Modern Technology 101

[BHRS]

I just spent 3+ hours working on my wife's '03 GMC Yukon. I tried to fix it myself and save some money... Well, I did-sort of. On these modern electronic pieces of junk all the gauges are electronic and have known defects ( I learned after the warranty was up). They have little stepper motors which fail causing the speedo to show 110 mph when you are going 20 mph. I researched the "Yukon Forum" to find that this is a known issue and I can buy a set of updated "stepper motors" for $50.00.

I pulled the cluster out and found basically a mother board on a computer. There were more gizmos and solder than gauges. Anyway, to replace the speedo motor I had to pull the needles for all the other gauges and disassemble everything. Since all the gauges use the same motor, I decided to replace them all and be done with it-sounds like a good idea right???

Using the solder gun I heated and removed the speedo motor-simple. I popped in the new one and resoldered it. Next was the tach-this is where I should have just walked away and put it back together... I heated the solder around the four pins bouncing back and forth and pulling on the motor to pull it from the circuit board-it doesn't want to move. I keep heating and pulling until it comes off. Well, I guess I used too much heat for too long and where I needed to solder the new motor to and it melted away. Now the circuit is buried in the plastic of the board. I tried everything I could to fix it, but now the tach doesn't work.

I did heat and remove all the other motors and installed the new ones with no other issues. I put the plastic mess back together and everything works except for the tach. It isn't the end of the world, but I like everything to work right.

Then my wife comes out to see how "her" car is coming. I explain the situation and she tells me "See, this is why I'd rather pay to have someone fix things." I told her we should sell it and buy a '72 Suburban to match my truck then I can work on it. Well, now I am upset with her, the Yukon, and it's raining...

I think I am going to head back to the garage, listen to some country music, and drink beer...