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Gauge cluster dash lights blinks, gauges becomes flickering for first few minutes
Volvo S40 MK1 2000 (2.0L Petrol)
When starting the car after few days of keeping it cold (without starting), The Dash lights are blinking, and I meant all the background lights, gas light, battery, parking lights, etc. All the gauges drops to bottom and comes back up and keeps flickering. However this went away after few minutes.
Please see below video. Any idea how to attempt to fix this? Did anyone have prior experience?
Looks like a battery issue - either a marginally bad battery, or a bad connection. I'd look for something loose at the battery clamps / major wires, and then I'd check my battery voltage. If it's under 12 with the car off, or under about 13.5 with it running, you've found your problem.
Looks like a battery issue - either a marginally bad battery, or a bad connection. I'd look for something loose at the battery clamps / major wires, and then I'd check my battery voltage. If it's under 12 with the car off, or under about 13.5 with it running, you've found your problem.
Well, thanks for the reply. I'll do the check on these points. However need to mention I've replaced my faulty alternator few months ago. However I'm having this initially mentioned issue for before and after that.
If none of the other MANY electrical systems is flickering in the same way, I would look first at the power/data socket on the DIM. It's not too hard to get at.
Hi Guys.. apologies for taking some time. I've approached several ways to isolate the issue. Here's the things I have tested.
1. Checked the Battery and it always reach 12.xx Volts in cold. Also checked while idling and its also somewhat 13.xx Volts. Also I checked the battery replacement receipts, as per the manufacturer's recommendation, the current battery can run up to another 2 years. Practically I assume at least an year I can run without any hustle. So I assume there's no any problems with the battery.
2. I checked the ground wires. There are two ground wires and those are solid and clean, no joints or soldering just properly attaching to chassis as it should be.
3. Then I approached to gauge cluster. It was a nice experience to see how things are assembled and I removed the cluster and inspected.
Here what I've found
I was flattered to see there were some bended and oxidised metal stripes at two of the slots. I cleaned them and un-bended all the stripes and just reattached the gauge cluster to see any different.
Unfortunately the problem was still there (See the video)
However I noticed, sometime when I put pressure on the cluster from top to bottom, blinking stops.
Previously also blinking comes to stop in few minutes. May be I've noticed that phenomenon.
Currently I'm lost. However my only clue right now is, On top of the cluster PCB, there's a plastic sheets of wiring printed on a polythene (ribbon?) (See above photo 2).
I'm about to put a sponge in between back of the cluster and the car dashboard to see if it make any extra pressure on PCB and fix the issue.
Did you check the plugs themselves as well?Oxidation would be there too.Also try to pry the contacts outwards a bit on the plugs to give them more tension in the socket.
My guess is that the corrosion extends to some internal plug IN the DIM. It isn't too hard to take apart: just a lot of snap tabs. I've been there to chase a blown out LED. The hardest part was correctly replacing the needles on the stepper motor gauge drivers.
That's a tough one - the fact you can put pressure on it and stop the flashing means that there's "just" a flakey connection somewhere. Sadly, you can't really get it out in your hands where you could do any meaningful troubleshooting. If you could, you'd most likely find one plug or area on the PC board you could put pressure on, and trace it down from there.
If it was my cluster, I'd take it out and take apart as many connections as I could, clean and re-seat them. I'd tighten up anything that looks like it could be tightened, and then put it back in and hope for the best.
Volvo S40 MK1 2000 (2.0L Petrol)
When starting the car after few days of keeping it cold (without starting), The Dash lights are blinking, and I meant all the background lights, gas light, battery, parking lights, etc. All the gauges drops to bottom and comes back up and keeps flickering. However this went away after few minutes.
Please see below video. Any idea how to attempt to fix this? Did anyone have prior experience?
Gauge cluster dash lights blinks, gauges becomes flickering for first few minutes
