Intermittent Odometer Failure
 

Hi All,

Recently purchased an ’88 Carrera (loving it) and within the first week of ownership I seem to have broken the odometer. From my readings it seems it was bound to fail but the descriptions of the failures don’t seem to match my current condition.
The speedometer works, the odometer works intermittently. There are times when the odometer and trip meter roll along perfectly fine, times when the trip meter stops but odometer works and times when both are stopped. There seems to be no pattern to the failure. This doesn’t seem to correlate to the various posts about odometer failures I've read and so I’m wondering if there might be a bad connection somewhere.
I wonder, has anyone encountered this type of failure? And is it typical of the broken gears I’ve read so much about? Seems strange.

Where best to source a wiring diagram for the odometer? Online? Bentley? Haynes? I need to buy a service manual anyway (would prefer digital / searchable)

Thanks,
Scott

Hey Scott, congrats on the purchase! Where are you located?

The speedometer is driven off a sender in the right side of the transmission. For your issue however, typically a broken gear would prevent both the odometer and tripometer from working at all. There are those here far more knowledgeable than I but I'm unfamiliar with other failure modes.

When my odometer broke, I sent my speedo to Hollywood Speedometer in California and had it repaired as well as removal of the KM indicators on the gauge face. Total cost was extremely reasonable - IIRC around ~$120.

Good luck and enjoy that car.

mat

Check the ground connector and fro that matter all the connectors for looseness or corrosion. Re-tighten them as well by pinching the connectors ever so slightly.

If this does not fix your issue, then you may want to open the gauge up and take a look at the green wire, sometimes that solder joint will come loose. But this is a a scary task because you have to remove the bezel.

Last is the most likely the step motor. Once that goes Odo will stop all together. It just needs to removed and adjusted/cleaned then it will work for another 30+ years.

These are all the things I went thru plus calibrating to my 17" wheels