[V8] Failing Speedo - Sensor p/n?

[dsaad at icehouse.net]

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the sender.
The amount of "shock" you can administer by whacking the dash is pretty minimal,
and the connections are just not that fragile.
It is more likely that it just springs back to life near the same moment you
smack it.
It is also pretty hard to believe that the speedo wire always goes bad somewhere
but the hundreds of other wire connections do not - many people have had the
exact same failure/symptom and for me at least a new sender fixed it.
The V8 cluster is not at all like the 100/200 clusters and do not suffer from
the cracked flexible trace problem they had.

Soldered connections do not normally fail - all cars have thousands of them. The
only weakness I found in the V8 dash was the solid wire ribbon cables that
connect the various pieces together. You could in fact have an intermittent
there, but resoldering the connections is un-likely to fix it because the crack
happens inside the molded plastic part where the "pin" attaches to the solid
wire. The only fix here is to replace the ribbon or rewire with individual
strands. (that is what I did)

Anyway - if you want to be sure, put a meter on the sender wire and drive
around. You will see exactly where the problem is this way. If you want to prove
it is/is not the sender, measure at the first connection point you can down
stream from the sender. I think this is at one of the Kostal connectors.
If the signal drops out down there, there is no reason to tear into the dash.


Dave



Quoting Jeremy Ward <jward.v8 at gmail.com>:

> And if you whack it (open palm on the top of the dash)?  Mine usually
> springs back to life; definitely not a speed sensor.
>
> I've had the IC out 3 times to clean and 'enhance' the contacts where the 5
> (?) pins come out of the circuit board and meet the sockets of the
> speedometer, but I need to do 'the fix' that Ingo prescribes where you
> de-solder / re-solder the pins where they meet the circuit board...
>
> You know, before I had 3 kids, I had gobs of free time...
>
> - Jeremy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
> Scott Baumann - PTS Power
> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 9:13 AM
> To: 'Coleman, David'; Steven.Buchholz at kla-tencor.com; v8 at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: [V8] Failing Speedo - Sensor p/n?
>
> YES - my odometer also quits working, as well as the cruise control and the
> computer goes nuts.  Does this tend to point more towards the IC, or more
> the sending unit?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
> Coleman, David
> Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 9:13 PM
> To: Steven.Buchholz at kla-tencor.com; v8 at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: [V8] Failing Speedo - Sensor p/n?
>
> Does your odo quit at the same time?
>
>
> --------------------------
> David A. Coleman
> BlackRock
> Sent via BlackBerry Wireless
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: v8-bounces at audifans.com
> To: v8 at audifans.com
> Sent: Tue Jan 02 17:15:37 2007
> Subject: Re: [V8] Failing Speedo - Sensor p/n?
>
> .... I'm seeing some odd speedo behavior on #344 too ... very weird ... it
> works fine most of the time, but all of a sudden the speedo drops to -0- for
> some period of time and stays there.  It seemed to be most consistent if I
> took the car for a short errand run ... when leaving the place I'd have no
> speedo ... but I see it mid trip on longer runs too ... after a minute or
> two the speedo comes back.
>
> I had convinced myself it was the speed sender in the tranny because the
> trip computer was showing zero speed as well ... but upon further head
> scratching I realized that the speedo is likely to be sending the signal to
> the trip computer ...
>
> I'd say that before plunking down the bucks for a new sender that you do
> some tests to eliminate the instrument cluster as culprit.
>
> A very long time ago there was a V8 lister who claimed to have schematics
> for the V8 IC ... boy, I would really have loved to get copies of them!
>
> Steve B
> San José, CA (USA)
> >
> > I have a failing speedo (dropping to 0, then springing back up).  I
> suspect
> > it's the speed sensor.  Does anyone have a recommendation (other than the
> > dealer) for a new sensor?  Any known partnumbers?  Thanks!
>
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