Jammed Dash

[omegals]

Hi to y' all omega-mates!

I've got an issue with my old and faithful Rusty. It's an Opel Omega 1.8i LS (i can hear some of you laughing!). The odometer & the trip-distance-thing (not sure how it's called in english) haven't been counting-rolling for about 6 months now. Everything else including the needle in the km/h is working fine. I've been waiting in case they unjam but, no luck. Is there anyway to unjam it? Found a used one for 50 € in case it can't be fixed.

Also, will the dash with the 240 or 260 or 280 top speed will work with my car?

[Dave the Builder]

I'd opt for a replacement speedo with the same max limit as swapping for the gsi or lotus clock may give inacurate readings .
you could try taking it apart but you'll probably find a stripped cog.
unless the needle for the trip is jammed in 

[Whippit]

Mines the same (2.6).........all good ................. its got enough miles on it already

[Dave the Builder]

Mines the same (2.6).........all good ................. its got enough miles on it already

i have a spare from a 2 ltr in MPH any good ?
not sure what it goes up too 140 ?

[Whippit]

Thanks for the offer Dave but I think its a different pulse to the speedo on the 6 pots compared to the 4 pots (?)
Got a spare in the Leamington lock up if I wanted to change it but it doesn't bother me anyhow.

Basically if I zero the trip meter it will count up to 247 miles then lock up....weird

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

Also, will the dash with the 240 or 260 or 280 top speed will work with my car?

No, they will not work and for two very good reasons omegals!

No:1, The various six cylinder engined higher Km/h clocks will not work in your 1.8L Omega because the K=709 calibrated ones that are currently fitted in your Omega LS have a cable driven speedo....See below \/ \/ \/



(which are just like our 140mph K=1141 calibrated items on UK Carlton's.)



where as the many six cylinder variants speedo drives are electronic relying on a transducer fitted to the gearbox to send electric pulses to the cars clocks thus allowing them to register the vehicles speed.





Can you now see the differences between the backs of these two different types of Omega A/Senator B clocks?

No:2, The 260km/h - K=5448, 280Km/h - K=5528 Analogue.....



the 260Km/h, 288Km/h Digi-Dash.....



and the rare 300Km/h - K= 5380 Irmscher & Lotus - K=4131 Analogue clocks....





with the elecronic senders on the gearbox, all have a different colour speedo drive pinion gears with different numbers of teeth to allow for their many different axle and tyre combinations.

For instance....if your Omega A left the Opel factory when it was new in 1987 with a 175 R14 or 185/70 R14 tyre combination and a 3.45 : 1 rear axle ratio, You would have a 20 tooth Grey coloured speedo drive pinion gear inside your cars gearbox to allow your K=709 calibrated 240Km/h clocks to read the vehicles speed correctly.

But if your brand new 1987 Omega A was a 3.0L version with a 195/65 R15 or 205/65 R15 tyre combination and the same 3.45 : 1 rear axle ratio as above, then now you would have a 18 tooth White coloured speedo drive pinion gear inside your cars gearbox to allow your K=5448 calibrated 260Km/h clocks to read the vehicles speed correctly.

Does that make sense?

Ignoring the special Lotus Carlton/Omega and just concentrating on the Opel production models....There are then loads of different 18 White, 19 Green and 20 Grey toothed/coloured speedo drive pinion gear combinations for all of the different K=0000 calibrated clocks, the different 3.45 : 1 to 3.90 :1 rear axle ratio's available and the many wheel/tyre combinations too.

Unless you get all of these 4 variables right, your speedo will NOT read accurately as Opel intended and this could get you into lots of trouble if you are caught speeding by your local authorities.

HTH!

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

After re-reading my previous post....I'd like to make it clear that Yes, I do know that the UK Mk3 Carlton's & Senator B's clocks K=0000 calibration numbers are as follows:-

4 pot engined cars with 140mph clocks - K=1141
6 pot engined cars with 160mph clocks - K=8768
and Lotus Carlton's with 180mph clocks - K=6647

I used the various 240Km/h, 260Km/h, 280Km/h and 300Km/h clocks used in the Omega A's and Senator B's as examples above because our European brothers had much more variety with their home market cars than we did with ours here in the UK.

