So I have one of the early early ucf10s so of course I had my speedo needle do the burnt out thing like this



the left picture

I've had the car since January so it has seen at least a month or two of cold temperatures just in my hands. But about a week ago a cold front came in to my town and the temperatures dropped to about 60° F and the needle lit up perfectly by itself. The reason I bring temperature into this is because that's the only variable that has changed.. My driving habits and conditions stayed the same, nothing electrical was added or removed, nothing changed except for the weather.

Does anyone know why this would happen? I thought the needles typically went out because the backing on them wore off or separated...

edit: also worth noting, the tempratures have gone back up and have gotten up to ~94°F and the needle still lights up fine

 

temp fluctuations do contribute to intermittent failures of the very sensitive needles. backing does wear out due to age, and ambient temp. you just might have received a temporary fix so enjoy it for now. it will eventually break again unfortunately.

 

Well that sucks... I guess when it goes out itll be shipped off to Tanin :P

 

Like timmiOtool says, the problem will come back.

Based on my search, the problem of half lit needle is caused by brake in the needle. Needle is not physically broken but the conductive material is broken. Some fixes it by repainting the area with conductive material, like rear defroster repair stuff or some installs a new LED strip with different color.

For me this is something I can live with.....

 

yep, I would not fix it just for that..