Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega Electrical and Audio Help => Topic started by: cam.in.head on 15 March 2022, 18:07:10

Title: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 15 March 2022, 18:07:10
hi.
just to confirm. if fuse 15 is ok and everything on the car works fine but i have no fuel,temp guage,no tach and no speedo then this points to a bad rear cluster plug or faulty cluster itself.
also i have a spare 2.2 cluster.will this fit and work just for elimination purposes ( into a 2.6) or is it different in any major ways.
many thanks.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 15 March 2022, 18:31:03
also does anyone know if i can put 12v onto the removed cluster to check it operation.i assume the tach and speedo will move,twitch as they do when you turn on ignition.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: TheBoy on 15 March 2022, 18:43:03
For testing, should be able to try the 2.2 instruments.  Can't really drive like that though, as gauges will read wrong,
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 15 March 2022, 18:46:18
yes it will just be to see if dash supply is working as i cant check with instruments out or air bag light will trigger. do you know the supply terminal to the connector so i can try it once out on the bench ( and try my spare )
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: TheBoy on 15 March 2022, 18:49:27
You'll have to look in Haynes Book of 'dangle berries', or TIS or similar to get pinout.  From memory, its not actually easy to temporarily connect to the instrument panel, due to the connector type...  ...that said, ages since I've had one out.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: Stu.C on 15 March 2022, 21:38:18
Yeah, it's relatively easy to get a bare set of clocks up and running on a bench. You don't need the rest of the loom that you can see in this pic, that just happened to be there whilst I was thinning it out  :y  Without a spare connector, I'd just use small crocodile clip leads to put 12V onto pins 19 & 25, and earth to 7 & 26.


(https://www.cuyahoga.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20210320_143139-01-e1647378595855.jpeg)


I don't recall seeing anything that the pinouts on the connectors were different for V6 clocks to any others, but just be wary. You can easily trace the live and earths round on the back of the unit anyway;


(https://www.cuyahoga.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20210313_170128-e1647379492528.jpg)
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 15 March 2022, 21:42:04
thats brilliant .thankyou for that.il try it on my spare set first.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: Stu.C on 15 March 2022, 21:48:10
The speedo & tacho just went bad in the 2.6 I picked up last year, whilst the rest of the gauges kept going. Thought it might've been a duff battery causing them to randomly just stop, but alas seemingly not. Swapped out the cluster a week later for one from a chap breaking an estate of the same vintage, and not only did I get a working speedo again, I magically "lost" 138,000 miles ...  ;D
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 15 March 2022, 23:19:49
followed the tracks ( on the spare 2.2 one)and they do indeed match the list you gave me.will power it up and see. much appreciated
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: TheBoy on 16 March 2022, 12:24:17
Post 1998, they are all electrically the same (but programmed for different options, and obviously the V6, diesel and 4cyl petrols have different speedos/tacho combos).

Pre 1998, they are not programmable, so any replacement has to be from same spec car.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 16 March 2022, 16:59:00
studied and checked through my spare dash and it looks like its pin 25 i need to be checking. this is from f12 and is the power feed to the instruments. the other supply from fuse 15 is for the warning lights which are all working fine. will power up and check. thanks to all.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 16 March 2022, 17:10:11
yesjust tried that and it works on spare dash. needles move and reset to zero.
just need to remove mine and try the same.    excellent.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: Andy H on 16 March 2022, 18:50:44
Post 1998, they are all electrically the same (but programmed for different options, and obviously the V6, diesel and 4cyl petrols have different speedos/tacho combos).

Pre 1998, they are not programmable, so any replacement has to be from same spec car.
failure of the instrument cluster seems to be getting more common. I assume that it is a result of aging electrical components  :-\

My initial thought was that there might be a simple fix involving the replacement of a voltage regulator or capacitor. I hadn't realised that later ones are programmable. I wonder if they are suffering from 'memory rot' (which also seems to be affecting the Philips head units).
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: TheBoy on 16 March 2022, 19:31:02
Post 1998, they are all electrically the same (but programmed for different options, and obviously the V6, diesel and 4cyl petrols have different speedos/tacho combos).

Pre 1998, they are not programmable, so any replacement has to be from same spec car.
failure of the instrument cluster seems to be getting more common. I assume that it is a result of aging electrical components  :-\

My initial thought was that there might be a simple fix involving the replacement of a voltage regulator or capacitor. I hadn't realised that later ones are programmable. I wonder if they are suffering from 'memory rot' (which also seems to be affecting the Philips head units).
From what I've seen, the failure modes tend to be either the speedo completely packs up or the nacho completely gives up.  So believe its those components failing, rather than bit flipping in the NANDs.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: dave the builder on 16 March 2022, 19:59:21
Both speedo and tacho fail at the same time on facelift cars ,seems to be a pattern 
I've had it too  :(
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 17 March 2022, 00:07:15
mine has lost speedo,tach,fuel and temp but everything else is fine ( warnings lights) so itl either be failed power up to pin 25 from F15 or something in the cluster from pin 25 inwards. ( or pin 26 earth)will report after i find it but will be weekend now.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: Fraggles Rock on 17 March 2022, 09:23:06
If you're swapping clusters willy nilly, don't forget that a saloon fuel gauge will read differently in an estate and vice versa as the tanks are different shapes and volumes.

Estate tank is larger volume but shallower and has a different sender unit. The gauge reflects this.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: TheBoy on 17 March 2022, 11:45:05
If you're swapping clusters willy nilly, don't forget that a saloon fuel gauge will read differently in an estate and vice versa as the tanks are different shapes and volumes.

Estate tank is larger volume but shallower and has a different sender unit. The gauge reflects this.
Certainly on the programmable ones (ie, Post 1998), there is no difference to the fuel gauge around body styles.

For pre 1998, you'd have to look on EPC to determine if there were differences, but I doubt it.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 19 March 2022, 18:37:24
fault was ( is) on the circuit board. i have resoldered it to death and its now all up and running but albeit may only be temporary as i didnt actually find any bad joints or issues. will see how it goes but if anyone has a working board out of a 2.6 saloon auto i will get one as a spare .
many thanks.
Title: Re: instrument supply
Post by: cam.in.head on 21 March 2022, 12:36:00
been ok all today as well so may be fixed !
il put a wanted ad up for a cluster ( or board) and get one as a spare .
thanks for help.