broken speedometer and odometer

palaxdad · 12-05-2001, 08:22 AM

I've spent the last hour looking thru the bulletin board and all of the broken odometer/speedo's seem to be '85 1/2 and newer. I have an early '85 and the speedo and odometer just stopped cold. The cable (attached to the driver's front wheel) seems to be ok. The speedo was rebuilt 40k miles ago. Any thoughts or idea's...

Eturbo924 · 12-05-2001, 11:52 AM

Did you rebuild it?
Both the speed and odometer are not working?
Then the shaft that transmits the motion from verticle to horisontal and back to vertical is skipping. You will not know what I mean unless you open the speedo up. Check one of the previous posts I did and you will see how to open it. Then use a drill to spin the input section. (drill in reverse) You can then see the shaft spinning and not contacting the gears at one end properly.

If I am correct all you have to do is slide the center gear over a bit to align the end gears properly. Easy to say. Not real easy to do. You only have to move the center gear on the saft about .050 to .100 inches. You need to push on the end gear (thus pushing the shaft) while holding the center gear from moving. The center gear is a press fit on the splined shaft. Once you have it in place it should stay there. Then test the speedo and odo again with drill.

I just did this repair also. My odometer stoped working and the speedo was skipping and then failed.

This is my best advice... or purchase a good used one.

Eric

palaxdad · 12-05-2001, 12:59 PM

actually North Hollywood Speedometer rebuilt it - but I can't find the receipt. Yes, both the speedo and odometer stopped at the same time. My son drove from North Carolina to Philadelphia (10 hours) and when he got in it the next morning, both were broken.

I found a used one for $60 but why do i suspect it will break too???

The odometer on my '78 924 is broken too... maybe its time to suck it up and learn how to fix em!

lax944 · 12-06-2001, 12:48 AM

hi guys.

how much did the rebuild cost?

I think the most common thing that keeps the odometer thing from working is the stupid gear breaks/strips or something...

the dealer does not sell that gear by itself. You have to buy the whole Speedo/odo component thing together...

Please inform me if you guys know where to get the gear only. I'll purchase like 10 of em if reasonably priced...
or does anyone know how to fabricate stuff like that???

thanks!

Eturbo924 · 12-06-2001, 03:28 AM

The bigest culprit is resetting the trip od while driving. These can not seem to disengage the proper way to prevent any damage when doing the reset. So when you fix or replace it .... remember not to do this again. If you look at my two previous posts on this topic (different places on the board) you can see how to address the two major issues that happen... and I faced with my 83 944 speedo. I do not know where to get the gear for the odometer.... but normally it is not completely fractured.... so you can remove it... flip it and put it back in.... glued in.

Eric

palaxdad · 12-06-2001, 04:35 AM

someone just e-mailed me this address:
http://members.tripod.com/944dme/order.htm
check it out.

dberkstr · dberkstr's Garage

The PO for my 83 944 had his speedo quit at 121,000. He had no inclination to fix it, so he replaced it with new. Seems to me it cost $200+.
Definitely try to fix it yourself. You have nothing to lose. Maybe you could put a little epoxy on the gear and shaft to hold it.

mike944 · 12-07-2001, 02:34 PM

Guys,

I just repaired my odometer yesterday, i have an '84.

I had repaired it once before, and it only worked for 2500 miles. When i took it apart again, i realized why.

You really have to open the odometer up and look at it, or what i'm about to say will make no sense at all.

There is a red plastic gear on the right hand end of the number wheels that mates with a white plastic worm gear. This gear slips toward the number wheels, and dis-engages from the white plastic worm gear. I originally thought the red plastic gear slipped on the shaft. It did not, the shaft slipped sideways through the gray metal wheel touching the right hand number wheel. I could not figure out how to take the spedo apart any further without removing the needle, which would throw the calibration totally out of whack. Therefore, gluing the shaft into the metal wheel was not an option. What i did was make up a small brass spacer to fit between the red plastic gear, and the side of the number wheel housing. This will prevent the shaft from slipping, and the red plastic gear from slipping. Unfortunately, making the spacer requires a lathe, which most people probably don't have. There's no guarantee this will work anyway, but i see no reason it shouldn't. I won;t find out until I put it back into the car. But i won't be putting any signifigant mileage on the car until the spring anyway.

The most difficult part of the whole procedure is, Opening up the spedo without making it look like a dog chewed on the rim. Use a couple of minature jewler's screwdrivers, and take your time!!!

Good luck

Mike