Hey guys. I have a 1998 Eclipse RS 5 Speed. Now, my question is... what is wrong with my gauges??? I have these white faced gauges and the needles are black! I can hardly see them at night! Now have any of you seen these before? I've never seen them on another stock eclipse before. I don't care about having the white faces, I like those... it's the needles that I don't like. I need some suggestions about what I should do... should I buy an entirely new cluster and have a dealer install it so that the calibration isn't off? Should I change out the needles only? I need some help... let me know!

This is what I know the regular stock 5 Speed gauges look like...


This is what my gauges look like...


This is them at night... see what I mean? Hard to see...

sounds like some one did a custom job or something. just buy new needles from satan or get some used ones off someone.

Originally posted by tim97rs
sounds like some one did a custom job or something. just buy new needles from satan or get some used ones off someone.

what he said. I am pretty sure some came from the factory with white faces (my friends 99 oz did)..but black needles is a custom thing...i bet they are painted...and if thats the case you could probably just sand off the paint. Or better yet, use some sort of paint remover.

Originally posted by BuckNutty
I am pretty sure some came from the factory with white faces (my friends 99 oz did)

Yes, OZ edition GS's came from the factory with white/silver faced guage clusters.

i have heard of people just using a black sharpe to make their needles black. or other colors with other markers obviously. you should try maybe rubbing it off with something other than sanding, maybe like some nail polish remover or something cuz i know nail polish remover will take it off because i did it on my friends jetta, lol. just be careful not to break the freakin needle.

Or if you can CAREFULLY remove the needles you can paint them any visible color yourself. Just leave the mount area black. If you would rather not do that, have a prfessional do it cause it places liability on them.

***Disclaimer*** Just because someone is certified and claims to be a pro, it does not mean that they have a damn clue as to what they are doing or that you will always get satisfactory results! What it DOES mean... You WILL pay a premium price for labor whether or not it was done right!

OR they have those needles that light up. I've only seen them dont know anything about them someone search online for a bit..i didnt have time THEY ARE BAD!

ya they have the needles that light up super ass bright like ^^^ said. but i would try rubbing that shit off first unless you have an extra $60-100 for a new indiglo needle kit.

yea just take out ur whole gauge cluster and take 2 spoons... yes 2 SPOONS and carefully lift up evenly on both sides. When doing this be careful to let the needle hang freely and remember where so that way you can recalibrate your needles, or remember what speed your at in i.e. 2nd gear at 3k rpms. ok now you have ur needles off, DO NOT USE NAIL POLISH!!! it will dull your needles and look like absolute SHIT. I know from experience, just take a very sharp razor blade and carefully scrape the black paint off. Use a light coat of whatever color nail polish you would like and tape of the sides so you don't get sloppy. Yes i've done this several times and i have the Intelliglow needle kit and if you really want i will post a pic of them.

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Thanks guys, I really appreciate it. If I wanted to have a professional do it, who could I go to? A Mitsubishi/Chrysler dealership? I'm not very confident in doing it myself and I usually seem to "f" things up when I do them myself. But if I wanted to remove the needles, how do I recalibrate the gauges? I've heard of people lifting the needles over the stopper and letting them rest and mark that point when putting the needles back on... let me know!! Thanks.

to recalibrate just remember where your rpms stay at idle.. then replace that needle first AFTER FULL WARM UP!! that is very important. Also know what speed you are going at various rpms in different gears: for example in 3rd gear at 3k rpms you might be going 45mph (based on tire size and gear ratio that figure may vary) and at say 2nd gear and 4k rpm you might be going 40mph. Remember a few points and drive down a long straight road put on ur cruise control and carefully put the needle on the gauge. I would tell you the other way to do it, by letting the speed needle hang down to it's resting point but i think that's a big crock of shit cause it never worked for me. I am within 1mph of the actual speed doing it my way, you may have to do this a couple times but it's worth it. As for the fuel and temp well those are different. The temp you can just stick at the right spot once FULL OPERATING TEMP has been achieved and fuel well mine still doesn't work very well. sorry i can't help you with those.
Edit: if you need more help you can e-mail me or pm me.

Try cutting a slit in a piece of paperand then carefully sliding it ove the needle in place. Use a piece of cellophane tape to mark off the center section then paint them in place. That way would preclude any removal of the needle and worries about calibration... Just an idea

but that would retain the black color from the needle since it's on the underside and does not reflect light like the stock orange does. how would u paint just the underside of the needle when it's like 1/2 a centimeter from the gauge face? and remove the black color that is causing the problem.

Since your really not confident with this I highly suggest that you take it to a dealership and have them do it. The simplest way I can tell you how to set your MPH if you choose to do it yourself is find an empty road and from a stop start going and turn cruise control on. Keep flicking the lever until it finally turns on. Then you know that you are going 25MPH because that is when it engages. Dead on balls accurate.

PS- I once saw an Eclipse RS with no tachometer.. Just a black circle there. I thought it was really unusual hence the reason why I didnt buy it. Maybe it is Mitsubishi's doing on your messed up gauges

Well, this is really going to suck for me to try it myself.... I didn't get cruise control, A/C, or a rear wiper since I bought it used. But like I said before, I'd rather spend some money and get it done right, because they could reset the ecu if they had to and like someone said before... it places liability on them. Does anyone possibly know how much that could cost? Maybe an estimate?

This is my car in 3rd gear at operating temp and almost no gas... :)

coolant temps are kinda high

Originally posted by SILVERNT
coolant temps are kinda high

other than that your speed is right on

just do what i did http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=25736&password=0&sort=2&cat=500&page=1

You should see my needles...i sanded with fine grit paper off the orange backing ...placed phosphorecent green/yellow....with the blue led lighting my dash has they light up awesome....just need more Led's inside to make it more even...

You could probably make needles of any color the trick is to not paint the front...just the back where the orange is....sand orange off...paint with high reflective color or phosphorecent color...matte/dark colors will not work at night

here is the color of my needles (its more yellow in the daytime)

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/508000-508999/508466_28_full.jp g

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/508000-508999/508466_26_full.jp g

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/4/web/508000-508999/508466_25_full.jp g

have you checked the bulbs in the back of your gauges. there 4 small blubs in the back of the gagues that might either have gone out or just been removed by the previous owner. I would check that first before buying a whole new gauge cluster.

i have installed these SpeedGlo gauges before and my gas tank never worked right ever since what should i do to fix it?

-EE