I have never had it happen to me either. Has anyone had it happen on an 06 model?

 

Yes, my 06 has had it happen several times.

 

ditto. it was a week into when i first got my car.

more details:
i drive a manual transmission if that means anything.
it was a sunny day and i was heading from SD to LA with the top down

 

It happens to me regularly in my 04 roadster. Only when the top is down, and only when the sun is directly behind me, and only when the sun shines directly onto the tach. Once I adjust my hands on the steering wheel so the tach gets some shade, it starts working again. Actually, I find kind of comical. I will take it in before my warranty is up in May 2007 though.

 

Where is the sensor everyone is tallking about when they say cover it with your hand?

 

Just put your hand up so it casts a shadow over the tach. I am not sure where the sensor is, but when my shadow is over the gear indicator the tach comes to life.

 

just bought an 06 last week and this happened the other day when my wife was driving it. i couldn't reproduce it, so i've just been hoping it wouldn't resurface.

it was a nice day, so i'm sure she had the top down. plus it was after work on her way home, so the sun would have been at her back.

 

Why and I must ask again.......WHY would someone feel inclined to discuss the problem with their Coupe tachometer when this is plainly a forum for Roadsters??? I have a Roadster and YES, my tachometer and my Speedometer both freeze up when the sun is shining on them directly from behind. It's like Chris Angel magic when I shield the sun off of my gauges for a few seconds and POOF......they return to normal. Now I'm not saying that I can levitate or pick the card that you are thinking about, but I CAN control the gauges in my Roadster. Once again for those that need to be told twice, if the sun (the really bright light in the sky) shines directly on your gauges, they will freeze up (and not really be cold) until the sunlight is either shielded or you change directions while driving.

 

Just thought I'd chime in here with a few words.

03 touring roadster owner, and this just started happening to me (I'm at 20k miles now).

Glad to see other are reporting a similar problem, and it's not just me going crazy!

I have a quick explanation of why direct sunlight might cause the problem:

It's a form of whats called "hysteresis" in analog gauges (if you'd ever seen a mechanic or engineer 'tap' a guage while reading it, thats what it is). It's because the system is dependent on its immediate state, etc...

Anyway, direct sunlight hits the gauge and heats it up locally. Some parts will heat up faster than other parts. What happens when you heat up an object (especially if there is metal in it)? It will expand.

In our case, I'll bet that some part of the analog gauge is heating up and expanding just the tiniest bit, and then binids that part temporarily.

It would certainly explain why shading the tach causes it to go back to normal.

 

There's on 03 Roadster?

 

No, but you could buy the 2004 Roadser in Sept. of 2003 when they first came out, but they were 2004 models..

 

I have an 06 with only 5k miles and it has happend to me twice. Sucks! lol.

 

Just flick it. That's what I do when things start acting up. Even had to flick my girlfriend a couple times this morning.

 

Sorry, Built2ShredZ had it right. In my head I bought her in 03, but she is an 04!

 

Mine's a 04.5. Have not seen this problem yet.

 

This happened to me this morning so I did a search here and only found this relevant post. I have an 06 coupe.. the sun was behind me - seems weird, but, it did start working again after a change in direction. I'm not going to worry about it unless it happens a lot - don't want them ripping the dash apart for something relatively minor.

 

What about a "springy" "bouncy" "jumpy" tachometer?

I test drove a used 04 roadster in the evening facing toward the sun. It did not stick, however, when I would shift into the next gear at high RPMs, the tach would bound around. For example, I shift smooth into 4000rpm and the tach would jump back and forth from 3500 and 4500 rpm a few times before settling down to normal. Anyone ever have this?