I've got a 2000 Lanos 1.6L DOHC with an auto tranny (no tach), standard rims and tires. I've had the car for almost a year now and it runs great, except that the speedo hasn't worked right since I got it. I've let it go until now because it wasn't a huge problem to me, but now my state inspection is due so it has to get fixed.
Basically, the speedo will register at 0mph until the car is moving what I estimate is about 45mph, then the needle will shoot up to around 70mph even though the car is only going about 45mph still. As I accelerate past an actual 45mph the speedo will smoothly go to about 83mph where it stops (but not sticking) even as I'm still accelerating. If I floor the gas pedal and get up to an extimated actual speed of around 90+ the needle will actually drop a little and show me as going in the mid 70mph range until I slow the car down when it smoothly goes back to 83mph. If I slow the car down to an actual speed of about 45mph or less again, the needle will steadily drop back down to 0mph, although slower than when it shoots up from 0mph. I can tell the needle isn't sticking as it's always smoothly moving and not jerky. The kicker is that sometimes the speedometer will randomly work like it should, showing my actual speed no matter what speed I'm going. It will do this in the middle of a drive, but it usually doesn't last more than 15-20 minutes when it will go back to wacky mode. It doesn't work correctly often and it's very random when it does, not triggered by a bump or braking hard or anything. Now all of the other instruments work fine. The odometer counts accurately, the tranny shifts perfectly smooth, and I have no codes that show up when scanned. I've removed the instrument cluster and all the connections seem fine. The speedo needle wasn't loose and free fell smoothly when turned by my finger. I thought it might have been the output speed sensor but it seems like that would cause code errors or tranny problems or odometer problems. I'm no electrician but I visually inspected as much of the wiring as I could and didn't see any broken or frayed wires. I could only see maybe 1/4 of the wiring though. I thought maybe it was a grounding issue but I think(not sure) other working instruments use the same ground. Again, I don't know much about electronics and wiring so maybe I'm wrong about all of this.
Can anybody with some electrical knowledge help, or anybody who's heard of a similar problem. I'd like to know what the problem is before I have to go replacing possibly unnecessary parts since I'm on a very tight budget. The only thing similar I've been able to find to my problem is for cars with mechanical speedo wires, not electronic like daewoos have.
Thanks for any help.
Crazy Speedometer
Moderators: daewoomofo, Moderators Group
-
the_house123
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:13 am
- Location: uk, south east London, croydon
Well it turns out it was the Speedo gauge. Something in the circuitry in the back must have gone bad. Now a new problem. I've gotten a replacement speedo from a scrap yard, but the speedo and odometer are one unit. Is there a way to set the new odometer to my car's actual mileage, or switch out the odometers? If the mileage was more than my car's actual mileage I wouldn't care too much, but the replacement reads about 7,000 miles below what I bought the car at a year ago (20k below my car's current mileage). I don't personally care (I can do the math) and won't sell the car except for parts, but I think in Pennsylvania they record the mileage for inspections. Any ideas anybody?