found a way to get rid of his, his username is Overland04 so maybe hit him up if you want help with a more permanent solution. Here's what he did:

"Since there is no wire to unplug or the thought of looking at electrical tape in my dash would drive me up a wall. I decided to disassemble the cluster and un-solder the led for the warning light. If you cut the wire it will just keep the light on, it the signal from the module that keeps it off."

Link:Overland04's Path to a Killer Daily Driver | 2011 SWP WRX - Page 27 - NASIOC

Thanks for that info. I kinda figured that most electrical stuff, cutting wires, etc... would default the light to on instead of off. Seems his method requires pulling the gauges a little farther apart than I was comfortable with. It's definitely something to consider.