[cgstarry]

Hi all. Just took delivery of my vista blue '07 GT Premium coupe. The car is awesome. I plan to put on a CAI with tune and GTA axel-backs soon because I really like the sound of the Shelby GT's.

There is one issue however: There is some kind of scratch or smudge on the inside surface of the speedometer "glass" right over the 40.

A sales guy said it would be covered by warranty but there are risks inherent in tearing down the dashboard of a brand new car, which makes sense to me.

This smudge has got to go, however. Any thoughts or recommendations on how to proceed are appreciated.

Thanks!
John

[MustangMatt96GT]

Let the dealer fix it! And if they run into problems it will be there problem!

[scramblr]

Originally Posted by cgstarry Hi all. Just took delivery of my vista blue '07 GT Premium coupe. The car is awesome. I plan to put on a CAI with tune and GTA axel-backs soon because I really like the sound of the Shelby GT's. There is one issue however: There is some kind of scratch or smudge on the inside surface of the speedometer "glass" right over the 40. A sales guy said it would be covered by warranty but there are risks inherent in tearing down the dashboard of a brand new car, which makes sense to me. This smudge has got to go, however. Any thoughts or recommendations on how to proceed are appreciated. Thanks! John

Rule #1...Don't talk to salesmen...they don't know shit. Our dash panels pull off in sections, zero tools required. You can pull off just the instrument cluster panel by holding on the the speedometer and RPM pieces and pulling. Also work it with the edge of the left vent panel as that's part of the same piece. Then you can look behind the plastic window and see if it's a smudge or a scratch. If it's a scratch, put it back together and take it to the dealer for a replacement. This will take you 5 minutes. Here's a pic with it removed when I did my guages. Of course you don't have to pull out the guages, but this is the only pic I have. You can see the holes on the left vent where the panel clips go into. They just pull out and pop in. Here's the PDF as well which shows the panel removed. Again, disregard the removal of the gauges.

http://www.2005stang.com/gallery/alb...er_Cluster.JPG

http://www.2005stang.com/gallery/alb...luster_PDF.pdf

[Nameless]

WOW! I just tooled around that website and WOW! There are some awesome posts like that cluster link. Where are my tools.......

[cgstarry]

Ha ha! That's aweome. Thanks for the info. I'll go fix it myself (hopefully) and worry far less if I have to take it in because of a scratch.



Thanks again.
John

[scramblr]

Originally Posted by cgstarry Ha ha! That's aweome. Thanks for the info. I'll go fix it myself (hopefully) and worry far less if I have to take it in because of a scratch. Thanks again. John

OOps, forgot a step. Sorry about that...It was last summer when I took it apart. O.K., now it's 15 minutes. :wink

http://www.2005stang.com/gallery/alb...uster_Lens.pdf

[cgstarry]

Ahh cool. Glad you remembered that. I actually pulled off the facade in my garage today but got intimidated by the lens retainers. I'm glad I stopped because I would have unbolted the entire cluster (those two bolts under each circular assembly) trying to get the lens off. Plus my wife would kill me if she found me taking apart our new toy 5 days after bringing it home. But imagine how completely studly I will seem to her when she notices the smudge is gone and I casually remark that *I* fixed it.

Those clips, do they push away from the lens or do they pull out?

Thanks!
John

[scramblr]

You have to pull the cluster out and then remove the clear plastic cover with your fingers. You'll be able to see how the clips come off and you can do it with your fingers. Here's a write up of the cluster being removed to change out the gauge faces. I only pasted what's relevant to what you're doing. It seems tedioius, but it really isn't and in IMO recommend doing it at home vs having the dealer mess with it.


2. No tools are needed to remove the outermost trim from the gauges. Just gently pull with your hands. There's 2 clips on each side (left of A/C vent and to the right of the speedo).

3. After removing the 4 screws that hold the gauge cluster, just unplug the one connector. To unplug the connector, there's sort of a lever on it that you flip over towards the passenger side as you gently pull the connector off. You'll figure this out pretty easy.

4. Removed the gauge cluster from the car.

5. Carefully unclip and remove the clear plastic housing from the gauge cluster, again just using your fingers.


8. ...I carefully re-attached the clear plastic assembly that covers the gauges. All the clips didn't seem to want to catch, so while still holding it together, I once again unplugged the gauge cluster, which allowed me to remove it from the dash where I could make sure all the clips were properly fastened.

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