HELP!! Speedo and swing-o-meter not working!!

Post Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:37 pm

Help needed urgently!!!

My speedo deosn't work ( nor the odo), changed the connector and nothing. At the same time, the econometer goes from very economical - down right ludicrus when you feather the throttle. My tacho still works as do all the other guages.

What is it.. and how hard is it to fix?

Post Sat Nov 26, 2005 10:05 pm

it could be the sensor in the diff i think im not sure i got the same problem and i gonna sort it out this weekend hoperfully

if i can get off my ass and do it.........

Post Sat Nov 26, 2005 11:48 pm

I've got the exact same problem. My mechanic (who knows his sh*t) has spent hours searching for the problem and he says that there's nothing wrong the connector on the diff. He's also tested the two wires as per advice on this forum. No evidence of stress breakage under the car. They both test fine. But up at the guages, one of the wires is dead. Now he's asking if I want him to rip apart the interior to follow the wires! Argh.

If anyone can solve this problem, let us know!

Post Sun Nov 27, 2005 4:40 am

check yer fuses, (think 12 , 7.5A) as one of those fuses is related to speedo, and swingometer(!!??) or the economy gauge as i call it (do prefer yours). i did the same once as the same fuse also is associated with one of the stereo wires, had a short blew the fuse and had exacaly same simptoms. the the odometer also didn't work.

if not the fuse then i suspect the problem is between yer fuse and the cluster connection.

mrlee

Post Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:35 am

You need to replace the SI board or batteries. that's the service indicator board and it's located in the dash.

Here's a link to show you where it is. It controls the speedo and the econometer among other things.
http://www.bmwe30.net/cgi-bin/datacgi/d ... Section=02

Good Luck

Ruff

Post Sun Nov 27, 2005 10:10 am

KDS wrote:I've got the exact same problem. My mechanic (who knows his sh*t) has spent hours searching for the problem and he says that there's nothing wrong the connector on the diff. He's also tested the two wires as per advice on this forum. No evidence of stress breakage under the car. They both test fine. But up at the guages, one of the wires is dead. Now he's asking if I want him to rip apart the interior to follow the wires! Argh.

If anyone can solve this problem, let us know!

It's highly unlikely that there's a problem with the body loom which doesn't get moved around or stressed in any way. The speedo signal goes through a plug and socket under the rear seat base (usually cable tied to the fuel vent pipe tube), but AFAIK there are no more connectors untill you reach the plug at the cluster, (B= white,8 and B12).
SI board batteries do not affect the speedo, by the way, although they can affect the economy gauge, tacho and temp gauge.

Post Sun Nov 27, 2005 4:39 pm

Fuses are all good. I was playing ropund with teh stereo before this happened, but found a few too many wires in the radio loom. The 320 I took it out of, i cut extra lengths of the wires to match them to mine.. and I find out that there is a few different coulors and or excess wires. the OBC has stopped working too.

Come to think of it.. I have shorted out some wires trying to find out the speaker wires ( I think theyre grey ish?? live wire.. Not sure what they go to) If it is a short, how can I fix it? Do I need a whole new loom? or can i just change the dash clocks? What about the OBC?

Post Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:43 am

SI board batteries do not affect the speedo, by the way, although they can affect the economy gauge, tacho and temp gauge.

Here's what i know. When my speedo would bounce up and down...sometimes not work...sometimes work, when the speedo doesn't work, the economy guage doesn't work. Then i replaced my SI batteries, and didn't have any problems after that. And everything i've read about the si board, it controls the speedo. *shrug*

Post Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:14 am

Brianmoooore wrote:The speedo signal goes through a plug and socket under the rear seat base (usually cable tied to the fuel vent pipe tube), but AFAIK there are no more connectors untill you reach the plug at the cluster, (B= white,8 and B12).

Brian,

Thanks very much for your ongoing help and patience with this problem! I'll get my mechanic to search for the socket of which you speak. Because mine's a Touring, there won't be anything directly under the rear seat base, BUT I suppose the socket could be hiding in a couple of other places: either along the carpeted bulkhead that runs across the car between the rear wheels or inside the right boot storage cubby.

