E30 Zone

Are si boards all the same, just got a set of clocks off a E reg 320 to rob the si board and just above the check light on the clocks it has VDO written where as mine has MotoMeter.

yeah i think so,its only the white coding unit to the far right that is different depending on 4 cylinder or 6 cylinder, which is removable

there are 2 types those that recharge the batteries and those with lithium batteries that last for years.i dont know if they are interchangeable best ask brian moooore

Just stripped the new set of clocks, batterys and circuit board totaly shagged, so i might as well put new batterys in my original clocks.

This is a pic of my si board, the batterys are Lithium, is there any way of checking if they are faulty, my original problem is my rev counter and mpg gauges have stoped working.

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to check for faulty batteries use a multimeter on V and on A and on Diode settings.

VDO and Moto SI boards have a diffrerent number of pins on the bottom, and as far as im aware, are NOT interchangable.

Motometer and VDO units are completely interchangeable. I have a motometer SI board (lithium batteries) and rev counter in my VDO cluster that had a knackered rev counter and dead Ni-Cd batteries on the SI board.

Cheers,

Iain T

Where can i get these Lithium batteries from?

Are your batteries definately dead ? iirc they should give about 3 volts dc.

I'd try maplins first if you need them, make sure you get 'tagged' cells or you'll struggle soldering them in.

Cheers,

Iain T

All SI boards are interchangeable.
Lithium batteries are 3V each, and are easily tested in situ with a volt meter, but they are unlikely to be your problem.
The electronics on the older type board with NiCds actually runs of the voltage from the batteries, which are charged from the main car battery.
When they fail, not only do they not power the electronics, but they tend to become very leaky (physically and electrically), which short circuits or heavily loads the other circuitry as well, giving a variety of problems.
The lithium powered board runs normally from the main car battery. The lithium batteries do nothing normally, but are just there to provide a "saver" if the car battery is disconnected or goes flat. Even when they fail they don't short out, so don't cause problems.

Brianmoooore wrote:All SI boards are interchangeable.
Lithium batteries are 3V each, and are easily tested in situ with a volt meter, but they are unlikely to be your problem.
The electronics on the older type board with NiCds actually runs of the voltage from the batteries, which are charged from the main car battery.
When they fail, not only do they not power the electronics, but they tend to become very leaky (physically and electrically), which short circuits or heavily loads the other circuitry as well, giving a variety of problems.
The lithium powered board runs normally from the main car battery. The lithium batteries do nothing normally, but are just there to provide a "saver" if the car battery is disconnected or goes flat. Even when they fail they don't short out, so don't cause problems.

Just checked batteries both have 3 volts, so its not that.

So what else can it be?

Common cause of rev counter failure is a poor connection at pin 9 (black wire) of the C101 engine loom connector, on the bulkhead just inboard of the fusebox.

Brianmoooore wrote:Common cause of rev counter failure is a poor connection at pin 9 (black wire) of the C101 engine loom connector, on the bulkhead just inboard of the fusebox.

I'll check that in the morning, do you check pin 9 with a multimeter or is it a bad connection between the 2 connectors?

Bad connection between plug and socket. May not be obvious, as the tacho seems to be upset by the slightest problem here.

Brianmoooore wrote:Bad connection between plug and socket. May not be obvious, as the tacho seems to be upset by the slightest problem here.

I've checked and cleaned the connection pin 9, any way i can check pin 9 for voltage or resistance?