Impossible to get Odometer working

[dogsbark26]

Check your installation of those odo gears. It sounds like your doing it wrong. Repeatedly.

[nando]

yeah, either you're installing the gears wrong, or every cluster you've tried is broken. because the odometer is entirely contained within the speedometer, the car can't cause it unless the speedo isn't working either.

[BlackbirdM3]

I've got a similar issue, however I just replaced the gears for the odometer, and spinning the small gear by hand, the odometer works, however, the odometer doesn't work in the car. Speedo is fine and within about 2 mph as far as accuracy.

I'm guessing something died in the odometer motor, is there a way to replace that? I have a known good VDO motor, but I don't know if it can be swapped into a Motometer setup.

Will

[BDSax]

Mt tach didn't work and it ended up being the gauge itself. Maybe the motor sent bad.

[Gregs///M]

Most odometer issues, with new gears, is poor installation. Even I've had to redo installations of gears that I've installed myself. However, I have a test bench setup so I can test only the odometer on my work bench. That way I know it is working for several miles before re-installing into the cluster.

If your speedometer works and your odometer does not, its the gears.

The odometer accepts a 12 volt power source and a 5V square wave signal to generate movement of the speedo/odometer.

[mrgraphics]

I finally found one that worked. I documented it in another thread. Each time I tried a speedometer I used the same gears installed the same way (so I wasn't doing it wrong.) The speedometer that did work looked different than all the others: it had a circuit board that clipped to the side of the gear protection cover. So it looked like it was a much more robust circuit construction than the other VDOs.

[BlackbirdM3]

Most odometer issues, with new gears, is poor installation. Even I've had to redo installations of gears that I've installed myself. However, I have a test bench setup so I can test only the odometer on my work bench. That way I know it is working for several miles before re-installing into the cluster.

If your speedometer works and your odometer does not, its the gears.

The odometer accepts a 12 volt power source and a 5V square wave signal to generate movement of the speedo/odometer.

The gear mesh is spot on perfect. Everything moves smoothly. Nothing works in the car however. It works if I use my finger to turn the small gear, but it doesn't do a thing in the car. The speedo works great, but the odometer hasn't moved at all since I installed it.

Will

[Todd Black 88]

Most odometer issues, with new gears, is poor installation. Even I've had to redo installations of gears that I've installed myself. However, I have a test bench setup so I can test only the odometer on my work bench. That way I know it is working for several miles before re-installing into the cluster.

If your speedometer works and your odometer does not, its the gears.

The odometer accepts a 12 volt power source and a 5V square wave signal to generate movement of the speedo/odometer.

Not always true. My odometer did not work after new gears, and it ended up being the stepper motor.

[Gregs///M]

Not always true. My odometer did not work after new gears, and it ended up being the stepper motor.

That is true, the stepper motor itself can fail but is much more unlikely. However, the motor can be tested by running the odometer free of gears. It will need to be run on a work bench tho.

[BlackbirdM3]

My odometer showed signs of life this morning on my drive to work. It measured 1.7 miles in a 5 mile drive. Still, its more than its read since I put the thing in. I pulled the cluster last night and checked everything looking for a bad connection/solder joint, found nothing. I pulled the cover for the stepper motor and spun the motor by hand and the trip meter advanced nicely as it should. Still, the thing doesn't work. I wish I could figure this thing out.

Will

[Luke_M]

My odometer only works when I'm taking a turn really hard. It'll register a tenth or three after that and then quit. How about that one? :) I suspect the gears have been installed wrong. I just haven't taken the time to check it out.

[oliver.r]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/member.php?u=40393

this guy knows everything there is to know about clusters

[BlackbirdM3]

I'm really curious what is up with my odometer, it showed signs of life on my way to work yesterday, nothing for the rest of the day. This morning it worked for 4.3 miles on my way to work, nothing on the way home? Its like the magnetic field that is formed between the inner and outer part of the motor is intermittent, or for some reason the outer part isn't willing to spin (I checked with the gears out, it spins freely.) I also checked with motor cover in place, still spins freely with no drag from contact with something.

Will

[Cynical 1]

i had this issue with a motometer brand in my car. replaced gears and it worked great for about 1,000 miles, then worked about 13 miles or less each day and would stop.

replaced it with a VDO that also had replaced gears, and works great now.

my thought is perhaps the 4 gears in the motometer had one slipping or jamming up... i noticed this in the VDO when i installed them - one slipped on the shaft. a drop of glue solved this.

maybe worth some investigation?

[ForcedFirebird]

How are you guys pulling the brass sleeve off the e1 gear shaft? It's very easy to break the motor when pulling the brass to go with the plastic-hub gear.