Hey all,

 

I've been passed down a, by now, 17 years old Skoda Octavia 1. And while I like the car, it's starting to develop some problems. The most major one is that all analog dials on the dashboard started dying a while ago, to a state where I count them as more or less completely out of operation. It's one of the simpler looking dashboards, like (a quick google search later) this one.

Most times when starting up, they go up for a short blink, and then quickly return back to 0. This includes all analog dials on the dashboard; speedometer, rev counter, fuel indicator and coolant temperature.

The digital trip meter is going on as it should, though. And sometimes during longer drives, the analog meters turn back on. Either for another short instant, or for the rest of the trip.

 

With those symptoms, I did some searching, and this thread seemed highly relevant. While it doesn't seem awfully complicated, I'm a bit vary of doing the soldering.

 

So with this in mind, I have some questions, as I'm not very familiar with car and parts replacements overall. But I'm taking it over to someone who is, and am just looking for input if there is anything else to look for?

Can there be any other faults leading up to this behaviour?

 

Furthermore, could I simply plug in another dashboard from another Octavia gen1? Would a different looking dashboard from a, production time-wise, similar Octavia work? (1, 2)

 

 

Tl;dr

Dashboard is wonky, indicators turn on and off.

- What are some possible faults?

- Can I replace it with a similar one?

- Would any replacement work, as long as it's the same gen Octavia?

 

Thanks a bunch in advance!

 

Edited 26 January, 20179 yr by mattedatten

Usually caused by dry solder joints on the instrument cluster voltage regulators. IIRC removing fuse 5 (might be fuse 15) will bring the instruments back to life, but your trip will reset every time the ignition is cycled.

Edited 26 January, 20179 yr by pauldazzle

If you put a used instrument unit in, you'll need to get the immobiliser re-programmed to your ignition key http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Immobilizer_III_Immobilizer_Swapping_(Instrument_Cluster

1 hour ago, pauldazzle said:

Usually caused by dry solder joints on the instrument cluster voltage regulators. IIRC removing fuse 5 (might be fuse 15) will bring the instruments back to life, but your trip will reset every time the ignition is cycled.

Thanks for the tip, will definetly check this out!

 

22 minutes ago, nige8021 said:

If you put a used instrument unit in, you'll need to get the immobiliser re-programmed to your ignition key http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/Immobilizer_III_Immobilizer_Swapping_(Instrument_Cluster

And, this is what I hoped not to hear. Thanks for the heads up!

Now I'll have to reconsider whether it's even worth getting a replacement unit, hm.

These fix them for £99.
http://www.cartronix.co.uk/manufacturers/product/33-skoda-octavia-speedometer-repair-dashboard-instrument-cluster-panel-failing

2 hours ago, Urrell said:

These fix them for £99.
http://www.cartronix.co.uk/manufacturers/product/33-skoda-octavia-speedometer-repair-dashboard-instrument-cluster-panel-failing

And just like that I'd like to live in UK. Thanks for the link though, will look for similar services here in Sweden. There actually seem to be a few at least.