[nishantgandhi]

I own a Getz 1.3 GL 2004 Nov model (the non-tacho version). This happened to me last night.

I was waiting to receive someone at the airport. I didnt park the car, but was standing at the last position in the waiting/pick up/drop off line. I switched off the engine and was enjoying a smoke.

Some cars ahead started moving out of the queue. I was frequently being asked by the guards to move my car slightly ahead every 1-1.5 minutes (basically as soon as the car in front receives its passenger). Because of this, there were frequent switching off and restarting of the engine.

After about the 3rd/4th start, I noticed a weird thing. Upon cranking, the speedo needle went up like crazy - crossing 100 kmph mark and settled back to zero in about a second. And this happened once again on the next start. I thought maybe the engine has heated up and thats why its behaving like this.

I parked and switched off the engine for about 10 minutes. When I re-started, I witnessed the same thing.

This has never happened to me in the last 18 months of owning the car. The only thing different is that I recently (i.e. 4 days ago) got 100/90w bulbs installed (of course with appropriate wiring, ceramic holders and relay - and from a good electrician). Other than that, no other electrical modification has been done in the car. Battery is also brand new (1 month old - Amaron Pro).

Can someone tell me what happened with my car's speedo? Is it something to worry about?

[gpa]

This is the second time I'm hearing of this problem with a Getz. Was picking up my Santro after tis routine 50,000 kms service a few months ago and one of the customers there was explaining in a rather animated fashion to the SA about his speedo's needle revving all the way to the maximum speed.

The SA could not diagnose the problem as it was not happening each time he checked which commonly happens when you take your car to get these weird problems sorted

I don't know what happened, but would advise you to get it checked at a H.A.S.S. Must be a few error codes in the ECU

[nishantgandhi]

Originally Posted by gpa

This is the second time I'm hearing of this problem with a Getz. Was picking up my Santro after tis routine 50,000 kms service a few months ago and one of the customers there was explaining in a rather animated fashion to the SA about his speedo's needle revving all the way to the maximum speed.

The SA could not diagnose the problem as it was not happening each time he checked which commonly happens when you take your car to get these weird problems sorted

I don't know what happened, but would advise you to get it checked at a H.A.S.S. Must be a few error codes in the ECU

Yes, its true Murphy's Law at play here. When you are alone, you will face several niggling issues with the car. But as soon as you take it to a service center, they magically disappear.

BTW, you have opened a can of worms here. I detest going to HASS as I have not yet found a trustworthy one. I go to a trusted mechanic who has a fairly well equipped garage and does a good job (but I doubt he will have the scanner machine).

Maybe for the 40k service, I will have to take the car to HASS. 2.5k more kms to go.

[WasavaTyres]

My getz does the same thing albeit with the temp needle. The first time I noticed it hitting the roof I flushed out the radiator with 3M radiator flush and replaced my entire coolant. Turned out to be a waste of time and money. It would intermittently still go all the way up and come to the normal 'centre' position after few mins. After 3 visits to HASS and couple of hours of them burning fuel and hooking up the scanner to my car it still persists. And since the SA said the temp shows as normal on the scanner I've learnt to live with it.

[dockap]

i have experienced this in my optra magnum 1 year back when driving at 20 to 50 kph the speedo needle used to suddenly shoot up to 100 kph and back to normal immediately i notieced that at this time another car would be passing in the opposite direction at high speed(does the speedo have a wireless sensor)
this has happened several times problem disappeared after the next service

[nishantgandhi]

In my last 6+ years of car ownership and across different types of cars (Indica, Esteem, OHC, NHC, Getz) this is the first time I am seeing something like this!

Is there some short circuit causing this?

[gpa]

Originally Posted by dockap

the speedo needle used to suddenly shoot up to 100 kph and back to normal immediately i notieced that at this time another car would be passing in the opposite direction at high speed(does the speedo have a wireless sensor)

Hilarious! Sometimes, these niggling problems tend to disappear as mysteriously as they surfaced!

[muralisk]

I have never seen this in either my Matiz (which is 9 years old) or my Honda City (which is 2 years old).

However, I did see think kind of behavior in my friends Spark and I believe it is due to the back cable, which my friend is yet to replace.

[manikjeet]

same thing happened to my innova about 2 years ago

i took it to A.S.S and they just tightened the speedo cable and the problem disappeared

[predatorwheelz]

Originally Posted by nishantgandhi

After about the 3rd/4th start, I noticed a weird thing. Upon cranking, the speedo needle went up like crazy - crossing 100 kmph mark and settled back to zero in about a second. And this happened once again on the next start. I thought maybe the engine has heated up and thats why its behaving like this.

The only thing different is that I recently (i.e. 4 days ago) got 100/90w bulbs installed (of course with appropriate wiring, ceramic holders and relay - and from a good electrician). Other than that, no other electrical modification has been done in the car. Battery is also brand new (1 month old - Amaron Pro).

