Bluebird TC 2000 VDO speedo/tach

[Milesollie]

I've got a 2003 Bluebird TC 2000 with VDO speedometer and tach. Both sweep arms for speed and RPM's work well, but the number display on the digital LCD odometer on the speedo and the hour meter of the tach do not. Has anyone any ideas on repair, or do I need to replace. Thanks in advance...

 

[magnakansas]

Vdo

I would

1) find a technical sheet for the gages published by VDO

2) test the wires going to the gages to see if all the inputs are checking to be good

3) if inputs check good, then gages are bad

4) if inputs to not check good . repair inputs

william

 

[Milesollie]

Thanks for your advice magnakansas. Hopefully get to it this weekend.

 

[magnakansas]

That is a start

More information from doing the wire tests will give an idea of the next step. A way to jump all that, but costs money- buy a known good gage and substitute. Problem with that approach is you might have purchased a gage for no reason.

William

 

[Milesollie]

Vdo

Hey William,
I thought I'd up date you on the speedo troubleshooting. I pulled the dash panel and tried to unscrew the speedo. In the middle of this, my Dad who is in the hospital called and need me to go to Drs. appt with him so I abandoned the project to go with him. Today I started the bus to run a few minutes and charge the batteries, and the odometer faintly showed the numbers. I beleive I must have flexed or 'tweaked' the wires as I tried to unscrew it, possibly making a reconnection. Do you think maybe pulling the connections from the inputs and spraying contact cleaner may make the readout more bold? I didn't mess with the tach yet, just the speedometer.
Thanks for encouraging me to check the gauge out first, hopefully saving us needless replacement expense.
Mike

 

[magnakansas]

Yup I agree

Yea contact cleaner....if you have ever taken something like a gage apart.... gently gently gently.... you can check internal connections. This is something to do as a last ditch effort. If you have a truck or motor home salvage near you. The rv salvage colaws has bins full of gages.

 

[Milesollie]

Vdo

Thanks again William for your follow up replies; I really appreciate you taking time to help.
Mike