Mad Speedo !

[alfienoakes]

Its finally happened, the clocks had a funny turn the other night. Thanks to the forum it didnt come as a huge surprise :-). The digital speedo seemed 2 b ok though. I took some pictures but I cant c how I should post them here.
I stopped the car and switched it off & locked the doors the same as others have, but it was still the same. I found that every time I switched the ignition on and off the speedo dropped a bit. After about 10 goes the speedo was back at zero and everything was back to normal.
Has anyone had any feedback from Vauxhall about this ?
Apart from that I still love the car, the heater is a bit noisy on demist, and it tends 2 steam up a bit, but I dont suppose thats a big issue in Oz :-)

[Cubittus]

The only time I had a weird blip on the speedo (or was it the rpm?) was just after topping up the oil. I had spilt a little down the side of the engine.

I don't know if it was a coincidence or not. Everything settled down after a few seconds - I didn't need to stop and restart.

[V8D]

Glad I aint the only one. Mine started off OK in the morning and after around 1 mile, the speedo read 160 and the CTG went right off the top! The tacho was reading lo. After 3 restarts the speedo and tach were normal but the CTG took about 10 starts before it was back to normal. Didnt try the digi-speedo. Spoke to Vauxhall dealer and he said he hadnt come across it before! Bet he has, they just havent worked out a fix yet! If it happens again, I'll repost. Has done it once in 4000 mls. - V8Dave

[moosepig]

Seems as if the barking speedo is a UK Monaro rite of passage. Mine did it just the once not long after I got it - same symptoms as everyone else. It's behaved itself ever since; I've done over 8000 miles in it now.

[kev10-30]

Mine too - only one incident after about 6,000 miles. Lasted for about 2-3 days on the clocks, but digital speedo remained OK.
Had seen it mentioned on the board, but couldn't think of a possible cause for mine at the time.

[SyGoat]

Common problem on the whole line of cars. My GTO freaked out the Temp gage...stopped and restarted no problem since.

[moosepig]

Well what do you know... my Monaro does 200mph in top at 1000rpm with no fuel and a cold engine! Yes, it happened again last night - 7000 miles since the last time. Couple of restarts sorted it out. Digital speedo was fine thorughout (just as well).

This seems really quite common, do Vauxhall/Holden/GM/whatever really not know what causes it?

[motomk]

Not sure what is happening.
Just for the VTII/VX owners, if you press mode and up and turn on the ignition it will give you a digital speedo and a digital tacho!! if you scroll through the display using mode I think it is.
If you scroll through enough it will come to the last check which is a self test of the dash where you can suddenly be doing 250kmh and 8000rpm at a standstill. Every warning light comes on too!
To get it turned on permanently on a VTII/VX ...you have to get someone to Tech2 the car into "police mode."
I am not sure on the VY/Monaro cars. I am guessing the Monaro has the digital speedo enabled or the car has it anyway. Maybe it is doing this self-test???

motomk

[island boy hsv]

Not sure how Vauxhall did it but on the GTS and GTS-R cars there is a speed converter which changes the Speedo from Kph to Mph. People I know with imported cars have had problems with speed converters. Just to clarify it is just the speedo that is affected. There is a way that the rear wheel ratio and diff gear ratio can be changed that would do away with the need for a speed converter not sure if Vauxhall do it this way? May be a question for Stu Harris?

>> Edited by island boy hsv on Wednesday 10th November 07:23

[LuS1fer]

I seem to recall my Camaro Z28 did this once. I'd forgotten about it until this came up. As indicated, turning the ignition on and off restored normality and it's never happened since.

It may be a glitch in the computer when starting as when your battery starts to give up, the car will do odd things. For example, on my Z28, the car would only just start and would then idle at 2000rpm. I'd run it down the road to get some juice in the battery and then restart it and all was normal.

On the Z06, I drained a lot of the battery doing the SVA conversion. One day I got into it and the door controls wouldn't work, the Service Active Handling and Service Traction control came on. A restart cured them and after a full recharge, no problems. I now have an Accuguard battery maintainer on the Z06 as I don't use it that often.

So the starting voltage is critical for the computer to function correctly. A recharge may do the trick or it may be a sign of a failing battery or simply a fumbled start (ie when the engine doesn't quite catch and you start again without switching off). I seem to recall the speedo glitch was not long after I bought the car and was in and out of it cleaning it and worshipping it. LOL.

[dan_the_man]

Mine has finally done it too, currently stuck at 200mph but I'm hoping it will gradually return to zero.

Nearly caused heart failure as I was approaching a 40mph speed camera when I glanced at the speedo to see I was doing way over a ton, braked almost to a standstill before I realised what was wrong

[uk hsv]

The Americans have been suffering with a very similar problem with the instruments.

They have just been advised of a fix which is to be released on the next dealer service CD (Feb 05) but it
sounds like it will be fixed in one of two ways
A) Reflash the BCM (late models)
or B) new cluster (early cars).....

I will try and get a copy of the dealer CD ("Stu" or "Caspy" can you help?) like I have one for the GTS's, just incase
anyone has any other known problems! I can advise you of the fix.....