Club 80-90 Forums

Have a problem with Dashboard Instruments: can some one please advise me on what to do to fix them:

Issues
1) Speedometer bounces until I reach 40mph then again after 45mph
2) Temperature gauge does not work
3) Left light in pod no longer works to illuminate speedometer

Is it the press circuit as someone as suggested to me? If so how do I find the fault? Can I fix it myself or do I need to try and find a second hand replacement?

If I can fix it does anyone know how I can get hold of a visual explanation of what does what?

Any help would be really appreciated,
Also please keep explanations simple, as I will not understand technical terms and abbreviations. All this mechanical stuff is very new to me.

ps. i'm darren not alex,

Cheers all, this site rocks!!!

The reason the speedo is jumping up and down is possibly because the cable from the front left hand wheel has a sharp bend in it, or needs a bit of lubrication. I take the speedo cable off the back of the speedo and put some thin oil on the inner cable, let it run down into the cable then if you can, after oiling pull the inner cable a bit and wipe off any of the oil at the top so that it does not work its way into the speedo.

The temperature gauge may be faulty but first check the water temperature sensor on the engine. Does the red light in the temperature gauge flash? Can't tell you where the sensor is because you have not mentioned which engine you have.

The illumination bulb in the top of the speedo may need replacing. To get at it pull up the front of the instrument pod (by front I mean the front of the van) and the top should lift off. Then you will see the bulb on the top of the instruments and check if it is blown.

Best of luck.

Trundletruc.

thanks for help. Trundletruc.

its a 1988 van and a 1915 DG engine or should be as i had it recently replaced with a recon engine. told them i wanted the same put back in.

do you mean the temperature gauge in the coolant tank or do you mean thermstat which on my van is on the left side of engine and pritty difficult to reach and held with a very weird clip.

prior to summer the red light did constantly flash despite being full of coolant, but i cleaned the sensor in coolant tank over the summer and it has been fine since. at the same time i did try to replace thermstat sensor but the new on from 'just campers' allowed coolant to drip out so went back to original.

cheers for help.

Speedometer bounces until I reach 40mph then again after 45mph ... check the n/s grease cap on the hub to make sure the cable retaining hole is still square and not rounded
2) Temperature gauge does not work... the switch is on the rear of the thermostat housing, with the funny clip as you say, remove the conector and short the terminals to see if the temp guage needle moves, if it does replace the sender with a new one and a new o ring seal..
3) Left light in pod no longer works to illuminate speedometer .... bulb.. push a new one in and twist to fit...

Think I've mentioned it before but if hole in cap on wheel has rounded, stick it on a metal block or vice (dome side down) and use a solid bar and hammer inside against hole to close it a little and file shape square again. Beetle trick that one.

thanks alot for all the advice, really appreciated.

Brought the van 18 months ago as a fun project. spent a fortune on it so far: total respray, then ss exhaust, then recon engine etc- but keep finding new problems. startimg to feel it was never going to end and sorry to say, although i love the van, i was considering cutting my loses.

Feel a lot better now, knowing their is help out their that does not cost £50.00 and hour.
intend to start jobs this week end - weather and girlfriend permitting.

mate , live with it , something falls of my van every bloody week!!

I have three old vehicles and although there is always something that needs doing on the Trundletruck it is no worse to look after than the others and it does a lot more miles. In fact no more work than my son's more modern cars!

Besides most of the TV programmes are rubbish these days and working on the van gets you outside.

Trundletruc