Oh BTW, If my old mate Craig is reading this topic and thinking of re-ignighting the old debate we had on this subject many, many years ago when he first bought a home-made hybrid 3.0L 12v Carlton off of eBay.....



I would just like to make him aware that I can now back up my previous ABS posts with factual information about our Omega A's/Senator B's by using some of GM's own original documents that contain this useful knowledge!

[Scatmancraig]

After re-reading my previous post....I'd like to make it clear that Yes, I do know that the UK Mk3 Carlton's & Senator B's clocks K=0000 calibration numbers are as follows:-

4 pot engined cars with 140mph clocks - K=1141
6 pot engined cars with 160mph clocks - K=8768
and Lotus Carlton's with 180mph clocks - K=6647

I used the various 240Km/h, 260Km/h, 280Km/h and 300Km/h clocks used in the Omega A's and Senator B's as examples above because our European brothers had much more variety with their home market cars than we did with ours here in the UK.

Oh BTW, If my old mate Craig is reading this topic and thinking of re-ignighting the old debate we had on this subject many, many years ago when he first bought a home-made hybrid 3.0L 12v Carlton off of eBay.....



I would just like to make him aware that I can now back up my previous ABS posts with factual information about our Omega A's/Senator B's by using some of GM's own original documents that contain this useful knowledge!

Yes i'm reading this!

I think UD is referring to the time when i owned a Carlton 2.0CDi, which had the engine and gearbox from a 12v GSi, coupled to the original 2.0i diff.  To top this off, the car had 205/55/15 tyres.  As a result of all of this, the car was quite under-geared and would go off the clock....


I calculated that my speedo was over-reading by about 20mph so i came up with a cunning plan.  I dismantled my 160mph electronic speedo and removed the dial.  I then dismantled a 140mph cable-driven speedo, removed the face and fitted it to the 160mph speedo unit.  I then put it back in the car. 

Here's the original speedo (check the mileage...)


Here's the original speedo and the "new" 140mph dial next to it...


And here's the original speedo with the new dial fitted (check the mileage again...)


It took a few goes to get the speedo and rev-counter needles in exactly the right place, but i managed it eventually.  The only downside to this is that my odometer stopped working so the car was stuck on 132792 miles till it was scrapped in late 1996.

I borrowed my mates GPS device and tested the car, with the "corrected" speedo, the car was something like 1mph out at 80mph, which is fairly accurate!

I seem to remember part of the arguement at the time was over what diff ratio was fitted to my car.  The Haynes manual suggests that 2.0i auto's with cats have a 3.9:1 diff fitted.  Whether this is true or not i don't know.  All i do know is that my car was extremely under-geared.  This may have been because i had a 3.9:1 diff, or it could have been that the original GSi diff was a 3.45:1 ratio, and even if i had a 3.7:1 diff in my car, it would have still been significantly lower-geared than it should have been.  I know the difference in the gearing was partly down to the lower profile tyres i was using, however i have used lower profile tyres on other cars and it really doens't make that much difference. 

[Jimmy]

so this might not be so accerate??? (done on a 'private road' i might add)

[Scatmancraig]

Possibly not as accurate as an ex-Police speedo.  I had my ex-Police Senator 24v up to an indicated 159 on its calibrated clocks, we tested them once against a GPS device & they were almost spot on.

It's alwasy worth looking at what the rev-counter is doing, then working out the speed mathmatically from  the engine revs, tyre sizes & gearbox/diff ratios.  I have a table on my PC at home that can do this.

This one is fairly accurate, which is rare for a digi-dash.  It's also fairly good considering the car is a 12v, and they aren't meant to go this fast!


Same car, different occasion...


The reason why the fault light is on on both of the above photo's is because it is a auto digi-dash running in a manual car!

All of the above were naturally on a private test track!

