DIY - Odometer Rebuild

[phildo]

This is the email of the guy in Spain: mpower2002 <at> jazzfree <dot> com. I bought the gears from him for my VDO board a few weeks back and have since installed them and they work great. I used vasoline to grease up the gears when installing.

Also I have an airbag steering wheel which I did not remove when I removed my cluster. It took a little maneuvering but the extra 5 mins I spent on that was prolly less than the time to remove the steering wheel, maybe. But it definitely is possible either way.

[Atreus]

^^^^ dont know what happened to it.....

[e30pwr]

can anybody give me the link to the ebay guy from spain that has the gears?

[robmespeedy]

my rpm gauge doesnt work:(

[Chells_88ix]

Took my speedo apart and found the small gear broken and the next gear cracked, mine are completely covered in the sticky glue like substance. Now comes the fun part, trying to take the gears off.

[Jean]

Buy a set of new gears from ebay guy in spain, and be done with it.

[330SMG]

You removed the cluster to check without unlocking and removing the steering wheel? I may have to buy an entire cluster just to get that small gear! Uggh

http://odometergears.com
$25 is still cheaper than going to the junbk yard and buying a cluster.

[e30vert]

You removed the cluster to check without unlocking and removing the steering wheel? I may have to buy an entire cluster just to get that small gear! Uggh

[distorto]

my car came with 3 clusters. the small gear is broken in all 3 of them.

i wento a pick-a-part today and i found one 318 that still had the cluster. the small gear was broken in it too.

[e30vert]

Well, I spent a good amount of the evening pulling my cluster to open up and check out what is the issue with my non-functioning odometer. As is stated I expected to find a problem with one or more of the gears and sure enough I found the small rubber one cracked off and only 1/2 of it left. The the one below that which is an orangish rust color had what looked like melted wax or some type of glue on it and it was missing a few teeth as well. Then the one under that which is black had some of the waxy looking substance on it as well and came out in pieces. The bottom two (light green and black/brown) are fine and salvageable.

So I need a minimum of the 3 gears and have already scraped off the residual glue like substance. I dont know how or why this substance would be on the gears or how it got there? The cluster was sealed with the non-tamper saftey wire from the factory wired on the back in two spots.

Here are some photos for your enjoyment.


During the process of removing the cluster I busted off the back portion of my ignition cylinder plastic where it connects to the white plastic piece with the wires solder onto it. So if anyone has that part I am in the market for a replacement.

I guess I will try to find the gears on eBay first. Anyone know how many teeth each of these gears are.
Top small rubber one , next one down rust orange colored , and third one down Black.

[Atreus]

yeah nic that would. i have a big ugly 4spoke airbag..... i spent an hour prying off a nice 3spoke at the yard, just to realize it wont budge without unlockin the column. that was fun. total noob moment. haha.

and bioman, yeah.

[Nicademus]

22mm socket. remove steering wheel logo/roundel whatever.
inside, there is a nut, use the socket to remove it. once the ass. is removed, unlock steering column, remove the wheel.
use a screwdriver to get at the two screws at roughy the 10/11-2/3 on the speedo/cluster. i think you can figure it out from there.....

I don't even remove my steering wheel but I guess it does make it easier. I also have a smaller after market wheel so that probably helps me too.

[bioman]

Will fixing the odometer gear also make the trip meter work as well?

[Atreus]

22mm socket. remove steering wheel logo/roundel whatever.
inside, there is a nut, use the socket to remove it. once the ass. is removed, unlock steering column, remove the wheel.
use a screwdriver to get at the two screws at roughy the 10/11-2/3 on the speedo/cluster. i think you can figure it out from there.....

[bioman]

Is there a DIY for taking the gauge cluster out of the dash?