Rolling back odometer?

[NeoMishMoo]

VDO and Motometer are both easy to roll forward, VDO just has a guard in it to prevent rolling it backwards, motometer is easy to roll backwards.

The whole process is pretty simple, but just VERY TIME CONSUMING! I sat for about 30 minutes and only got mine rolled forward 1,000 miles, only 40,000 more to go!

There is one problem though, if the cluster that you have coming in is still working and still has the original gears I'm not sure if you will be able to take it apart. The gears will likely be very very delicate (like dried play-doh in my experience). I think that the lube that they used in the factory penetrated the gears over time and made them softer.

The top most gear that turns first is very small and might actually break upon removal, I'm not sure because that gear was disintegrated on my cluster.

So if all the gears are original it might be a little more tricky.

You might need to buy new gears which are incedibly overpriced if you ask me (25 bucks a piece for dime sized gears?!)

[87bimmerguy]

Cool. Thanks for the info. I will have to check when it comes.

[dude8383]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGsJvOLwTRQ

video should be up in about 10 minutes.

[george graves]

Cool beans. But I don't know man - that looks like it's putting some hurt on those gears.

[E30QC]

I saw the gear sets for both odometer and rev counter are locked into the circuit board which looks like double sided connector pins.. I don't know how to describe it, so i ask, how do i remove the gauges from the circuit boards? its' a motometer..

[accident]

four screws on the back of each.

[Philo]

I used and air compressor and it went even faster than the video. On the VDO clusters you need to remove the center gear that turns both the trip and the lifetime. After that you just attach the blow tool, point it at the sprocket, and have at it. I rolled back 3k in less than a minute. Still time consuming considering there is 250 on there.

[NeoMishMoo]

Using the compressed air seems like way too much stress on the gears. Wonder if it is safe going that fast?

[E30QC]

four screws on the back of each.

so, i got the white backing off, no prob. then when i look at the circuit board, it has like nine pins each going to the gauges, and the pins all have a lockpin each.. so, like do i undo each lock pin? there are no screws left..

[accident]

so, i got the white backing off, no prob. then when i look at the circuit board, it has like nine pins each going to the gauges, and the pins all have a lockpin each.. so, like do i undo each lock pin? there are no screws left..

What? You should be able to take the screws out of the back of the guage and then pull it right off. take a picture?

[dude8383]

Cool beans. But I don't know man - that looks like it's putting some hurt on those gears.

I kept it at the speed as I too figured it would be putting a bit too much hurt on the gears. I rolled it down from 198k to 7840 miles without any issues :)

[E30QC]

i will, anyone know a reputable site to post pics through?

[dude8383]

i will, anyone know a reputable site to post pics through?

google, um flickr and something else...

[germancarsonly]

Sorry guys, this is so simple a Caveman can do it. Take two small screwdrivers and with one gently move the gear stack over a little from the left. This will release it from the other gears and with the second screwdriver you can spin the numbers on the gear to the left. To spin the other gears just move over to the gear that is "wrong". Rather than ask for more details just take your speedo out of the cluster and look at the back of it. It's a no brainer. BTW this will work on most any type of geared odometer, not just the BMW E30 speedos.