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MK 6) jumpy speedo / gauges, flickering dash lights

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MK 6) jumpy speedo / gauges, flickering dash lights

Postby APH » Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:04 pm

If you have a Mk6 van that the speedo needle "jumps" from 0 to 10 Mph when idling, or the fuel guage / temp guage wobbles for a few seconds after starting, or any of the guages take a while to respond even when driving (sometimes odd warning lights can flicker on and off too), its is usually due to one of the following.

Either the multiplug connections on the back of the instrument cluster are making bad contact, and should be removed, sprayed with good contact cleaner then pushed on and off several times to "clean" the pins...or if that fails to resolve the issue...

Your charging voltage has become unstable (usually more noticeable just after starting), and is 9 times out of 10 due to a failing battery (regardless of what charging voltage is when checked with a multimeter) These vans require a steady voltage for the electronic guages to work correctly, and any variation can cause strange effects with the instrument cluster and sometimes the radio! .......

As a last resort your alternator should be checked, but only if the above dosent solve the problem.
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Re: MK 6) jumpy speedo / gauges, flickering dash lights

Postby Treadmark » Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:23 pm

Hi
Great thread . My minibus I noticed has gauges that work sometimes and a stereo that turns off when fan gets out on ! Guessing it’s down to the crap battery!
Thanks !
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Re: MK 6) jumpy speedo / gauges, flickering dash lights

Postby yakob » Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:55 pm

My mk6 clocks/instrument cluster has been playing up on and off for years, but now it's got really bad I'm trying to find a long term fix. I'm going to inspect the soldering inside the IC tomorrow, but I haven't read before about the battery and radio. My radio switches its self off often enough to be unusable and the headlights make it even worse. My question is - if you can't tell the it's the battery causing the problem with a multimeter, is there any way of checking, without putting in a different battery?
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Re: MK 6) jumpy speedo / gauges, flickering dash lights

Postby Altransit » Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:43 pm

yakob wrote: is there any way of checking, without putting in a different battery?

You need a drop tester, which is like a big voltmeter that "loads" the battery at the same time. You can either buy one, they're not that expensive, or take it to a garage that has one and get them to test it for you.
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Re: MK 6) jumpy speedo / gauges, flickering dash lights

Postby yakob » Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:05 am

Altransit wrote:

> You need a drop tester


Exactly what I was looking for, cheers!
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