Can someone tell me what happened with my car's speedo? Is it something to worry about?

Well well, so many replies, and not one proper technical explanation?

Nishant, to start off, lemme take Wikipedia's help in explaining how the electronic speedo on your Getz works:

QUOTE

A rotation sensor, usually mounted on the rear of the transmission, delivers a series of electronic pulses whose frequency corresponds to the rotational speed of the driveshaft. The sensor is typically a toothed metal disk positioned between a coil and a magnetic field sensor. As the disk turns, the teeth pass between the two, each time producing a pulse in the sensor as they affect the strength of the magnetic field it is measuring.[1]
A computer converts the pulses to a speed and displays this speed on an electronically-controlled, analog-style needle or a digital display.

UNQUOTE

Now for the case at hand. When you crank up the engine, the battery sends an electronic impulse to the spark plugs. In your car, the first pulse for some reason is too strong, thereby passing on unused current to the only other active electronic appliance at the moment - the speedometer. The magnetic field gets charged, leading the speedo to show an inappropriate reading. This could be because of improper wiring/insulation at the time of installing the replacement headlights. Who knows?

I would recommend that you get the electronic circuitry checked from an experienced mechanic. If you are in a situation when you're starting the car with the headlights/stereo on, the surge will lead to electronic components getting damaged.

[gpa]

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

I would recommend that you get the electronic circuitry checked from an experienced mechanic. If you are in a situation when you're starting the car with the headlights/stereo on, the surge will lead to electronic components getting damaged.

predatorwheelz,

A good insight. Would it be possible that these surges that you mention about can also affect the car's ECU leading to a blown chip? Also, can this be diagnosed by hooking up into a scanning machine?

Cheers,
gpa

[nishantgandhi]

Guys - time to revive an old thread, simply because initially, I learnt to live with it and sometime later the problem disappeared.

However, since the last 6+months, the thing has got revived. In addition there is a new problem that I have noticed. When I start the car, the odometer light blinks 2-3 times (almost switching off) and then stabilizes.

I gave my car for 61,000 km service today and showed these 2 issues to the SA. According to him, it's a sensor problem but to rectify, the entire assembly needs to be changed. And that'll cost about 8-10k. So I have decided not to get it done.

But I need another opinion from experts on the forum. Please advise.

Originally Posted by WasavaTyres

My getz does the same thing albeit with the temp needle. The first time I noticed it hitting the roof I flushed out the radiator with 3M radiator flush and replaced my entire coolant. Turned out to be a waste of time and money. It would intermittently still go all the way up and come to the normal 'centre' position after few mins. After 3 visits to HASS and couple of hours of them burning fuel and hooking up the scanner to my car it still persists. And since the SA said the temp shows as normal on the scanner I've learnt to live with it.

What is this scanner? Is it Hyundai specific? I'm asking this because I get my car serviced at a place which is primarily MASS but deals in all cars. If I know the device name, I can ask him to scan my car.

Originally Posted by dockap

i have experienced this in my optra magnum 1 year back when driving at 20 to 50 kph the speedo needle used to suddenly shoot up to 100 kph and back to normal immediately i notieced that at this time another car would be passing in the opposite direction at high speed(does the speedo have a wireless sensor)
this has happened several times problem disappeared after the next service

That's real scary as well! Especially because the car is in motion. My problem is always upon cranking the car.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Well well, so many replies, and not one proper technical explanation?

Nishant, to start off, lemme take Wikipedia's help in explaining how the electronic speedo on your Getz works:

QUOTE

A rotation sensor, usually mounted on the rear of the transmission, delivers a series of electronic pulses whose frequency corresponds to the rotational speed of the driveshaft. The sensor is typically a toothed metal disk positioned between a coil and a magnetic field sensor. As the disk turns, the teeth pass between the two, each time producing a pulse in the sensor as they affect the strength of the magnetic field it is measuring.[1]
A computer converts the pulses to a speed and displays this speed on an electronically-controlled, analog-style needle or a digital display.

UNQUOTE

Now for the case at hand. When you crank up the engine, the battery sends an electronic impulse to the spark plugs. In your car, the first pulse for some reason is too strong, thereby passing on unused current to the only other active electronic appliance at the moment - the speedometer. The magnetic field gets charged, leading the speedo to show an inappropriate reading. This could be because of improper wiring/insulation at the time of installing the replacement headlights. Who knows?

I would recommend that you get the electronic circuitry checked from an experienced mechanic. If you are in a situation when you're starting the car with the headlights/stereo on, the surge will lead to electronic components getting damaged.

I never start the car with any electrical on (the panel is not even fitted on). However, I do suspect an electric leak in the circuitry post an accident last year. I say this because at times, I snap on the HU panel before starting the car (or even before inserting the key in the ignition). And I've noticed it's display light coming on (with a flicker) for a milli-second.

Does Bosch service conduct an electric circuitry check?