speedo burning

[Eethirty]

hi guys,
when i bought my mtech2 the lad told me it has a problem with the binicle
every so-often it stops working because a 'chip' burns out aparently.
the chip is quite big more like a plug without wires,
it has 8 pins and is white,
(i have a picture but i dont know how to get it on here)
aparently if you take the binicle out its behind there,
he said when he puts a new one in it burns out after a few months but
"there only £8 on ebay so it dosent matter..." he says

has anyone had this problem before?
if so.. what is the solution?? :s

any help would be greatly appreciated


Cheers,
Jack,

[Speedtouch]

The white plug is the coding for either four or six cylinders. It certainly shouldn't be burning out, at all!

Perhaps you need to check the SI board batteries - do the SI lights work OK?

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... _Batteries

[Eethirty]

....what are the SI board batteries? lol

[Speedtouch]

Service Indicator - see the Wiki link above.

[Eethirty]

ooooo, so you think my best bet is to check the batteries on the circuit board behind the binicle?

[Speedtouch]

Yes, particularly if you're also having problems with the SI lights.

[Eethirty]

ok mate, that will be the first thing ile check, other than that what do you think it could be ?

[Speedtouch]

I presume all the instruments work OK? If so, and the SI batteries are OK, there must be a short somewhere - perhaps a loose flake of solder or loose screw, that occasionally bridges on bumps to cause a short circuit.

[Brianmoooore]

If the coding chip 'burns out' the tacho will stop working.
If the NiCd batteries fail the tacho will stop working.
I've never known or heard of a coding chip failing, but I have seen a few dud NiCd batteries.
The only burnt out component I've ever seen in an E30 instrument cluster is a transistor associated with the economy gauge.