Odometer suddenly stopped working
 

Hey all

so,
after finally getting my car back from the detail shop after they fixed all the things that they broke, I was noticing today that my odometer is no longer working. I replaced the original speedometer with this one as I'm one of the lucky ones to have an 85mph speedometer stock. I ended up buying a 160/170 mph speedometer from a guy who is local and only had 73k on it.

I was smart enough to have a shop replace it in order to have it documented due to the difference in mileage.

It has been working perfectly, and the speedometer works fine, it's just that the odo just stopped.

I am aware of the issue with VDO odo's of this vintage and their tendency to fail (my urquattro has the vdo syndrome).

It is just very bizarre as it worked perfectly until today. I pulled it out of the dash and checked the connections. One of the spade connectors wasn't fully seated, so I seated it, but no luck.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to investigate this thing?

I don't mind buying another one off of the board, but if the issue is somewhere else, I'd LOVE to hear about your suggestions.

The car is an 81 SC.

Thanks everyone!

Michael

send it to North Hollywood speedometer, or San Diego speedo-tach. it is a little gear that is probably broken inside. reasonably cheap to have fixed. You can still drive the car without the speedo while it is getting fixed.

Ditto on NH Speedo.

Mine crapped out a few years ago, and I did a little reading on repairing, and concluded that while I like to do a lot of stuff myself, the best thing is to send it out. NH Speedo repainted my faceplate, calibrated it, (the factory setting is usually off by 10 mph high) and repaired it. I don't remember what I paid, (around $125) and you're done with it. If you've never done it before I read it's a little tedious and tricky. Plus searching and buying the right "stuff". I think someone posted once on a Wayne's 1-10 scale of difficulty it was around a 5, which is saying a lot about a little item like that.

FWIW.

My odometer was ready to roll over to 85,00. It was at 84,999 and a half and look to be stuck. I watched it for a while and nothing. I gave it a little tap on the face and it rolled over to 85,00. I think it's about 10 or so miles short right now.

Do you have a collector insurance policy with a mileage restriction?

ROAD TRIP, then odo repair!

Of course, I'm not suggesting you participate in any type of insurance fraud.

I actually have two speedometers and both of them have this same problem. Interestingly, the speedo in the car now (the original Euro speedo in kph) works great all of the time until it starts getting hot outside. Like right now. When I get in the car after it's been parked in the sun all day, the odo will not work for about 10 km or so and then it starts working.

I was thinking on the way in to work this morning that I am going to send both of mine off. I am going to put the Euro kph speedo back in the car and I also have a 180 mph speedo with a 1973 date stamp on it. Could that 180 mph speedo be an "RSR" speedo? Is it worth anything?

I had a similar problem on an 87 VDO speedo. It was a simple fix caused by a tooth that had
broken off one of the Cogs. They are pretty soft but the fix was inexpensive

Not positive but I believe that if one of the wires that run thru the center tunnel to the back of the transaxle is broke or disconnected then the odometer will not function. These are the wires that go thru the small rubber boot next to the shift rod. Worth checking before spending unnecessary dollars on speedo repairs.

Good Luck

Member Thrasher posted an outsanding post on replacing the ODO gear.

However, in my case, conducting a cost/risk analysis, I took it to Paul's speedometer in Redondo Beach. Cost $115 including the gear.

The risk is damaging the needle shaft.

For a nice clean job, a tool is needed to open the back of the speedo.

Good luck,

Gerry