Among my other problems (what else) These are my most important to be fixed.I need to sell my restored 82 coupe. Thing is, the speedometer works but not the odometer, and of cource this will cause someone to balk at buying. I'm hoping there's someone reading this that might know if this is a common problem that can be fixed or do I need to replace the whole gauge? Next is the temperature guage. Not working. I bought a new sending unit as a process of elimination. Do they burn out often? Can it be that simple? but if that doesn't do it. Then what? Do these guages break? Is it the gauge? I don't see any blown fuses.I'm just looking for some info as to where to start looking as everybody knows without some help these cars electrics a foreboding. Thanks to anyone taking their time to help. I shall return the favor by exploring the forum and helping any way I can as I've done some extensive work restoring my xjs.Bud

 

Bud,

The speedo is electronic, you already knew that, but the odometer is purely mechanical, and I would suggest that the little plastic driven gear has lost its grip on the stainlesss spindle. I fixed one on the S2 maaaaaany years ago with a drop of "super glue". I could not even see that thing these days, and the "steady hands" are just in my dreams, but it is do-able. Option 2 is take it to an instrument repairer, and pay whatever.

The temp gauge, mmmm.

Option 1, is to ground the wire at the sender unit, and see if the dash bit goes FULL scale, if it do, then the sender is dud??. If it dont, you probably have a broken wire, which is usually at or near the sender unit terminal.

Option 2 is that the fragile printed circuit board has lost contact with the temp gauge.

Option 3 is the instrument panel plugs, the slide on ones, one either side of the panel, are not making contact. This usually has other instruments doing odd stuff also, so maybe not.

Option 4 is the instrument panel earth is flaky, common, but again, other gauges are usually odd also.

 

It is a fairly common issue to have the odometer stop working. It is a problem with the speedo head. Either attempt to fix it yourself or send it out for repairs. As for legalities you are supposed to disclose if the actual mileage is not what is showing.

Your temp gauge may be a ground issue. There is info in Kirby's book on this.

 

Thanks! how can I access (Kirby's) book?

 

I found mine on Jaglovers maaaaaaany years ago.

I am not sure of a link here, but there maybe is. Hope this is not the wrong site to mention here, sorry if I goofed up.

 

Kirby's book

Kirby Palm's Jaguar XJ-S Help Book


Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for the help on the odometer thing. There's only one problem, there's no cable, it's all electronic. Is that correct? for 82? If so then NOW what's wrong with the odometer. Oh yes, there's no cable and no place to attach it. Can I replace the electronics, or is it cheaper to find a working replacement? Ay yi yi Bud

 

Yes, it is correct. You can carefully take the speedo head to bits and see if the cogwheel that drives the odometer is slipping on its tiny axle and fix it, if so. But for my money a replacement speedo from a breaker is the best option!

Greg

 

It is an electronic speedo. The odometer is run by gears which can go bad. They are known to fail when the trip odometer reset is pressed. Either a used on or repair yours.

 

Thanks to both Gregs for taking their time to help me. These forums reinstate my faith that there are Kind and helpful people in the world. I will continue scanning the forum to see If I can provide the same. Cheerio chaps Bud

 

Hmmmmmm, seems I have the same issue with my "new to me" XJ-S. I know this is an old thread but do you by any change know of a Illustrated Parts Breakdown, or even just some pictures, of the internals of one of these Speedos? Looks like I am going to have to tear into mine as well.

Thanks
Marty..................

 

No I do not know of a repair manual or breakdown for this.

 

Thanks man! Guess I get to learn as I go........

Marty...................

 

I posted my solution to this problem a long time ago but I will add a little info that wasn't stated. While i removed and inspected the speedometer I discovered a broken wire and thought "could it be that easy?" No, after resoldering I put it back and no luck. I took it out again and noticed this (if I recall properly) gray gearlike thingy which needed superglueing. I did that and put it back in and ....nothing. Talk about frustrating. BUT... these cars take perseverance and dedication and eventually with the process of elimination and the help from this website the solution is found. So, before you go nuts removing the dash and spending hours looking at something that seems to have nothing wrong with it visually, go to your trunk, take off the battery cover and look to the right of the battery case,on the car chassis there are three GROUND wire terminals with a number of black wires on each one. I discovered these when I was renewing my battery box and THOROUGHLY cleaned and reattached these wires and discovered that my ODOMETER and my ENGINE TEMP gauge were now working! This was on my 82 coupe, On my 91 convertible the cleaning of the plugs and sockets on the back of the dash panel fixed my blinker indicator problem. Cleaning connections all over this car is a must. Find em, Clean em. Hope this helped Bud

 

Thanks. I finally got the dash out and checked the speedometer. As far as I could tell the drive gear on that little stepper motor was firmly attached to the drive shaft. I was able to rotate the drive gear and the odometer and trip meter both turned as expected. I cleaned all the contacts on the circuit card and replaced all the rusted screws with new Stainless ones. I also replaced all the bulbs while I was in there. Bottom line is that the Speedometer works fine but the odometer still is not working. Guess I need to be looking for a replacement.

Marty...................

 

Did you clean the ground wires to the right of the battery? They are attached to the chassis. Again. my speedometer was working but my odometer did not till I cleaned these connections. Bud

 

Nope, not yet. Can't seem to get more and 5 minutes every 2-3 days to actually do anything. Short rainy days really got in the way. I will get to that sometime next week probably.

Marty..........................