Repair Manual

Instrument Cluster
Skoda Octavia I

made on a 20V turbo built in 2000

(Instrument Clusters from 1999-2003

are identical Diesel as well as Petrol driven cars)
I wrote this Repair Manual as a private person.
The Manual is to be seen as support for you to
repair an Instrument Cluster for a Skoda Octavia
based on the defects described on page 1.
I cannot give any guarantee for a successful repair
and I also cannot be held reliable for the repair.
The experiences made with this Manual have been
outstandingly positive.
All of my experiences have been included in this
Manual which is also updated regularly.
(Stand April 2008)

6th print run dated April 2008

Benno Philipp

Procedure and Tools

Indicated defects
Malfunction of analogue needles
-

Tachometer
Speedometer
Coolant Temperature
Refuelling Indicator

In additional, there can be malfunctions of

some signal lamps:
-

Immobiliser System
Handbreak
Signal lamp for oil
Signal buzzer for light

It is a well-known problem of Instrument

Clusters from Skoda, VW, Seat, should these
malfunctions be indicated at your car
temporarily or permanent. The reason for the
malfunction is a so-called cold solder joint
on the circuit board of your Instrument Cluster.

You need:
-

1 Torx Screwdriver T10

1 Torx Screwdriver T20
2 small Slot Screwdriver
1 Soldering iron with a fine tip
some Solder
some Superglue
some Tape

Time needed for repairing incl. demounting

and mounting:
approx. 2 hours

I would advise you to get all the stated tools and

to take enough time for the procedure. Do it
step-by-step and above all: be self-confident!
Many people have already succeeded in this repair.

Demounting of the Instrument Cluster

A
1.

Pull the steering wheel downwards and

to your body at the adjustment (if existant).
Now you can work easily in the area of
your Instrument Cluster.

2.

Remove the round covers (A) (left and right)

with a small Slot Screwdriver.

3.

Loosen both Torx screws under the covers

with a suitable screwdriver T20.
If possible, please use a short screwdriver,
otherwise you may be hindered by the
steering wheel.

A
Important notice:
Draw off ignition key
Before demounting your Instrument Cluster be sure to draw off
your ignition key. Also on mouting.
Otherwise your immobilser system may show a defect.

Demounting of the Instrument Cluster

4.

Remove the black cover (B).Pull it to you and

jiggle if neccesary to loosen the clips.

5.

After loosening the cover it is still connected

to the steering column by a soft cover (C).
Remove some clips underneath the cover
to loosen it completely.

6.

Now loosen both Torx screws T20 (D) (left and

right)
Afterwards the Instrument Cluster can be
withdrawn from both holders (E) left and right
This step can effort some energy so you
perhaps have to use the screwdriver as a
lever.

C
Soft cover connected by
some clips to hard cover.

E
Use screwdriver as
a lever for loosening
the Instrument Cluster
from holders easier.

Demounting of the Instrument Cluster

7.

The Instrument Cluster is now only held by

the two cable looms (F). Cautiously turn the
Instrument Cluster to the side for loosening
the cables.

8.

To release the cables, open the safety clips

of the plugs (G). This could need a higher effort.
You can use a small screwdriver as support.

9.

After loosening both plugs, you can take

the Instrument Cluster out of the cockpit.

You have now done the first step of the repair.

Next steps are describing the deconstruction
of your Instrument Cluster.

Deconstruction of the
Instrument Cluster

10. Next step is to deconstruct the Instrument

Cluster. At first remove the plexiglass cover by
loosening the clips.
11. Afterwards turn the Instrument Cluster around
and unscrew both Torx-screws T10 (H) left and right
on the back next to the plug socket. (small picture)
Then loosen the 6 clips (I) around the cover which
you can take away from the circuit board
afterwards.

Marking the needle positions

12. The positions of the needles are to be marked

now. Turn the needles to the right side as far
as possible. You will notice a remarkable
block. (At 0-positions there are no
mechanical blocks)
12. Put some tape slightly underneath every
needle onto the foil and mark the end position
with a pen.
Next step is to draw off the needles. The tape with
the markings has to remain on the foil to put the
needles back on the right position when mounting
after the repair.
Proceed very carefully during this step.
Important notice for mounting:
Dont press the needles to strong while mounting to prevent
that they touch the foil.
Should the needles slip a little bit away when putting them
back on, do the following when the Instrument Cluster is
mounted back into the car and the ignition is turned on:
Turn the needles again to the far right side to
correct them appropriately.

K
K

Remove needles

14. Take away the black covers (L) from the needles.
That is really hard to do and you might destroy
some small bolts underneath the covers.
No problem! You can use some superglue to
fix the covers back on the needles after the
repair.
15. For loosening the needles you can use two
small slot screwdrivers like on the picture
on the right side.
You can also use two small coffee spoons instead of
the screwdriver that might sound crazy, but it works!

You now have the circuit board without the needles

but with the final needle positions marked with some
tape.

Exposing the circuit board

16. Now take away both tacho foils.

Turn the left one (Tachometer) a bit and take
it away. The right one (Speedometer, Cooling
Temperature, Refulling Indicator) is fixed with
some glue. Draw off carefully.
17. First of all you have to loosen both metal
fasteners of the displays (M) from the circuit
board. Take a small slot screwdriver and turn
the fasteners a bit, jiggle and you can take
them with the display away.
18. Remove the white panel (N). You have to
jiggle a lot to loosen all clips which connect
the panel with the circuit board.
In front of you, you have now the circuit board
as well as the white panel with the displays on it.

Bend up Metal-Fastener
for loosening displays from
circuit board.

Turn a bit for loosening

the Reset-Button

Repair cold solder joints

19. The failure is to be found on the top left

side of the circuit board.
7 joints (P) are not correctly soldered.
(connections of 3 resistors and 1 connection
inbetween)
Solder them carefully.
Take some solder on a hot solder iron put
it onto the joints so that the existing solder
gets fluid.
To be sure, you can build a brigde (Z) with solder
between the two resistors. (The existing bridge
is only very thin.

The solder joints should be shiny.

Building here a bridge between

the 2 resistors.
The existing bridge is very thin.
Use some solder for this step.

Testing

20. Now you you can test if your soldering was

successful. Put the needle of the refuelling
indicator softly onto the circuit board and take
it to your car.
Plug the both connectors in turn your ignition
key on.
Normally the needle of the refuelling indicator will
rise up according to the fuelling level you have.
Congratulations - you made it and saved a lot of
money.
Nothing happens? Dont panic!
Solder the 7 joints once again.
Up to now only these soldering joints have been
the reason for the malfunction. You can solder
further joints if it doesnt work.
I adwise you not to solder lots of joints carelessly.
The risk to produce a cold solder joint yourself is
very high.

Mounting Instrument Cluster

21. Mounting your Instrument Cluster is to be

made according to steps 1-18 vice versa.

What is a cold solder joint?

A cold solder joint occurs when there is no proper

connection between solder and joint partner.
The Instrument Cluster is industrially manufactured.
It can happen that the solder roboter has a wrong
time- or temperature-presetting, i. e. soldering is
made with too high or too low temperature.
Less solder has been used for the solder bridge. The
result: the solder joint is not strong enough!
It can take years till you finally recognize the cold
solder joint. Such a solder joint is of less quality and
cannot resist high mechanical stress.
Caused by vibration in the car or temperature
differences, the solder joint might then cause contact
failures between component part and circuit board or
between component parts.
This also causes the failure of the Instrument Cluster.

Notes