Fix odometer or replace entire speedometer??

[Churm]

Ahhh...so many lessons to learn...I just purchased my first 911 (1980sc) and have learned a lesson. Don't touch the trip meter when the car is in motion (or better yet EVER)! My trip meter and odometer no longer function and I have noticed that the speedometer sticks from 0 - 30 km/hr and then jumps to 30 km/hr to work fine at these higher speeds.

My question is: Will fixing the odometer also help my speedometer (in which case I may attempt the fix) or should I just buy an entire new gauge and install it (a far easier task, but higher cost).

Any advice?

Steve.

[zymurgist]

From everything I've read, pressing the botton while driving doesn't break the odometer. It's a crappy plastic gear inside the gauge that breaks after a number of years.

Reminds me of my '70s vintage Bachmann N-Scale model trains. They used to run really sweet, they had brass gears. In the '80s they pursued the low end of the market with a vengeance, plastic gears and little to no QC, and things got so bad that when they finally released better quality equipment, they had to give it a new brand name (Spectrum) because their brand value had tanked.

[sammyg2]

Don't buy a new guage, that is throwing money away. Send it to North Hollywood speeedometer and have them fix it. They will replace the bad gear, test it, calibrate it, fix whatever is wrong and paint it to look like new, for prolly around $120. I doubt you could find a new one for that price.

[Churm]

Thanks for the quick response. I will track down the contact info for North Hollywood and investigate.

Steve.