I've got an '03 MCS, and in the cold (or wet it seems), when I start 'er up, the speedometer needle jitters between the 0 mark and the needle stop very fast for about a second or two. When the car is running, it operates normally. When I shut the car off after I've been driving for a bit, and restart it, it does not happen again, until I leave it for a while.

Any ideas on what this might be? I bought this car about 6 months ago, and once in a while it takes a couple cranks to get it started, but other than that it's been reliable. I initially thought it was the battery, but I've never had that much trouble trouble starting it up. Thoughts?

 

Lots of info on this. The battery is on its way out the voltage is dropping and the speedo is doing a reset. Go to someone that can load test the battery. No known problems from it doing a reset but you will find that over a few months it will take less and less cold temps to get it to reset as the battery dies.

 

That's what I was afraid of. Yeah it does seem to be happening much more frequently now. I'll have the battery tested. Thanks a ton for the quick response.

 

Just put an Optima RedTop 34R in. Turns out I was still on the original battery, can't believe it hung on for this long. Thanks again for the help.