Here are some examples of things I've found which can cause meters in the gauge cluster to either stop working or become intermittent. Examples of not cold, but old solder connections as they break down over age.
Example of bad connections at the driver IC pins, bottom circuit side.
The boards are two sided circuit boards and have circuit traces with components soldered on both the top and the bottom of the board. In this example you can see that the driver IC of this speedometer board was not sitting flat when soldered at the factory.
The connection of the wires which wrap around the meter post can also become loose over age. Something like how the wires become loose from the breakdown of the solder at the post which feeds the electricity to the injector coils.
Here is an example of rivet stress cracks that cause loose connections to the meter power and signal inputs. These rivets hold the meters to the circuit boards. They are also the threaded post that are used to hold the meter to the back of the gauge cluster where they get their power and signals from.
A picture of a good rivet.
Here is a picture of how the threaded post make their connection to the board's circuit. There are also connections to the meter coil windings on the bottom of the board. Those connections will usually need soldering too.
Just an FYI. From the condition of meters I've seen I think this is going to become more of a problem in the near future.
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