Keep bending needles - 2002 AMC Encore

bent the shaft while going thru thick material or its out of alignment..may be able to bend it back with a pliers..

a comon problem with nissans is speedo &rev counter pointer needles warp and get stuck on the instrument face.if this is happening with yours u need 2 remove the clear plastic face heat the needle with a hair dryer and very gently bend the needle tip out from the speedo face hold it out till needle cools ps.dont over do the heat it wont need much

previous owner had drilled a 1/16 size hole on the clear plastic directly in front and align with the gas needle at the area where the needle located ( usually below the empty post). use a paper clip the size of the drilled hole, bend one end slightly so it will catch the needle and drag it over the post. i did this couple times already. Do not overfill your gas tank (top-off), which will cause this needle to bounce off and go under neath the empty post. i hope this will help

Not difficult, whether you hammer them in and out or use a press, the most important part is to not permit the needle bearings to fall down while putting it together and to make sure the retainig clips are properly seated in the retaining grooves. Make sure to put grease into joint before replacing shaft as it is sometimes difficult to do once installed. If yours has any performance mods it is advisable to always place grease fitting "in compression", so the shaft yoke pushes towards the fitting during rotation. This helps keep the joint from bending or tearing apart under off-line loading. In performance applications I also recommend using either dana or lakewood joints.

Not unless you bend the tube. You will have to disassemble at least one U-joint--keep track of how it came apart and all of the little needle bearings in the cups on the end of the cross--keep everything clean. Fresh grease will help keep things together when putting it all back.

I had same issue with my 2001 Windstar. To take the pointer needle back to its position without removing the Cluster, you will need to:
- Remove the head lights and dimming switch together with the bezel (left side of steering column). It is snap-fit, so just pull it softly from the edges
- From there, you will be able to peek and see the prndl and the red portion of the pointer stucked
- With a long soft stick (I cut a thin long portion from a manila folder, but you can also use a plastic flat stick or any thin card board material that you can cut like from cereal box) insert it into the prndl small opening between the Cluster lens and bezel to push the needle.
- If the pointer doesn't move at all and your paper stick is bended, it might be pretty stuck (due to the countinuous pushing while placing the shift is P). For that, you can use a wood stick, like a chopstick, to un-stock it. Same thing, insert it trough the opening. Do not insert it all the way, as it will not fit. This is just to unstock the pointer with the chopstick tip.
- Once it is unstuck, get back to the paper stick and now insert it again and push the pointer up until it gets back to 0 by itself.

It is higly possible that your pointer will be bend at this point (again due to the continuous pushing of the shift at P). So you might want to consider removing the Cluster lens to bend it back straight.

Important: There are several comments that it is due to some ground connections issues on the cluster, which might be true. I haven't try finding it. Your pointers will eventually jump crazy again some day. In my case this happens 2 times a year (for the last 3yrs). If this happens again, hit the top of the panel hard with your hand and the pointers will jump back.
Due to this, it will be up to you if you want to remove or replace the cluster. I didn't find it worthy.
Good luck!

Let me guess, you hit a bump or bang top of dash & sometimes everything works again.
Comments: May 23, 2009 - Had same thing happen in my 95' and finally figured it out.
Here's what you do. Pull the trim plate off around the speedometer cluster. 4 screws hold the cluster into the dash, remove them. Pull the cluster forward & release the connector(s) on the back & pull cluster right out. Now look in where those connector goes & you 'll see a bunch of little spade contacts. Carefully, using a pair of needle nose pliers, or good tweezers, either put a slight bend in the ends of them all, keeping pin aligned straight after, or twist the end slightly. This allows them to make better contact with the plug in the back. Now, the plug that's stuck in dash, that cluster plugs into,pop it out the back, then feed it back in through same hole it came out of, so that it is on the front side of dash panel. Now when you go to put cluster back in, just plug it to cluster, and set cluster in so that the connector is sitting in same hole it came out of, but now sitting on top, instead of behind. It feels like the cluster is not quite in where it was, but it will be o.k. Now put 4 screws back in & snug them up, but don't reef them too tight, just to avoid cracking. Put trim plate back on & give it a try.The reason for moving connector was to get it on cluster tighter too. Worked for me, sold it 4 years later, still working. Let me know how you make out. Probably take about an hour. Remember, you don't have to bend too much, just enough to make better contact. Any trouble or questions, let me know, either way, keep me posted.

my camry had the same problem only it would stop around the 80 mark and only slowly go up. you can't see it from the drivers position but the speedo needle has actually bent out towards the clear plastic cover and it gets stuck on this. the only way i could fix it was to pull it out and bend the needle back. i hope this helps

Your spedo needle could be bent.

I noticed that many of the dial needles are bent from the heat.

Because the plastic face of the instruments is angled back when it reaches towards the 100km mark the needle touches the plastic and cant go any further.

I used a bent paperclip and a stick and put the paper clip though the tripmeter hole and used it to push the needle back. Its best to do this in summer when the interior gets more hotter and it will slightly bend the spedo needle back.

Toyota has a needle kit to replace them

Good luck,
Eitan.