Since i swapped my speedo cluster and had the ecu upgraded, I had a couple of weeks enjoying her and then all of a sudden the last few days i've had a few problems with my Zed :(

 

1) The speedo works fine most of the time, but sometimes the needle indicating speed does not work or suddenly drops down to zero and then flicks back up when it was working. All the other needles seem to work fine.

 

2) Every now and then the steering feels heavy (i think this has only happened when the speedo is not working) then the HICAS light comes on and stays on. If i switch the engine off then start her up again - it often feels fine again, and the light does not re appear.

 

3) Sometimes when the above happens, it still feels heavy after restarting and the POWER light flashes 10 or 15 times.

 

4) I have noticed that when driving gently or when breaking and the engine is allowed to reduce revs all the way down to an idle, the revs are sometimes dropping a bit low but seem to level at 8-900 rpm but have actually dropped enough to cut out twice. (Upon restarting the the car she runs fine again.)

 

5) On the way home tonight she slipped back into safe mode it seems, as i can't get full boost on the turbos, even when flooring it and she's way slow. I parked it on the drive and had some dinner - I took her out again to see if there was any difference, and just to check i put my foot down, and the boost was back and felt fast again. Sadly not for long, when pushed again half a mile down the road, the boost was reduced, as was the speed... sodding safe mode again.

 

The speedo started playing straight after the swap (on the way home from Zedworld) but was dead cheap so was a bit of a gamble i guess - but had been nothing more than annoying till it flicked back into life, so no harm done. But the other stuff has all started only in the last 2-3 days, and is a bit more worrying.

 

I think that really i am going to take her to see Jeff again when i get paid to get everything running smoothly - but i have to go to Brighton on the weekend, and there's the meet at the Punchbowl.

 

What do you guys think? Safe to drive down there or am i just tempting fate?

 

Also any advice on any of the above would be really appreciated.

Maybe ?? Probably a bad speed sensor or wiring to/from it. Its located on the underside of the gearbox. The power steering "heaviness" is determined by the signal from the speed sensor.

 

As to the second problem, someone more qualified will be along shortly !

 

Alan....

Any mods out there who can move this to the help and advice section please?

Any mods out there who can move this to the help and advice section please?

 

done :)

Have you fitted one of those speedo convertor boxes/ delimiter??

 

These are known to bugger up the speed sensative steering. which could also be doing the same to your speedo

 

Also make sure your power steering fluid is topped up :)

 

Hope this help?

speedo can be dry joints, show up most when the weather gets colder as everything contracts, when it happens again give the top a wallop, if it returns probably the root cause, you can run new wires from the sender to the cluster directly if the looms an issue.heavy steering is as said, a result of no signal from the cluster to the necessary circuitry.This should resolve when the speedo`s fixed.

Dunno about the converter/delimiter, zedworld swapped the cluster as it was a Jap one which did have a converter - but jaime @ zedworld said that by changing the cluster to a uk one that it would sort all converter/limited speed malarky?

 

And yeah - i topped the steering fluid right up.

any more advice or suggestions?

If you have a jap spec set of clocks reading in MPH I would guess the converter is playing up causing heavy steering and clocks not working.

They were jap spec clocks which had a converter, but when replaced they were replaced with what i think was a uk spec cluster.

 

 

More worried about it slipping into safe mode. Trip to zedworld i think.

They were jap spec clocks which had a converter, but when replaced they were replaced with what i think was a uk spec cluster.

 

 

More worried about it slipping into safe mode. Trip to zedworld i think.

 

Yeah the uk spec clocks will get rid off all that,

 

Send jeff a pm and see what he surrgests. hes the best one on here to ask imo:bow:

I thought that you didnt need the converter any more with the UK spec clocks?

 

Doesnt the converter just do the math with the pulses to make kms on a km clock read the same number as mph? It must also upset the speed sensitive power steering because the ecu thinks you are now going 10/16ths or about 40% slower than you really are are going and therefore makes the assistance stronger than it needs to be at speeds above walking pace. Probably also changes the way the HICAS operates because the speeds read to that ECU are now incorrect!

 

When the add on converter goes loopy you get all these failt symptoms - heavy steering, no reading etc

I changed mine to the UK cluster and have the same problem. If the car was used daily she seems fine but leave it a couple of days and the speedo takes a few miles to kick in.

If you get to the route of the problem email please.