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Thread: Cluster dying

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Cluster dying

    Heres an interesting one for you blokes.

    Car is a 97 model T4 2L electronic speedo.

    Now I am familiar with the dreaded vw dance of death with the Golf 3 and SEAT clusters, usually what happens is that the rev counter and electronic speedo stop working and everything else still works, eg clock and fuel etc.

    With this one, everything dies and then comes back intermittantly.

    I`m thinking (hoping) its an earth fault and will probably pull the cluster out and add an extra earth.

    Anyone know what colour the wire is in the back of the speedo and whether its ok to add another earth in this way. I`m no electrician.

    I`ll probably rip it apart tomorrow, so sing out with any suggestions guys.

    Thanks
    Matt
    Camden GTI Performance. VW / AUDI Specialists
    All Mechanical Work, Log book Servicing, New and used Parts and Imports
    19-20/6 Badgally Road, Campbelltown, 2560
    02 4627 3072 or 0423 051737 www.camdengti.com

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Sydney
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    it could also be a positive losing connection,
    cheers brenton
    MK1 4door
    MK2VR6
    MK3VR6
    Transporter
    1st place, stock MK3VR6. Vw nationals 07
    2nd place, mod MK2VR6. Vw nationals 09
    and untold wrecks

  3. #3
    Matt,
    My 98 T4 TDI did the same a year or so ago: started with the speedo showing slightly less the true speed, waving up and down. Then, some months later, it was all but resting on "zero", with occassional flick-up then down again. Never did fix it. Sold the van. all other instruments OK.
    Peter

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2005
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    So I took the cluster apart today and I now know a lot more about em than when I started.

    First off they dont come apart like a golf one, the gauges are bolted to a plastic back and you need to remove the needles and faces to get the circuitboard out.

    Unfortunately my petrol and water temp gagues exploded into pieces and all the cogs went everywhere. It took a while, but finally got them back together and recalibrated.

    The problem with the board is that all the earths come to a central point and then go via a wire to the multipin connector for the cluster. Where the wire joins the multiplug it had a slightly dry and cracked looking connector.

    The way you should do it is thus :

    If you took the plastic face off the cluster and looked between the speedo and the revcounter there is a phillips head screw. Undoo that and add an adittional earth, which I then fed out of the back of the cluster and to the dash earthpoint. Do the screw back up and put the face back on.

    I could do the next one in 5 minutes.

    It works great, I have done 50 kms, the instruments work correctly, the clock doesn`t loose its time and I can use the trip meter.
    Camden GTI Performance. VW / AUDI Specialists
    All Mechanical Work, Log book Servicing, New and used Parts and Imports
    19-20/6 Badgally Road, Campbelltown, 2560
    02 4627 3072 or 0423 051737 www.camdengti.com

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    sydney
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    611
    good work mate saves up poor sods paying for a new one, another task under that belt of yours how did u go with my old beezas cluster

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by william View Post
    good work mate saves up poor sods paying for a new one, another task under that belt of yours how did u go with my old beezas cluster
    Changed the fuse, plugged in the earth, all good now
    Camden GTI Performance. VW / AUDI Specialists
    All Mechanical Work, Log book Servicing, New and used Parts and Imports
    19-20/6 Badgally Road, Campbelltown, 2560
    02 4627 3072 or 0423 051737 www.camdengti.com

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Dont poke and hope, scan, smoke and scope
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    Loon ive done electrics for yonks man and i always wasted time on them trying to salvage the circuit foil more fool me - thats a gold fix mate ill use that for sure- good onya- by the way any joy with that door module????
    Not too much stress the vehicle is in Bundy but due to come back in about 8 weeks time
    Cheers and Happy New year to ya
    Alba European
    Service, Diagnostics and repairs. Mobile Diag available on request
    Audi/VW/Porsche Factory trained tech 25+ yrs exp
    For people who value experience call 0423965341

  8. #8
    bigyeti Guest
    At last! I'm a T4 '96 2L petrol owner in the UK (there are not very many petrol t4s in the UK) with this problem same electronic speedo, no rev counter in the cluster but fuel gauge has a hissy fit every now and again, recently the speedo has stopped working completely -

    I have swapped the cluster with a good tested used one but no difference. I'll have a look at your fix above but I'm not confident....

    Any other suggestions from you chaps?

  9. #9
    bigyeti Guest

    Quote Originally Posted by bigyeti View Post
    At last! I'm a T4 '96 2L petrol owner in the UK (there are not very many petrol t4s in the UK) with this problem same electronic speedo, no rev counter in the cluster but fuel gauge has a hissy fit every now and again, recently the speedo has stopped working completely -

    I have swapped the cluster with a good tested used one but no difference. I'll have a look at your fix above but I'm not confident....

    Any other suggestions from you chaps?
    Just as I thought, took the cluster apart and not a phillips head screw in sight, in fact no screws in sight!

    Unfortunately, I am no electrician, but this is what I have done so far..

    Swapped cluster - as above
    Swapped sender unit (from drive shaft just under exhaust)
    tested current at sender - plenty
    twiddled cog in sender unit manually to make speedo jump - nothing
    checked all associated wiring as much as possible
    checked/cleaned up all the earths I could find

    My next step would be to take it to a professional but I prefer to fix stuff myself, you learn more that way. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

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