Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing speedo problems on 2002 +8

Hi - I'm having an intermittent problem with the speedo on my 2002 +8 - with 15k on the clock. It'll be reading normal, and then the needle will just "drop" back to zero for a few seconds, then whip back up again to the correct speed.

Then, it can be a bit "sluggish" and seem to be slow in getting up to speed. Also, the mileage LCD will sometimes go blank.

Any ideas of the causes? Has anyone else had this? What's the solution?

Cheers all.

Welcome If your speedo is electronic, I suspect the most likely cause would be bad earth....

This may be of assistance.

Good stuff on that link - thanks Simon. At this stage dunno if it's mechanical or electrical.

Let's assume (because the speedo has electronic odometer) that I've a "later" version of the cable, in 3 parts. And that because I'm _not_ getting a heap of MIL lights and/or poor performance, that the link up to the transducer is OK. So that would suggest it's in the final stage from transducer to speedo.

But then, as the speedo page says "the cable will inevitably (5 minutes - 20 years) ..." which sums up Mogs So it could be electronic/bad earth.

Soo - time to have a root around I guess...

Whenever I have some electronic issues, its almost always has something to do with earth!!! Not that I had many, just twice, one for temp gauge swinging wildly from cold to hot, second time was indicators stop flashing with the horn beeping non-stop..both times were a simple earthing fault

Hi New to the site and saw your problem. I have a 99 +8 and had allsorts of problems with VDO speedo. I could do 140mph sitting at traffic lights !! Worse bit was seemingly doing 80 in a 30 MPH area. Took it to Morgan who many £££ later still did not know what the problem was.Took head to VDO in Birmingham who tested it, no joy. Took the lead from the alternator off as it was possibly pulsating, no joy. Long story short it was a £1.89 capacitor that was at fault. It is behind the speedo and only the size of a matchhead in a shrouding between two sets of cables. No problems since. I have also lost the read out on occasions on the digital mileage display. Put it on a radiator overnight and it all came back. Best of luck.

Nah - having the speeds the other way around when you go past a camera, surely


Is getting the entire speedo assembly out needed to get at this capacitor? And if so, is that tricky?

And could be a damp issue with the mileage - I do get condensation when it hasn't been used for a bit. And it def hasn't been used for a bit over the winter

Hi, Yes you do have to take the speedo out. It is held on by a large plastic O ring. It is quite simple but the capacitor has to be sweated in so it is best to take the speedo out to give more room for the process. Yes you are right, the read out is susceptible to damp conditions. Mine sits outside under a cover at the moment til I get round to building a garage. Looks pretty sad at the moment but still using it in the snow. Can you help please, how do I get the icons to go in the text box? I click the circle but click and drag does not work.

Do you mean the Smilies?

If so, click on he Yellow smilie face to open the pop-up window and press the smilie you want. It will insert it where your cursor is in the text.

I hope that helps.

Think I am getting there evntually So thank you for your help. Here's another just to get the hang of it