[Jimmy]

Cant remember what the rev count was doing, Ny on RedLine i think tho, as for tyre sizes thy were 205/65/15's on a Senny 24v.
What table av u got on ya PC telling you the speed? Can you copy and paste it on ere for me to ava look at??? nice pics, MPG's aint tht high when going tht speed a? well done for stating it was clocked on a track, or a 'private road' which is what i like to say, ha ha

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

Yes i'm reading this!

PMSL!!! I knew you would mate!

The only downside to this is that my odometer stopped working so the car was stuck on 132792 miles till it was scrapped in late 1996.

Craig...surely that year cannot be right??

Do you mean 2006 because if it was scrapped in 1996, I didn't join the ABS until 1997 and I wasn't PC literate and live on the ABS forum until 2004. If this car really died 14 years ago, we would never have had our interesting debate on the ABS forum as we had no way to communicate too each other!

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

so this might not be so accerate??? (done on a 'private road' i might add)

I very much doubt it Jimmy!

I know this below isn't exactly scientific.....but last summer I used a Garmin Nuvi 200 Sat-Nav against what my 24v's speedo was saying on one of our long European weekend trips away. My car ran 17inch wheels with 235 45 17 tyres if that helps.

Again, As you do (on a private road of course...) I gave my DTM Rep some beans and managed a similarly respectable 163mph reading on the cars digi clocks until I ran out of good clear road ahead of me. The downside of this spectacular result being that the Sat-Nav said I only reached 148mph tho....



Still, I suppose getting up to a true 148mph is not something to be sniffed at for a 172K tired 18 yearold six cylinder Opel. Its only 1mph off what the Vauxhall brochure says a manual GSi 3000 24v is capable of when it was brand new!!!

[Scatmancraig]

Yes i'm reading this!

PMSL!!! I knew you would mate!

The only downside to this is that my odometer stopped working so the car was stuck on 132792 miles till it was scrapped in late 1996.

Craig...surely that year cannot be right??

Do you mean 2006 because if it was scrapped in 1996, I didn't join the ABS until 1997 and I wasn't PC literate and live on the ABS forum until 2004. If this car really died 14 years ago, we would never have had our interesting debate on the ABS forum as we had no way to communicate too each other!

Of course i did mean 2006!  Doh!

[Johnraka]

As a few on here will know I got 148 out of my old 12v Senny (on a private road of course...) and that was with a leaking gearbox 

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

As a few on here will know I got 148 out of my old 12v Senny

Was that 148mph reading on the cars clocks or was this 148mph result via a Sat-Nav or other speed monitoring equipment John??

(on a private road of course...)

Talking of Private roads, a few years ago I was part of a group who wanted to know exactly how easy it was to max out the cars 300Km/h clocks on a stanard Lotus Omega....











it was rather easy to do with the right road conditions!

[bootie3367]

Is that a smidgen of white knuckle there

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

Is that a smidgen of white knuckle there

No Jon, Its pure determination mate!





Its shocking how quickly the "Red Mist" descends when you have one of these prancing horse Supercars in front of ya....

[Jimmy]

Love tht steering Wheel

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

Love tht steering Wheel

Really??

I hated it, glad it wasn't fitted to my car Jimmy. My Irmscher Senator originally had an Irmscher wooden one fitted but I'm glad it was removed before I bought it. I hate wooden steering wheels!





So on my Senny, I replaced it with this-un above!

[Jimmy]

yeh, seeing this one, think id prefer it too... You had an Irm Senny? woooo cooool, any pics?? you still got it??

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

You had an Irm Senny?

Yes, I DO still own a 3.6L Irmscher Senator Jimmy....Remember this old topic below??

http://totalcarlton.com/forums/index.php/topic,10509.0.html

woooo cooool, any pics?? you still got it??

Yes and yes again....

[Jimmy]

O yeh, i remember now, 4got tht was you. How is it? still a runner?

[U.D. - Omega DTM Rep]

How is it?

Its still there Jimmy (was over my garage Wednesday), still covered in dust too!

still a runner?

Bloody hope so but I've not put a battery on and run the old Girl for a while....

[Jimmy]

A keeper? or sell it one day?