Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all, not sure if this fits under the general or electrical chat, but investigation has lead me to conclude that the driver circuit commanding the temperature warning LED, and the warning LED, both in the temperature gauge on my 1983 T25 1.9 DG wbx westfalia have failed. ...it's presenting itself as a solid light and not a flashing light from the moment the key is turned on until I turn it off, engine running or not. Everything else is good - all needles work fine. note: the LED circuit embedded in the resin is meant to flash by design.  

Question: brickwerks, vw heritage, justkampers, go westy, don't have the early gauge available for petrol T25/T3 models (that I can find) that fits into the clock cluster. Anyone know where I might source one, or a trustworthy breakers here in the UK?  PS I don't want a separate dash mount VDO gauge (I'll live with the solid light instead). 

Found a VW Golf Mk1/Mk2 GTI Dash Clock Instrument - Temperature Gauge - on ebay.co.uk  Looks the same, anyone know if this will fit?

Cheers

Have you tried removing the #42 relay (which is the one that drives the flashing light for low coolant circuit) - remove this and see what happens - it doesn’t explain the fault but it would be interesting.

The solid on LED is strange behaviour - they usually fail so that they flash all the time rather than being constant on;

I’m pretty sure that the ‘flash’ is a feature of the actual LED rather than the circuit;
So looks like you have a double failure - the capacitor has failed in the circuit (which is what causes the flashing to stay on) and the LED has failed so that it no longer flashes

Ebay is usually a source for replacement gauges - or the wanted section on here will prob get you someone with one they can sell to you

Mick at NWVW (07968 367046) will likely have what you need ... 

Temp gauge internal capacitor may have failed.   Can be replaced and there are videos/threads describing process if you search the forum.   I have repaired quite a few  and never noticed much difference in the reading between early and late temp gauges when I tested them on a dummy load.   I would be interested to know if  anyone has actually done a comparison between them.