My '99 Octavia had developed an annoying fault with the dash gauges, they flick on and off every 10 seconds or so (10 secs on, 10 secs off). Has anyone any idea what might cause this? the rest of the instrument panel seems to work ok (warning lights etc) its just the gauges that dont.

Any ideas?

Cheers

I've heard that they must be replaced as a complete unit if even only one of the guages fails. Maybe someone else could confirm?

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/127362-poll-for-instrument-panel-fault/

VrSerious has a vrs cluster for sale in the for sale section if that's any use?

Cool, thanks for the help, it looks like my car has succumbed to the infamous dash gauge failure.....

So I gather that I can sort of fix it by removing the No15 fuse, but if I want to fix it completely, I will need to replace the whole instrument pack?

If I replace the instrument pack, do I have to have the key re-coded to it? Is the immobiliser part of the IP or is it seperate?

Thanks

I was under the impression the immobiliser is built into the ignition rather than the instrument binnacle.

I was under the impression the immobiliser is built into the ignition rather than the instrument binnacle.

I have the same problem. I checked relay switches, relay plate, fuses and earth points. All ok and problem persists. I then resolded dry joints on the pins for the sockets that supplys the instrument cluster and the power control chip. No joy. The problem believe it or not is the capcitors and there are at least four. The idea is that when these capacitors charge they pull up the voltage and keep the voltage stable which in turn means the rev counter, speedo, fuel and temp gauge operate. As soon as these capacitors loose charge the voltage then drops causing the dials to fail.

The solution is to replace the capacitors which can be purchased from anywhere such as Maplins. This should eliminate the problem.

I have the same problem. I checked relay switches, relay plate, fuses and earth points. All ok and problem persists. I then resolded dry joints on the pins for the sockets that supplys the instrument cluster and the power control chip. No joy. The problem believe it or not is the capcitors and there are at least four. The idea is that when these capacitors charge they pull up the voltage and keep the voltage stable which in turn means the rev counter, speedo, fuel and temp gauge operate. As soon as these capacitors loose charge the voltage then drops causing the dials to fail.

The solution is to replace the capacitors which can be purchased from anywhere such as Maplins. This should eliminate the problem.

Is it obvious which capacitors I will need to change? Have you done this repair yourself and did it work?

Cheers

Is it obvious which capacitors I will need to change? Have you done this repair yourself and did it work?

Cheers

In terms of capacitors I was told by an auto electrician that it was best to replace all four because one faulty capacitor can affect a perfectly working one and it would be very difficult to determine which one was at fault. So far I have had no issues as of yet in terms of the dials dropping on me but that is not to say that the problem is solved. However, I would like to think that at this stage the problem I had has now been solved. On a T reg Octavia anything is possible.

I have the same prob, went away for a month , batt went flat, friend recharged it and since the dash guages have been largely not working, with flashes of working!!! What to do?