rev counter has mind of its own

[flying oyster]

hi i have a problem with my rev counter it gets stuck and then goes all the way around the clock till the end of the redline and sticks
when i turn off the engine it resets itself is it a calibration problem or dash out and new job suggestions please 2.0tdi o4 plate

 

[flying oyster]

anyone got any ideas !!

 

[Khufu]

I'd say it will be the rev counter part of the cluster, if it was a connection to it it wouldnt work at all. It may be possible to buy a cheap cluster off ebay & swap the rev counter across so you dont need to worry about the mileage & immobilizer.

 

[paddy]

It must have a sender somewhere, that will be the cheaper end to to start on. you could stick vagcom on it and see if that is reading odd rpm, if it is its more likely to be the sender

 

[paddy]

I seem to remember the 3.2 has a pickup on the flywheel end of the crank that bolts thru the crankcase.

 

[navnayyar]

Needle sweep in reverse!

 

[AudiABT]

Hi, I have the same problem with an early 05 2.0 tdi a4...did you find out what is wrong? when you start it again does it puff out white smoke and then go back to normal?

 

[NHN]

White smoke, sounds like the cog on the rear has become dislodged or trapped somehow which maybe the plastic burning, take it apart as they have white plastic covers & reseat it unless its ******** now, then you would need to either try & swap parts over or fit a replacement cluster.

I remember these things from my entertaining days messing with white clusters thinking could swap the kmh & mph over & code, hence that failed miserably even if it all worked, but didnt display correctly as of course its all calibrated at factory for specific measurements of speed, stupid really cause it would save vag so much dough doing 1 cluster type & code it for the relevant requirements as such, guess they're beyond this technical ability or common sense.

 

[Mick a3]

Did you ever sort this problem mate?

 

[flying oyster]

to be honest no and it hasnt done it for ages i will have a look next weekend when im playing with the car im going to innotech clean the turbo as i have got some workshop time

 

[Mick a3]

thanks anyway, Ive got a similar problem...Currently dissecting the cluster but cant get the ****** needle out.

 

[NHN]

Sorry guys but Innotech has been a waste of time according to other peoples comments, tbh only way to really resolve any sticking vanes issues are to remove turbo & elbow grease.

 

[ScottyP45]

or use mr muscle oven cleaner, loads of us have and it works perfectly. £2.55, squirt into the turbo from the egr hole via a rubber tube. nuff said

 

[smudge_don]

This sounds like a good excuse to upgrade to the MY09 cluster in my opinion

 

[Westy]

This is now my problem guys as I now own the Oysters car. I'm going to have a real good dig about at the weekend.

Was this issue a common one on the early clusters? I have full VCDS so I'll have a little play at the weekend.

 

[@udi A3]

Sounds like cluster eeprom is corrupt. Try re writing it or new cluster. I have one if you wanna try it.

 

[Westy]

Sounds like cluster eeprom is corrupt. Try re writing it or new cluster. I have one if you wanna try it.

Thanks for the suggestion. Can the EEPROM be rewritten easily or do I require a load of software? Are there any tell tale signs of this problem within VCDS?

I wanted to try seeing if there was some type of a reset for the cluster module in VCDS like there is for some of the other modules.

 

[@udi A3]

To reset simply unplug it. Or remove battery leads and touch them together. I say eeprom fault as it's something that has happened when writing bad eeproms to clusters previously. I use vag commander but I'm sure the latest vag tacho would work. I'd suggest re writing the existing eeprom file. Vcds output test should operate the needles to verify the motor is ok.

 

[Westy]

To reset simply unplug it. Or remove battery leads and touch them together. I say eeprom fault as it's something that has happened when writing bad eeproms to clusters previously. I use vag commander but I'm sure the latest vag tacho would work. I'd suggest re writing the existing eeprom file. Vcds output test should operate the needles to verify the motor is ok.

Thanks for the info.

The rev counter motor seems to be fine as it has full range of movement. It rests at 0 when the engine is off but behaves strangely when the car is on.

The needle is fairly jerky for the first few miles then settles. After a few more miles it tends to just go off the clock and sit at the 6 o'clock position till the car is turned off again.

Is the cluster easy to remove? The 8L one was only a couple of torx screws but I'm sure I read the steering wheel needs to come off on the 8P?

 

[Westy]

Ok fellas. Here's a few videos of the little critter. It sounds to me like a motor problem!

First video is the car idling nicely at 5k revs lol, then I turn off the ignition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Ev4c98m_E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

2nd video is of a VCDS cluster test sequence. As you can see the needle doesn't return to 0 and sounds nasty. Also when the needles stop at 12 o'clock the speedo is about 4mph to far round. What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qmJN0c9PBw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I don't think there's too much point flashing the EEPROM or removing the cluster it sounds quite noisey like the needle isn't gripping the pin properly or the motor has had it.

 

[@udi A3]

motor is easy to change if you are careful with it. as NHN suggested though sometimes the gears inside just need re seating.

 

[Westy]

motor is easy to change if you are careful with it. as NHN suggested though sometimes the gears inside just need re seating.

Ok so best plan of action probably is to take out the cluster and investigate the rev counter side. Is it easy enough to open up or will a thousand springs and cogs fly out all over the place?

 

[Westy]

Big thanks to @udi A3. He paid me a visit today and swapped out my instrument cluster for a fully working one. I now have a rev counter that works.

Great service and a nice bloke. Highly recommended.

 

[Mujnu]

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I've been scouring this forum and a lot of others but no one seems to have the same probem as me lol :/

My car is a 55 (06) plate A3 1.9tdi, BKC engine code with 120k on the clock.

I've realised when my car is idle my revs will rise from approx 850-900 rpm and sit on 1000rmp (just a little above). This can be from a cold start, when i start the car first thing in morning the revs will rise and as the engine warms up it'll auto-rev to 1000rpm every time i sit at idle. When the revs do rise if i press the accelerator it'll drop back to 850rmp only to rise a few seconds later.
Ive also realised every time the car revs the fans kick in for about 30-45 seconds and then stop but the revs will stay at 1000rpm. I have checked battery voltage and its not a bad battery causing it.

Theres no codes apart from glow plugs which i don't think should effect the rpm, so not sure what it is, any help would be much appreciated lads. Thanks