EuroGuy9622

So... I have two of them. If I understood the PO right, one stopped working so he swapped in another one with wayyy higher mileage. Let's refer to that one as 276. The 'original' we will call 143. Still not sure if that's true, as the MIL was blocked off from the factory on the back. The 276 cluster had a functioning MIL, it worked when my knock sensor was unhooked.....

276 has ill-functioning tach and speedo gauges. The ODO does not work unless the speedo works. By ill-functioning I mean intermittent, bounces up and down, or just doesn't come on at all. The tach usually fails to work on colder days.

143, the supposed original, was pegged at 75 due to a bad gear. I replaced said gear and thought it worked excellent. Then after about an hour of driving time the speedo bounces, and fails completely. Now this one also is intermittent. After the gear replacement, the ODO still did not work at all even when the speedo worked (or works).

So, is my car killing these things via some other electrical error? Should I pull the 143 before it is damaged beyond repair? or is this one of those, "all Audi/VW clusters do this so good luck finding a proper one" issues...?

EuroGuy9622

So, an update on this.
It continues to be only the speedo that has an issue. Hitting bumps in the road can effect it's performance which sounds like sensor lead wiring. For now I am going to replace the speed sensor and see if that helps. Every other sensor on this car seems to have failed so it can't hurt to try. I'll report back with my outcome.

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

have you tried resoldering the all joints on the cluster?

EuroGuy9622

Well, I don't fully understand what ALL joints need to be done....
My understanding is that little board which contains the gear controls the speedo as well? So, just re-solder everything in sight that was already soldered on that?

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

yep, get a fine tip soldering pencil and go to town. do to vibration and all the heat cycles, they are known to crack periodically. so re-flowing the solder doesn't hurt

EuroGuy9622

Fine tip soldering pencil.
To Amazon I go!

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

i got this one comes with asortment of tips for solder and heatgun. i dont use it often, but it made my life so much easier every time i did use it. temp adjustment is a wonderful thing
p.s dont forget flux and solder, also dont get flux in your mouth or you'll be on a toilet for a few days.
p.s. 2, i dont know if this will fix your cluster, this is just something i experienced with my cluster.

CRAZY_RUSSIAN

also get this