Corsa C: Dash odometer went out today

Wig

I lost the odometer display for about 15 miles this morning then it came back.

It was not related to the lights or the dash display dimmer.

Good job it came back but what if goes out for good?

marksandsparx

It's a common Fault... It's an earth problem in the cluster!

vikingaero

Are you sure it's not the light/bulb behind the display working intermittently? Could you still see the faint display?

Wig

vikingaero wrote: »

Are you sure it's not the light/bulb behind the display working intermittently? Could you still see the faint display?

Was my first thought, but the other lights on the speedo didn't bleed through, so I guessed this wasn't it. I stopped and was going to try checking this by shining a light through the display but then it started working.

Wig

marksandsparx wrote: »

It's a common Fault... It's an earth problem in the cluster!

No pun intended I suppose? common/Earth :rotfl:

Is it the lcd display or the lamp behind it? Where can I find this faulty Earth?

Thanks

chunder

hi wig, two solutions to resolve this are either fit a new bulb to lcd display (this is a frosted bulb from vauxhall about £1.30 ish, frosted to prevent the screen overheating)....or where the connector for the speedo cluster sits, it becomes loose in holder, best cure is to remove cable and where hole is put a decent thickness piece of foam or d/sided tape (2mm thick) over it and cut hole out of that,replace the cable and it should not move around like a pr**k in a top hat. this should stop this from happening again. while you have this out just get a 10mm spanner on any nuts/bolts for earth points and give them a tweak.

hope this helps

Wig

Helps a lot, thank you!

Strider590

Replace with LED bulb = no need for special bulb

Manufacturers only fit bulbs because they know eventually they might get some work out of them, were as LED's never blow and won't therefore generate future servicing work.

marksandsparx

Strider590 wrote: »

Replace with LED bulb = no need for special bulb

Manufacturers only fit bulbs because they know eventually they might get some work out of them, were as LED's never blow and won't therefore generate future servicing work.

Unfortunately LEDs do fail. and alot of manufacturers now do fit LEDs in dashboards so that they can be fully sealed.

Strider590

They don't fail (not if they're of decent quality), they do however fade to nothing with increasing speed depending upon whether you over current them or not.

A normal 5mm LED needs around 1.6v and 20ma of current, if you run that LED at 40ma it'll be rather bright, but it'll over heat and start to fade out. If you shove 100ma down it, it'll die almost instantly.
The lower quality the LED the less it'll like being driven too hard.

LED's for automotive use should either have a special low voltage supply OR have PWM control (very common) OR have a current limiting resistor of around 470ohm OR you can run them in parallel banks of 8 series LEDs (approximately 14v/1.6v).

For one single LED added to a non-LED system you'd go with the 470ohm method.

* All above are approximate values because the supply voltage can vary between 12 and 14 volts in most cars.




Can I just add though...... My Vectra's dash died a few days before the battery had to be replaced. Almost as if the voltage dip on starting the car, caused the dash control circuits to cut out. All was fine on the new battery.