CwazyWabbit

That is a brilliant result! I'd not have thought of a working bulb causing the problem, well spotted I believe (from memory) the purple wire is a permanent fused 12v supply and often used for accessory wiring... except on mine because it's broken somewhere in the chassis

Which engine do you have? I know the 300tdi has a special coolant fill procedure to prevent airlocks which will lead to overheating.

I think pressure release is the wrong phrase, drain hole would be better. But whatever you call it, as you've noticed it lets the water out when it gets to where it shouldn't be As I understood it the idea is to preserve the bearing when the seal wears and starts to weep giving you a little time to notice and replace it rather than get stuck in the middle of nowhere. Seems your seal didn't understand the weeping stage existed and went straight for total failure. Good luck with the repairs

I think it's a double bluff... but I'm not sure Remind me never to play poker with you

So I guess we all just said after your stirling effort of replacing everything apart from the water pump... you now have to replace the water pump 12 months is a carp length of time for it to last.... maybe the part is under warranty still? I'm sure I read the blue box brigade had increased their warranty to 2 years....

I understood the hole was to stop any slight seepage getting as far as the actual bearing and causing it to rust and bugger up. Once the seal goes though water tends to p1$$ out. Just to follow a trend, what colour box did that one come in?

I could do with one of them as well!

How about http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/200619772004 Apparently it's a melody....

There are plenty of self contained buzzers like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/290572639282 for not a lot of cash but these would sound continuously driving you to self harm very quickly. However you could drive this from a 555 timer configured in the monostable mode, you'd need a few logic chips as well to 'notice' you left the lights on and a small voltage regulator I guess.... Hmmm someone must do a kit... and it would still be a buzz, not a nice soothing melodic caress suggesting you turn the lights off

Out of curiosity why are you changing a TD5 out to replace with an aftermarket one? It's quite likely they do something very similar inside the aftermarket speedo, if they do you should spot the mileage storage by dumping the memory contents then adding a few miles and dumping it again.

The TD5 speedo also outputs a pulse to connect to the ECM on a TD5, would that be suitable as your pulse to ECM on your build? You can see it labeled as pin 1 on this post http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=14892&st=20&p=160740entry160740 Is that any use?

Have been doing some playing to see what other values may mean... progress is slow All the FFFF words seem to have no effect so it seems it is just blank memory at these locations. The two 0000 words if both changed to the same value change the start position of the needle 00FF is approx 7MPH and 0FFF is about 119MPH Maybe this is for different faces with different 0 positions. All other changes so far seem to stop the needle from functioning and little else. One strange one is the 8000 value, apart from stopping the needle working it seems to subtract an amount from the recorded mileage. Anyway that was the fruits of my lunch break

Thanks for that, it appears it isn't a serial number after all ... must be yet another part number! Your sticker is exactly the same as the one I have here other than the date code :S

.... tempting fate there

Cheers for that Chris, it's really appreciated. I can see how they turn stuff around so quickly if they leave the crimping like that, I had expected a few marks but assumed it would be pressed down fully. That sticker has a Rover part number, a VDO part numnber, manufacturing date, operating voltage, and in the bottom left hand corner what I would assume to be the unit serial number. It would be nice to know the 'unit serial number' (assuming that is what it is). Thanks again

This thread in the tech archive will help you get some more poke http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=31 The disco transfer box will increase top end speed assuming you currently have the defender one in ;-)

Thanks The thread is starting to get a bit long now, so well done for reading through it! James has volunteered to help with sorting out a howto for the reprogramming once we work out exactly what is going on (although I think we have the milage part cracked we want more!!!!), we're also going to have a stab at using the Bus Pirate for reprogramming as that will reduce the cost for anyone wanting to have a stab at this themselves. This thread is a great reference to see what has been going through everyones minds as the group start to understand this 'VDO Electronic Speedometer' It's great the way so many people are contributing with information which would have taken ages to find out otherwise

Well spotted! I Shall keep an eye on the auction and if the price doesn't get silly I'll place a bid on it for the project. Unless of course anyone else has one kicking around? If anyone is willing to loan one to us I'll change whatever we know how to (or leave it as is, your choice) before I return it. BTW when you up the clock speed if the needle doesn't move you are clocking it too fast, so just drop back a little.

I had a chat with James last night, before we open up any more speedos we're going to put his back together and allow him to use it for a while to be absolutely certain it is all working properly, I can see no reason for problems but just want to be safe. Then I shall take you guys up on your generous offers I have James' speedo for a few more days yet so the playing investigations will carry on for a while then after a week of testing we'll open a few more up and see what this reveals Does that seem a sensible way forward to all?

Good observation I guess the ideal would be if we could find someone with a KPH speedo that would be kind enough to let us take it apart, anyone got an imported vehicle they have swapped the digital KPH speedo out for a UK one? Bit of a long shot that one I guess. But if we do work out the calibration we no longer have to rely on different coloured cogs to try and match up the speedo to the tyres which would be brilliant as in some cases there is no correct cog.

Even with accelerated clocking it would take at least 3 days to add that much so it had to have been done using some electronic manipulation, whether that was directly reprogramming the flash chip or using a debug port. I'm leaning towards it being reprogramming the flash chip as the mobile bloke said he opened the case. Also as he said the case had been opened before it kind of hints at that being the 'normal' method.

If you are doing it as a business you could buy one of these and then there's no soldering..... http://www.c-u-s.co.uk/soic-clips-/-isp-leads/3m-soic-/-sop-8-way-test-clips-isp-cable/prod_56.html So 20 mins is feasible

I think most cars are easy to open the instruments on, I have a ford galaxy instrument pack here and just a few screws and it's all in bits.... although I think it's mileage is stored in the ECU. Just for info, was he adding miles on or taking them off? Cheers for the information

Fingers crossed you get a result with the enquiry, they may tell you it's obsolete though (I don't know if it is) and try to sell you something else, but definitely worth a try Even a datasheet for a related chip may be of use....

The memory chip inside the speedo that stores the mileage when the power is off is a type of memory chip known as a flash memory chip. Flash contents is just shorthand for contents of the flash memory chip. By comparing the information in these chips we may be able to work out what else is stored there. Where abouts are you located Malcolm?