[Warning Light] Full beam tell tale

[Martinze]

Hi

My tell tale for the full beam keeps flickering on and off.

Are there bulbs on the back of the instrument cluster or is it all soldered stuff.

Tia

[Sol]

Tiny soldered LEDs on a circuit board I'm afraid.

.

[Martinze]

Tiny soldered LEDs on a circuit board I'm afraid.

.

Guess it's a secondhand unit then.

Thankyou

[Sol]

Probably, unless you're handy with a soldering iron.

One caveat is that if you buy a cluster that has more miles on it than your old one, the BSI (body systems interface computer) will update it's mileage to the device with the highest reading...i.e. the new clocks. If they are less than your original mileage, the BSI will update them to the higher mileage it has stored inside it. No coding required but should come from a vehicle of the exact same spec and engine type (diesel etc) so that the software in the cluster and the functional warning LEDs match the equipment your car has, or you could end up with a lot more issues than a flashing high beam LED.

[Gryffindor]

I'm not so sure the problem is with the LED - surely they either work or don't work? It's very unlikely that a soldered SMD joint could fail and cause intermittent contacting, more likely a joint in a cable or wire?

[cancunia]

Hi

My tell tale for the full beam keeps flickering on and off.

Are there bulbs on the back of the instrument cluster or is it all soldered stuff.

Tia

Does it flicker on when it should be off, or flicker off when it should be on?

[Sol]

A dry joint or cracked joint can definitely do this on an smd component mate. It's not just wires that can be intermittent.

[saskak]

When this happens do the full beams also turn on?

[Gryffindor]

Agreed Zion, but what would flex it when the pcb is securely mounted in a cluster housing, and the housing in a dashboard, to cause the flashing? That's the bit I find unlikely - not much rattle & roll?

Plus, if an LED does have a dry joint it would still be held securely by its other joint, not allowing any flexing, or if both joints are dry it might fall off completely.

It would be worth removing the cluster but leaving it plugged in, then try moving it about and tapping/knocking it with the ign on to see if that produces the flashing.

Saskak is also on the trail - if the headlights also flash, then the fault is elsewhere. Com2000? Relays?

I just wouldn't auto assume it was the cluster and get a replacement without first testing other potential causes.

By all means shoot me if I'm wrong. I was shot once before, over a century ago, but there's no harm in finishing off the job. No more Boney M songs!

[Sol]

Heating, cooling, bad joint from the start, eutectic solder joints, badly cleaned flux from the factory, fine vibrations from the diesel engine, lots of reasons for a dry or cracked solder joint. If that one led is flickering and the rest aren't, it's likely the cluster. All data is sent over canbus remember, which is a two wire serial bus. What affects that, affects all. Bad data packets don't cause LEDs to flicker mate.