Speedo Odometer help please

[Stevemarsh]

Hello, hope all are okay and had nice Christmas, 

Noticed when I took the car out today the digital odometer which shows the trip and overall miles is no longer showing! 

Any ideas how I make it start working again? Speedo needle working fine 

thank you 

[CraigHew]

Has it been exposed to dampness?  (remove and put into a tupperware box full of dry rice grains, put in a warm place for 24 hours)

Is it earthed correctly? (check earth wires to gauge)

Sometimes pulling off and re-seating the rear connections can work....

[Thrustyjust]

Worse case senario, box it up and send it to ETB for a check and repair.

[Stevemarsh]

Thank you all, will try these things 

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

@Stevemarsh if it helps, I run my car just about every week and sometimes the odo shows and sometimes it doesn't. It also has moments where it decides to flash part digital numbers too, it has done this for years, so if it is like mine don't worry about it, it will display when it is ready. If it is actually broken then you are in the right place for some good technical advice.

[Kingster]

I don’t think the VDO instruments are actually designed to be used in cars like ours - by that I mean cars where moisture ingress is pretty much guaranteed at some point. 

I got fed up with mine doing this (as I rely on the trip reading to compensate for fuel gauge errors) so ended up changing to an AIM digital dash that is designed to be used in such “harsh” environments (ip65 rated) 

In the “in between” period of changing the dash I used a sat nav to keep track of the miles between fill ups as there was no way I could rely on the VDO. 

Edit to add: not checked the VDO ip rating, but judging by the number of times you come across this issue, I’m making my assumptions based on this 

[Stevemarsh]

Thanks guys, as Julie mentioned it started working again today when I went out! 

Could this be an issue at MOT time? How do they record the miles or nothing something that is tested? 

My insurance is also miles rated too, could this be a problem if stopped working? Or am I worrying too much !!

[TableLeg]

13 hours ago, Stevemarsh said:

Could this be an issue at MOT time? How do they record the miles or nothing something that is tested? 

My insurance is also miles rated too, could this be a problem if stopped working? Or am I worrying too much !!

It could be an issue for both your MOT and insurance if the speedo actually stop reading the mileage, I guess it depends on whether the display just goes off but carries on reading in the background or whether it stops reading altogether.
On MOT day you may have to be lucky that it stays on whilst the tester looks at it.

Definitely worth doing some checks as suggested above and failing any faults being found sending it back to ETB (also as suggested above).

[Breakable?]

Mine does exactly the same ,when the lcd display is off it still records mileage on ours so when approaching mot time if display has decided to work I keep a note of mileage and a couple of days before mot I take it out and place it in plastic box with rice near a radiator as has been suggested earlier, it has worked every time so far but as our car is kept outside when the damp weather inevitably returns so does the fault. Makes driving a little more exiting playing the have I got petrol/will I make it game

[Kevin Wood]

My VDO was playing up at this year's MOT and the tester just entered the mileage as "not legible". Only the speedometer function is actually required to work. I tend to put it in the airing cuboard over the winter and when I need the mileage for my insurance renewal.