S2 Dash Playing Up - Heat Related?

[SMOKEYV35]

Got a little niggling issue.

car is a 99 RSfourS, 100,000kms.

If i have the lights on (and thus the dash illumination lights are on) after about an hour of driving, the speedo and tacho start to read higher and higher than normal. and then a few minutes later, they completely die and the digital odometer goes out.

i have spoken to the previous owner who confirms this happened to him at night time also, so i am 100% positive it has something to do with the dash illumination lights being on, and given that it seems to always happen on or around an hour after i switch the lights on, i can only assume it is heat related??

i am attempting to remedy this by replacing all the globes with LEDs from 666DAN, but it's more of a bandaid solution than fixing the problem.

does anyone have any insight?

cheers mat

[chef_stagea]

Nothing unusal going on with it?? Id rip the globes out. It may be obvious once its out it may not, go for a drive with no dash light n c wat that turns out

Got a little niggling issue.

car is a 99 RSfourS, 100,000kms.

If i have the lights on (and thus the dash illumination lights are on) after about an hour of driving, the speedo and tacho start to read higher and higher than normal. and then a few minutes later, they completely die and the digital odometer goes out.

i have spoken to the previous owner who confirms this happened to him at night time also, so i am 100% positive it has something to do with the dash illumination lights being on, and given that it seems to always happen on or around an hour after i switch the lights on, i can only assume it is heat related??

i am attempting to remedy this by replacing all the globes with LEDs from 666DAN, but it's more of a bandaid solution than fixing the problem.

does anyone have any insight?

cheers mat

[SMOKEYV35]

nah, it behaves perfectly up until that point in time.

only thing i can think that heat would affect would be causing the expansion of a connection which then loosens or something like that.

when i get in there to do the LED's ill give everything a good clean and rough up the terminals etc. hoping that the lower operating temp of the LEDs will correct the issue.

i can't seem to find anyone ever having a similar problem though, have done a bit of searching including on R34s....

[rb26stagea]

Be careful of those LEDs, I bought them and had nothing but issues: flickering/strobing, burning out (so I'd lose half of my dash), etc... they just don't seem to sit in the mounts very well... I got sick of all the problems after about 6 weeks, and reverted back to normal lights...

[SMOKEYV35]

interesting - well, i'm happy to give it a crack. i have read of a couple of people disgruntled with their LEDs from Dan, but then again, also a lot of people who they have worked well for. it's not a huge expense in the scheme of things and not permanent so i'll see how they go. and if needs by i'll investigate a way to secure them more strongly.

thanks for the heads up though.

[kidafa]

Verry happy with my LED's from 666DAN.

Just pick the colors wisely as most dash's will have some form of filter allready in place

[SMOKEYV35]

Verry happy with my LED's from 666DAN.

Just pick the colors wisely as most dash's will have some form of filter allready in place

yeh kid,

i chose red for this reason. so i'll just try get everything in the car to red which i think will look killer. i've got LEDs lined up for the gauges, dash, cig lighter, ignition etc. i'm going to look into getting the window buttons done too.

pity the gizmo EBC is blue.....

[fritters77]

Hi there

Im a newbee to the stagea world i have a S2 rs4s 00 stagea i also have this exact same problem i also think its heat related but dont know where to start i was thinking its some sort of resistor over heating but not sure....i also would like to know if someone has fixed this problem and how no speedo sucks on a long trip...

any help much appreciated

cheers

[SMOKEYV35]

looks like we're in this one together, fritters!

how long does yours take to play up? and does it fix itself if you let the car cool down for a bit?

it also seems to fix itself if i turn the aircon on for a few minutes, again, confirming the heat related theory.

[SMOKEYV35]

did a post in 'general maintenance' too. have been searching all afternoon (at work) trying to find info. even looking for posts relating to R34's but only stuff i can find mentions a similar problem with no solution - hate it when people do that!

[rb26stagea]

Yeah: I believe I was one of the unlucky ones: no offence to 666Dan! Bear in mind that the LEDs are extremely bright too: I found it quite distracting when I had them installed (and working), but having since installed a number of Defi guages, I don't believe it would be a real issue, as they are quite bright themselves.... I'm more partial to a very dimmed instrument cluster...

[chef_stagea]

cbf reading...

but have u tryed driving with lights on during the day? does this issue still occur?

[KiwiRS4T]

My instruments used to play up - speedo stuck at some speed temp guage to zero fuel to max or the otherway round. Used to fix it by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. Check earths etc. Someone suggested (witht he cluster out) waving a heat gun over all the soldered joints. Mine appear to have fixed themselves (touch wood).

[SMOKEYV35]

cbf reading...

but have u tryed driving with lights on during the day? does this issue still occur?

yep.

will check battery earth, but nothing else is playing up - it is a very localised problem.

will also try the heatgun trick for what it's worth. its just annoying, as aside from that the car is flawless and i couldnt be happier.

[fritters77]

looks like we're in this one together, fritters!

how long does yours take to play up? and does it fix itself if you let the car cool down for a bit?

it also seems to fix itself if i turn the aircon on for a few minutes, again, confirming the heat related theory.

yep exaxtly the same about 1 hour a little bit longer in winter....i havn't tried the a/c thing.....

[fritters77]

Surely there must be someone out there that has had this problem and fixed it we can’t be the only 2........

[SMOKEYV35]

starting to look that way. i've posted in another area of the forum but got only one reply which was completely unrelated.

hoping that the LEDs fix it, waiting for them to arrive, i'll keep you posted.

if not my mind has wandered as far as a 12v computer fan behind the dash haha

[SMOKEYV35]

found this, but for R33s.....will keep searching

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Fi...dry+solder+dash

[BundyBear]

OK

I've had Very Similar issues in an old N13 Pulsar, Dash is sweet for a while then everything starts going crazy and dies.

Turned out the 8Volt Voltage Regulator in the instrument cluster was on the way out.

It's used as a reference for all the guages, so when the output wanders all the guages are affected.

simply soldered a new "7808" from Dick 'head' Smith and bingo, we had speedo,tacho,temp the lot.

There things are temp sensitive so the heat of the lights seems to be the last straw.

Hope this helps someone

Cheers

Bundy

[SMOKEYV35]

well that might be the case but i managed to fix mine just be replacing all the globes with LEDs.

hasn't played up once since - so it is obviously heat related as the LEDs run a lot cooler.

i had a look at the back of the dash and someone has soldered an extra wire onto one of the copper tracks for the alarm. maybe to pick up the 'door open' signal - i dont know, seems dodgy. i think that might have had something to do with the issues - the heat affects the delicate plastic sheet that the copper tracks run in, then allows it to flex and move and touch other pins or something. who knows. LEDs fixed it......just got to put up with replacing dead LEDs every now and then....