DIY - Odometer Rebuild

[darrenforeal]

I have just started doing this repair and it seems that the gears that odometergears.com sent me are different than the OE ones. So I can't figure out how to get them to work :/ Even after checking out the instructions on the website. Is it possible they sent me the wrong ones? I am pretty sure I was sent ones for the Motor meter instead of the VDO. I emailed them but it is a friday so I dunno.

My speedometer is a VDO
The ones shipped were listed as:
E30 BMW US Spec (SET)
motometer#1 12
motometer#2 44x16
motometer#3 40x22
motometer#4 35x22

These are the gears I was sent minus the small black one that I already put on the shaft coming from the motor

tops


backs


These are the gears that came out and were broken along with the small black one.


This is what the VDO looks like assembled with the old gears plus the new small black one on the motor shaft


here it is with the two originals that were suppose to be reused



Does all this look right? Or do the new ones look wrong? THanks. I'm stuck :/

[nmlss2006]

That's the cruise control signal. You can put it in any of the stack of 3.

[priapism]

I cannot get my gauge apart. I took out all the screws shown in that picture including the two nuts. All I have left are the three screws show in the picture but it seems like the bottom of the cluster is stuck together.

You have to pull the green plug out, as shown below. There are also some clips on the bottom that you have to finagle.

Which brings me to my question, there's a wire in the car that plugs into the green plug, but there are three identical plugs for it to go in, and five that it could possibly fit in. I tried process of elimination but it didn't seem to do anything with any of them while the car was idling. Which one does it go in?

Replaced all my gears, stupid car still won't spin the odo. It works in the dash, guess the motor died. :twisted:

[caffeinatedsoap]

I cannot get my gauge apart. I took out all the screws shown in that picture including the two nuts. All I have left are the three screws show in the picture but it seems like the bottom of the cluster is stuck together.

[fporro]

Sort of off topic.

Car: 87 325ic with 89+ engine/ecu harness and Miller W.A.R. chip.

All's well, but, tachometer does not work.
did s.i. batts, swapped in a cluster w/ working tach and nothing.

So, stuck at matching small ecu connectors to small cluster connectors near obc side, colors and plugs are not same., it would really help if some one would post...

a) A pic of cluster's small single connectors attached to green port
b) A pic of pre 89 325i ecu harness smaller connectors.

or prehaps is the w.a.r. thing interfering?., I screwd-uo, but where? I'm waffleswaffleswaffleswafflesfused ;)


Mahalo,
Frank

[priapism]

Just did mine, thanks for the write up. The gears mesh together and when you turn the small gear the odo spins (along with the trip meter), but it doesn't spin when in the car. The speedo works, as do all the other gauges....is the odo on its own little motor or something? What turns the small gear to make it all spin?

[MonkeyKarma]

Thanks again for the write-up did mine recently.

[lenco12]

samething happened to my cluster.

you can buy gears from http://odometergears.com

each gear is $25, there are 4 gears that could be messed up, the only way you would know is if you opened up the cluster to find out which ones have broken teeth and need replacing. But, Jeff is the best small business owner i've ever had the pleasure of working with, he'll bend over backwards to make sure you solve your problem.

or... you could probably buy a working cluster for that much or a littlermore without having to take apart the cluster... and then sell me your SI board.

$25 bucks? for gears smaller than a nickle? sheesh, haha

your best bet is going to the pick a part and just buying another cluster.. the swap is really simple, just be really careful..

just open that sucker up and find out which gear(s) are broken..

[Easily Distracted]

Does anyone have the part numbers for the orange bulbs in the tach? I need to replace mine as well, but am not sure which part to get.. I have like 3-4 different part numbers.

Any help would be appreciated.

All the e30 ones I've seen use white bulbs with orange covers that clip to the board. There are two bulbs like this. One is on the tach side and one is on the speedometer side. They are the twist mount style like the others on the board but are larger.
Hope this helps.

[ethrtyiS]

^ Would the only 12 tooth gear in the catalog (Part No.: GM0.4-12-19) work as the little brown pita gear that is always bad?

[bostonbmw]

Is this dude still in business? I contacted him couple of months back, but he never got back to me..

I read somewhere that this place had the correct gears.

http://www.gizmoszone.com/shopping/agora.cgi

[ethrtyiS]

Does anyone have the part numbers for the orange bulbs in the tach? I need to replace mine as well, but am not sure which part to get.. I have like 3-4 different part numbers.

Any help would be appreciated.

Doesn't it say what type of bulb is on the back of the dash? Maybe I'm wrong, I'll check again when I put in my aluminum rings.

[Cyrano]

Well, I found a replacement gear from a guy in Spain on Ebay. $11 w/ shipping. Heck of a better deal than $25 +.

Is this dude still in business? I contacted him couple of months back, but he never got back to me..

[Nairb]

Does anyone have the part numbers for the orange bulbs in the tach? I need to replace mine as well, but am not sure which part to get.. I have like 3-4 different part numbers.

Any help would be appreciated.

[MonkeyKarma]

Thanks great write up fixed mine today thanks to you.