Erratic Speedo on Damp, Cold Mornings?

[Janeyjane]

Hi folks

Finally found the new home :-)

I've had a manic couple of months, what with injuring my knee, again, and only managed one overnight stop, in York, since I was last on here :-(

Anyway, now things are calming down again, it's time to sort out the little 'niggles' that have cropped up and been added to my ever increasing 'to do' list.

If you remember, I finally bought a home-converted, short wheelbase Fiat Ducato, in yellow :-) Well, clearly it doesn't appreciate the cold and damp. Everything else seems fine, but the speedo gets very 'excitable' and erratic when I first start up. The needle flicks randomly between speeds, up to 80mph, despite the fact that I'm stationary. If I do set off, I think it significantly overreads and flicks about erratically. This doesn't happen every time I start the engine and lasts from anywhere between a couple of minutes and about 20 minutes, then goes back to behaving perfectly normally. It sounds to me like a bad electrical connection. Anybody had anything similar or knows particular points to check on a Ducato? Does anybody know where I can get hold of electrical schematics for a Ducato that shows the wiring runs?

The last thing I want to do is take it into a Fiat dealer as I know what they are like, they will start with recommending replacing the instrument cluster, whereas, knowing how expensive that can get, that will be my last option!!

Any suggestions welcomed!

Thanks

Jane

[jayjay]

Hi Janey!

Glad to hear you are ok.

All dealers are expensive, find a local garage and they will probably be able to fix in a very short time. Call a few local ones and explain the prob, then ask how much to repair.

I'd hate that happening - it does seem to be just a loose connection or a fuse somewhere, so try a local garage first... You could phone the Fiat dealers and just ask them what they think the problem is without taking it in - they might be able to point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

Edited to add - there will be a Haynes manual for the vehicle somewhere on line and they have all the wiring diagrams in them - try ebay and Amazon for starters.

[Graham]

Hi Janeyjane

Nice to see you on here, sorry to hear about your knee but glad you are on the mend so that you can get camping again.

Can't give any advice about the speedo unfortunately, maybe Ant will read this and have some ideas.

[aggsnrog]

Hi Janeyjane...

You might find this enlightening

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-262919.html

[Janeyjane]

Hi Janeyjane...

You might find this enlightening

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopicp-262919.html

Thanks Aggsnrog!

so, anything between £7.50 and £600 to fix!!

Very interesting indeed!

Jane

[aggsnrog]

Hey... Don't shoot the messenger

[Janeyjane]

Hey... Don't shoot the messenger

No sarcasm intended!

At least I have an idea of the cheaper bits to try first now! Though it now looks more like it's beyond my abilities to fix too.

Anybody know a good but cheap commercial van garage in the Hull area???

thanks

Jane

[jayjay]

google garages+Hull and phone around, think that's your best bet.

[ant]

Hi Janey Jane.
Sadly it's not easy getting old fashioned wiring diagrams these days, the vehicle tends to get plugged into a diagnostic machine and the fault ( if any) is highlighted on the machine. If no fault is recorded ( and often they're not) you have to trace the wire from the gearbox casing.
If it only happens in cold damp conditions it may well be the connector that plugs into the gearbox, used to be on the back edge of the box, they were prone to getting corrosion on the pins of the connector, once you have some corrosion and you introduce a bit of damp,you have electricity doing its own thing!
I've not worked on a Ducato/Relay gearbox for a long time so I'm afraid I can't be more specific.
Thanks
Ant