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Odometer Repair


guypaul

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Hello my name is Paul: 

 

I have a question on removing the face plate of the speedometer.  How do I remove the needel without damaging it in the processe?  I am tring to fix the first gear on the odometer.  The speedo works but not the odometer.  Can anyone help me with this issue.

 

Thanks Paul

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just a thought...

 

send the entire thing to North Hollywood Speedometer.  for not much money they will refurbish entire thing and calibrate it to your diff ratio and tire size.  it comes back looking brand new....

2xM3

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Agree. Send it out. But, if you are determined. The center button of the needle has two plastic alignment pins that are pressed into a brass half moon shaped pin which is pressed onto the speedometer mechanism shaft which potrudes through the speedometer face. There is a write up on this. If you are lucky the brass "hat" pops off from the shaft and not the button from the hat. Quite a delicate operation. I had a number of speedometers I was trying to get a black face with the correspoding gear set for a 3.91 diff. So I had a few needles to waste. Odometer is still fuched... gears and shafts later I'm ressigned to send it out. I think I jawed a scissor under the hat to pop it off.

Good luck

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FYI, I don't think you need to remove the needle to replace the bad gear on the odometer that's causing the odo to not work while the speedo still functions.  The problem is one of the drive gears in the odometer's gear train.  It cracks, or otherwise works itself loose from the shaft it's pressed onto, and turns instead of being rigidly fastened to its shaft.  A temporary fix is to superglue the offending gear to the shaft, but that may or may not last.  For a permanent solution...

 

Go to "odometergears.com."  They sell the replacement gears and very thorough instructions on how to replace 'em.  They are also happy to answer questions on the phone as to details of the project.  It's not a difficult job and the parts are a bunch cheaper than sending it out.   

 

cheers

mike

'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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no no and no.

 

1.  you don't (I didn't) have to remove the speedo face, or the needle.  Don't do that.
2.  the problem is usually that the 1/10 mile number wheel slips on the shaft.  If it is not fixed to the shaft (as opposed to just sliding on it, which is your problem) then the tenths wheel won't drive the 1 mile wheel and so on down the row of numbered wheels.  None of the odo wheels will turn if the tenths wheel doesn't.  THEREFORE.... after disassembling to the point where you can see the number wheels, try a tiny bit of superglue to secure the tenths wheel to the shaft, OR... carefully remove the shaft and using a small ball pein hammer, gently put a dimple in the shaft so that when you reassemble the wheels on the shaft, the tenths wheel will no freely rotate on the shaft.  This latter approach is going to require some careful work and there will be a goodly number of little bitty parts on your very nice clean work table.  I have only used this method. 

3.  The dirty trick about the latter method is that when you reassemble, you can set the mileage to anything you want.

 

DISCLAIMER:  It is probably illegal in your state to tamper with the odometer of any vehicle.  The above advice is given strictly for entertainment and in no way, shape or form do I suggest anyone without a proper license attempt the tampering described above. 

 

there, that ought to do it.

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DISCLAIMER:  It is probably illegal in your state to tamper with the odometer of any vehicle.  The above advice is given strictly for entertainment and in no way, shape or form do I suggest anyone without a proper license attempt the tampering described above. 

 

 

 

It depends on the state and the car. My title has 000000 for the mileage reading, meaning it's old enough that they don't count it anymore. This is for a 68 in WA state. 

'68 Granada Red 02

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Well how 'bout that - WA does it differently.  Well, the caution was well intended, and IIRC it's a federal offense to tamper with an odometer, so WA law may not apply.  Just because the odo reading is not an issue, somewhere, may not trump federal law.  Anyway, I've bought and sold Bimmers with non-functional odometers.  I pay more attention to my analysis of the mechanical condition of a prospective purchase than the mileage indicates.  As always, YMMV.

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  • 4 years later...

So, seems like everybody's odometer dies but the speedo keeps on ticking along...  I've got the opposite problem.  My odometer works fine, it's the speedo that doesn't.

 

I saw that Mike said it's the head of the speedo...  Is that meaning the whole thing is kaput and get a new one?  The tech article is about fixing the odo, not the speedo...

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks.

Dave.

'76, totally stock. Completely.

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1 hour ago, irdave said:

So, seems like everybody's odometer dies but the speedo keeps on ticking along...  I've got the opposite problem.  My odometer works fine, it's the speedo that doesn't.

I saw that Mike said it's the head of the speedo...  Is that meaning the whole thing is kaput and get a new one?

 

Many have been happy with the speedometer repair shops - North Hollywood, Palo Alto, off the top of my head - there are others.  A search might lead to pertinent details.  Good luck!

John in VA

'74 tii "Juanita"  '85 535i "Goldie"  '86 535i "M-POSSTR"  

'03 530i "Titan"  '06 330ci "ZHPY"

bmw_spin.gif

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The high number of odo failures are probably due to people resting them when in motion forcing the gears to turn backward when they are already rotating forward.

If everybody in the room is thinking the same thing, then someone is not thinking.

 

George S Patton 

Planning the Normandy Break out 1944

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2 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

The high number of odo failures are probably due to people resetting them when in motion forcing the gears to turn backward when they are already rotating forward.

Fixed that for you!

John in VA

'74 tii "Juanita"  '85 535i "Goldie"  '86 535i "M-POSSTR"  

'03 530i "Titan"  '06 330ci "ZHPY"

bmw_spin.gif

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My speedo needle started to rotate erratically and eventually stopped rotating altogether.

 

I opened the speedo mechanism and found a sleeve fitting that was probably pressed in.  It had come loose and was spinning with the cable.  I used a dab of crazy glue and reset the sleeve.  At least 10K miles ago.  So far (ha) so good.

5a6e7e5638fef_Loosesleeve.jpg.4509fe88ca388d614d8467550cf1efbe.jpgSpeedoGuts2.thumb.jpg.756e4efcbbce41d79c118a3b8f25931c.jpg

 

73 Inka Tii #2762958

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4 hours ago, John_in_VA said:

 

Many have been happy with the speedometer repair shops - North Hollywood, Palo Alto, off the top of my head - there are others.  A search might lead to pertinent details.  Good luck!

Thanks John.  I'm just not very good at paying other people to do what I can do, so I guess I'll just start taking it apart and see what the problem is...

Dave.

'76, totally stock. Completely.

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