[marcinr]

Hi Guys,

Ever since I bought my Elise in November, my gauge cluster has been acting up. The speedometer seems to lose the zero point almost every single time I drive the car, generally after hitting a bump or something. I've had it reading as much as 10 mph below my actual speed to 40 mph above. The worst seems to be between 60 and 70 mph where the needle just bounces loosely between those two.

I took the car to a dealer, they said it's normal, and supposedly did some firmware upgrade, but that didn't help much, my speedometer still gets miscalibrated, just less often. The reset procedure fixes the problem temporarily, but I have to do it basically every time I drive the car. The dealer tells me this is normal.

So, do all of your Elises do this, or do I need to pressure my dealer to fix or replace the instrument cluster, since I still have a few months of warranty left.

Thanks.

 

[RichS]

The dealer tells me this is normal.

Go back to the dealer. Take a tape recorder. Tell them that you would like to confirm their 'this is normal' reply with Lotus USA.

This is totally not normal. Not in any way.

 

[MattG]

Agreed...definitely not normal!

 

[charliex]

if its every single time, somethings up, sounds like the motor itself might be damaged since that'd explain the bounciness and the zero point.

its not uncommon for them to need a reset, but once in a while, not daily.

 

[Ren Man]

This in in no way normal and needs to be fixed under warranty.

 

[JUNGLISTluder]

I've had to reset mine 2-3 times in 1.5 years.

 

[ads_green]

This problem has occured in the past in the UK - the dash is driven by high speed stepper motors which noramlly are both accurate and speedy. Sometimes a glitch will cause the display to reset on it's own (you'll see both the dials doing a full sweep). This is normal however iif it's losing the zero point that often then it simply sounds like a duff dash unit

 

[chapster5]

Dangerous not normal!

 

[serpent]

that should not be normal at alll...

 

[mp3moose]

My car had this problem, and my cluster was replaced twice before it finally went away.

 

[snuggles1]

is a dead battery the cause?

Mine doesn't bounce, but it wont go to anywhere close to zero. anymore!

This is what it looks like as of last week (in neutral in the driveway) and it started doing this after I jumped the car (cold weather = dead battery)... I guess that's the cause?

thanks

 

[marcinr]

You can re-zero your speedometer, it's easy.

- Make sure the driver door is open, put key in ignition, don't turn it.
- Press the trip counter reset button for at least three seconds
- While pressing the button, turn your ignition key to "on". You will see the needles sweep and reset their zero points.

 

[snuggles1]

really? glad i asked! never heard this.

thanks

 

[charliex]

read the manual ! full of useless i mean useful stuff.

 

[snuggles1]

I have - thanks charlie.... been a while. I'll start leavin it in the bathroom!

 

[Noizemaker]

Pressure the hell out of them. Mine's a bit sketchy as well (and i get the impression that a lot of them are in some way or another) but i can work around my issues. Yours sounds purely broken and it needs to be replaced.

 

[Dragon]

If your going to replace the cluster and spend $ on it you should check out the AIM dash cluster. AIM Dash

 

[Rei]

^^^I agree with him if you are going to replace it make it worth while.