Hopefully this is just a sticky needle...

 

A week or so ago the boost guage stuck on zero, car drove fine so I took it to a road where I could get some boost action to make try and nudge the needle but nothing happened. Later that day after the engine had been off and on a few ties it just went back to normal.

 

Been fine since, til yesterday when it happened again and now wont budge back or forward, sitting just past the zero mark.

 

Any suggestions, is this just a sticky needle or sign of something more sinister?

 

had a look under the bonnet, found one cracked hose and sorted that. There is another which seems to have been tapped off poorly but its always been there so shouldn't have just caused this issue to start out of the blue.

 

Cheers

It may be that the boost sender on the drivers side back of the engine has got a broken pipe on it, not a biggy but worth checking. Also the oem boost guage is not very good, I'm afraid and it's well worth installing an aftermarket one for a more accurate reading.

 

It may also be a problem with the cluster but it's worth checking the boost sender first.

Hi mate, if its the bit circled in green here (http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/7321/eb9kh2.jpg) then I've checked that all seems OK.

There is another hose in that area though that has been poorly tapped up (its got dump valves so my guess would be that this used to be connected to recirs)...when I find memory card reader I'll stick a pic up to see if it can be identified.

 

I do have a stalling issue when coming to a halt but I've had that longer than the guage issue so I'm guessing they are not connected.

Yeah that's the boost sender. Don't know then mate but I'm sure someone will be along soon.

With engine at idle the gauge should sit way over to the left of the zero point, when on a light throttle at around 30mph on flat road should sit close to zero, when you boot it of course it should go over to + boost. What you need to establish is if the gauge is the problem or there is in fact a problem with the actual boost pressure.

 

If there was any issue with either turbo the gauge will still work at idle and light throttle, the only issue would be with + boost, if however the gauge, sender or pipework to the sender had an issue the gauge would be stuck at zero all of the time, this can also happen if the gauge pipework has been mixed up but this would have been a problem you would have noticed previously unless some work has been done in that area recently? and of course I have to ask does it feel like your getting + boost should be able to tell really.

 

Jeff TT

Thanks for the reply Jeff, I appreciate you taking the time. I plan to get the MOT and a couple of things sorted and get down to see you for an ecu upgrade and setup later in the year...any excuse for a road trip from Scotland!

 

I had out for a spin tonight and I'm getting + boost, there has been no work done recently, just seemed to come out of the blue last week, fixed itself and then reappeared again now.

 

The needle is permanently on zero but was working as described in your post (sitting at the left at idle) which suggests guage, sender or pipework I guess.

With the ignition off does it go back to the far left or stay stuck on zero? IIRC with the ignition off mine returns to the far left then when you turn it on mine goes to 0 - so if there was a pipe or sender issue it would go to the far left with the ignition off and stay at 0 whenever the ignition is on? Might be a way of working out whether the guage is completely stuck or if its a sender issue. HTH

I get this every now and then. A swift thump on top of the instrument panel wakes the needle up.

I get this every now and then. A swift thump on top of the instrument panel wakes the needle up.

 

Millsy my man, you the man! :cowboy:

 

Couple of good thuds on top of the speedo and its moving as it should again, cheers mate.

no problem mate. I really need to sort out the cause as i'm sure i'll eventually break something else doing this lol

I had to do this with my first ever car but that was hitting the windscreen to get the wiper to move when it was raining!!

After market boost gauce on the future shopping list anyway but if you find a permanent fix then let us know :thumbup1: