Speedometer stops working
 

2003 S40.

I'll be driving and notice the speedometer not working, resting at zero.

It'll kick back in a lot of times, sometimes after accelerating from a dead stop and othertimes mid drive it'll just bounce from 0 to whatever the current speed is.

If I plug in my ODB2 bluetooth dongle, I can read my speed with DashCommand while the speedometer is at zero.

The other instruments appear to be working (e.g. the odometer works)

Thoughts or suggestions. Thanks :)

Well, it's all digital. There is a microprocessor on the Driver's Information Module (DIM) that decodes the information and generates needle positions on the analog gauges, based on the values shooting over the car's networks.
Attachment 15956

Your test using the OBD2 output was clever: you've proved that the car's network is correctly reporting speed. Since all other gauge heads are working, I would guess that there's some physical fault in the stepper motor for the speed needle. I bought a second DIM to get a blown LED for about $40 on e-bay. Perhaps you will be able to change out the stepper motor. If you can't, it'll be about (breath deep...) $1700.

I scooped an entire gauge cluster unit on ebay, 40 shipped, but it has 90,000 less miles.

Do you know if I can swap the units entirely and if the mileage is stored in the ecu and it would read that? I'll tear into both of them if I need to but if I can avoid it I would.

Appreciate the picture and the reply.

Yes, you'll see the donor car's mileage. You'll also see the donor car's maintenance prompts.

OTOH, this is VERY similar to my experience:

2006 V50 Back from the Dead

I put the donor DIM in place and found that it worked. I then transferred the needed part (a missing LED in my case that was causing a "SRS Urgent" flag) to my DIM, replaced THAT, and all was good. The same thing should work for you.

On the older cars the ABS module would cause the speedo to stop. You don't have ABS warning/issues do you?

TEEKAY, let us know if you were able to replace the cluster...all I know is that I tried this many years back (when I moved from Canada to the US) and needed to have mph displayed instead of kph. I supplied a used cluster to my local dealership and the mechanic tore his hair out for two days trying to get it to work...no dice.

I have no lights or warnings. It just will zero out, I'll lose speedometer on the cluster, the odometer(digital) doesn't tick either when this is occurring.

I'll try to straight swap, see what I get and report back. I'll probably have more questions after I get the results about what I need to actually swap (previously mentioned stepper motor?)

Edit - or if anyone has a unit opened can see the part # or knows the stepper motors used :D

Sounds like ABS to me....I've got the same thing in my '98 S70 T5.

Did you get an ABS light? I don't have any :/

Could I see this in Vida, like the signal strength from the sensors?

Here's what I snapped when I had it apart to replace the blown LED:
Attachment 15952

That's probably not enough to ID the actual stepper. I gaurntee that Volvo doesn't sell them as a repair part! If your donor DIM works, you could transfer a donor stepper motor to your already-programmed DIM board.

FWIW, here's the other side of the board:
Attachment 15953

Let us know how it turns out!

Again thank you for the info. Do the motors just pull out or are they soldered on?

I was looking at the LEDs, but I'd put money on a bet that EVERYTHING was soldered on. Sockets cost extra, and introduce another point of failure.

If you haven't de-soldered components before, I'd practice up on a scrap PC board before working on the $1500 DIM.

Thanks. I know all of the LED's on my cluster are soldered on from previously trying to swap to a different color bulb and being denied. Cluster arrived and I'll go through the rounds this week. Thanks for all the help folks.

This is finally my weekend project and I was digging through previous pics, here is the back of the S40 cluster with the motors.

Attachment 27165

On my S40 2004 hardly no lighting on instrument cluster. I have spare one from where to get LEDs by desoldering them to replace mines. I've dismounted spare DIM, needles need to be removed to reach board side where LEDs.
But: when I remove needles on my original DIM, how do I adjust them to the right idle position??
Any advice as per your experience? Thnks,

I haven't done the needle swap, but the side needles have a little tab on them, pull them straight out and you will put them back in the same position. The bigger needles do not have that tab and I can't suggest the right way to do that.

This is the album I took of dismantling a spare 03 cluster, which should be the same as the early 04.

http://imgur.com/a/RRb9d

Just as an aside to add to the thread, the step motors are definitely soldered on and after dismantling this cluster as much as I needed to I want no part of trying to unsolder them and put them on the other.

You definitely need to be "on your game" to desolder the components; it can be done, but my step-son really hacked up a board trying to get a volume control off. If you practice up on a scrap board, you can master the skill fairly easily.

As to needle position, I tried to be particularly careful to note the needle position before I removed them. They proved to slip off fairly easily. On the 2006, there was no keyway or other alignment aid; it was just a matter of correctly positioning the needle at zero and pressing it gently on. In the event, I didn't get the fuel needle back perfectly; it always understates my fuel load now.

Be very careful putting the needle back in. I bent the spindle on my speedo and it never worked properly again. Ended up having to replace the whole cluster...long story.

I am having the exact same problem with my Volvo V40 2003. From time to time the speedometer and odometer stop working, while other gadgets on the instrument panel display correct information. I found that a simple tap on the dashboard fixes the issue, so I guess my problem is similar to yours - connection issue (or something similar) in the stepper motor. The issue also is sometimes fixed after going through a speed bump or a pothole - but that is not really deterministic, because sometimes the speedometer does not work for miles after miles, and sometimes works for weeks without breaking. My car has no issues at all with breaks and has never gotten an ABS warning/error light - I read that faulty ABS modules sometimes cause the speedometer to fail as well. Also, I was to my local mechanic, we took out the instrument panel out of the dashboard and he made sure all the visible cables an connections are well tugged, but we did not get into the actual computer component of the dashboard, since he does not have the expertise to check/fix it.

My questions are:
1) Is the stepper motor the most probable cause of the issue?
2) Since I do not have neither the expertise, nor the tools, is the fix of the stepper motor an easy task or is there a bigger chance of breaking the whole instrument panel?
3) If I get a whole instrument panel from another similar Volvo (same model, same year), would the replacement be as easy as taking the other instrument panel and putting it instead of mine, or would it need reprogramming and something else? And would everything (lights, speedometer, odometer, rpm, warning lights) work as it is supposed to after the "plug and play"?

Yes, it'll work without programming, but you'll get the donor car's mileage. Since the odometer is digital, I doubt that it is just the stepper on the speedo. Not too expensive to try, though. What does VIDA say?