(If it makes any difference, my speedo died while the car was in the bodyshop for four months. I know that the battery died and was trickle charged at least once.)

Post Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:22 pm

Lift the seat base, remove carpet from under the seats and you should see 2 black plastic covers. Undo the 10mm plastinuts, and I think there are wires under them.. Not 100% sure.. but pretty sure!

Brian, I tried the sender unit, changed the si board ( and lost the check light panel on the dash!

) and still nothing. Help!!

I need it fixed ASAP!!!

Post Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:49 pm

With mine, it was dry joints in the cluster itself.

Took only a couple of hours to have that out and resolder pretty much all of the joints. Worked fine after that.

Post Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:52 pm

Turbo..

so you had the same symptoms?

What did you resolder? the whole back of the dash?

Post Mon Nov 28, 2005 1:57 pm

mate if you were playing around with yer steroe before this happened then i would not bother with the sender unit or wires etc, the problem is something to do with the wiring from fuse 12. but also check fuses 8 and 23. check it with a light bulb and some wire to earth/negative to ensure you have power there on both sides of fuses. if all ok.....

then the next thing to check is the pin 13 (violet) of the white 26pin connector which can be found at the rear of your instrument cluster (you will need to remove the cluster agian to get to it). you should have voltage (12V) at pin 13 with ignition on. if there is nothing here is your problem. that means the wiring loom between the fuse and the pin if the fuse 12 is ok.

I am fairly confident about this because when i bought my cab in dubai i had to drive it about 700miles accross UAE and Saudi Arabia and onto Bahrain, quite a daunting prospect in a second hand car, it had quite a dodgy stereo in it with a cd changer in the boot that had some crazy contraption the allowed it to play VCD's on the monitor that they had installed in my dash (it was real ugly!!!) this bit of kit was getting hotter then i would have liked so i decided to cut the wires rather then risk a fire in the desert. i was at a fuel station it was dark and i used anything at hand to cut the wires, this obviosly must have shorted something and i luckily only blew fuse 12, but the simptoms were exactly the same, no speedo, a crazy swingometer, and no odo (and no stereo). it seems to much of a conincidence that you were also playing with your stereo before this happened.

let me know.

mrlee

Post Tue Nov 29, 2005 7:53 am

So if it was a short in the loom, how did you fix it?

Post Tue Nov 29, 2005 8:19 am

oze30 wrote:Turbo..

so you had the same symptoms?

What did you resolder? the whole back of the dash?

I did have the same symptoms.

If you open the cluster up, you'll see that the instruments themselves have great big flimsy terminals going to what I guess would be the main board.

One of mine was clearly cracked so I re soldered that and then went around the rest just to be on the safe side. Did lots on the SI board too but may not have needed to.

As I say, only took a few hours

Post Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:37 pm

I took it to a sparky.. looked at the fuses and found no 10 blown!

i checked but only at night! teach me to bloody start doing electrical stuff at night!

:

oops:

Post Fri Dec 02, 2005 12:41 pm

I agree with all the "board" - (excuse the pun). Mine also had similar symptoms. Changed over the binnacle cluster to another spare unit, after first fitting my speedo to the doner cluster, and jobs a good 'un mate.

Post Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:58 am

I finally have my speedo and swing-o-meter back!

The problem wasn't at the diff or at any of the wiring connectors, but within the wire itself. In left-hand-drive cars, the wire runs inside along the sill and then angles sharply upwards near the dead pedal in the footwell. The wire had kinked at this point and eventually failed. Once we found the problem it was an easy fix.

Hopefully this might be of help to one of you who have been left scratching your head. Thanks to everyone for their advice!

Post Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:06 am

Wire runs in the same place on RH drive cars as well, but I've never heard of a failure here. If the speedo wire broke here, it could apply to any of the wires in the loom to the back of the car.
One to file for future reference I suppose.

Post Sat Jan 07, 2006 7:47 pm

KDS wrote:
Brian,

Thanks very much for your ongoing help and patience with this problem! I'll get my mechanic to search for the socket of which you speak.....

Ending a sentence on a preposition is something up with which I will not put - (Winston Churchill)

Splendid to see the quality of the english language is being maintained on the 'zone, and by a Canadian as well - hats off to you sir.