Broken Odometer

[kopper69]

Hey guys,

I have decided to start documenting my work that I do on my car. I am not a mechanic but i do like to do my own work on my cars and any problems that I have I try to repair myself. To help me i usually scroll the net in search of tips and ideas, and I thought that any repairs I do I might as well document so that if someone has a similar problem to myself than they will be able to fix it at minimal cost. So here is my first of hopefully many repair manuals. I like the visual aspect so I will always include lots of photos. This guide will be on a broken odometer. I odometer broke a few months back. For those who dont know the odometer records the distance traveled by your car. Everything else continued to work, speed and revs gauges but the odometer just stopped (not that this was too much of an urgent matter to fix but when you do go to sell your car you may need it to get a roadworthy or whatever).

At first I was going to replace the whole instrument cluster, going for around $70 on ebay. Then I found a little kit that sold for $40 that said it would repair the problem. So i purchased one and when i received it I almost vomited. It was a little envelope with a piece of A4 paper with 4 blurry pictures and a few circles around some screws. It also had a tiny plastic gear sticky taped on it. Hardly worth $40 but if it fixed my problem I spose it would make me happy. Save me a bit on buying a whole new cluster.

So the only part that you will need is a gear. You will see the gear you will need in a moment. Im not sure where these can be purchased from but i think holden may stock them. I have been told that holden can repair this for around $80, so if you do it yourself i have saved you a bit of money. If anyone can confirm where this gear can be purchased from that would be fantastic. Sorry about the last images, i had posted to many, so you will need to copy and paste the last few...

*Before you start working on your car it is always a good idea to disconnect the negative battery lead from the terminal. This is a precaution to prevent any accidents.

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So first to remove the instrument cluster...
There are two screws which you will need to remove.

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You will need to lower the steering wheel to give you enough room to maneuver it all out. Simply pull the clip down then move the steering wheel down.

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To remove the dash holding the instrument cluster in you will need a flat blade screwdriver to pry the outer sides. They are cliped on so you will need a bit of force to pull it from the clips.

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Now you will have the dash off, you will need to disconnect the wiring from the Air Con/Demister/Hazzard Switches as well as the Lights switch. You will notice them when you try to remove the dash. They are clipped on and you can just use your fingers to unclip them (see below for another angle).




This is the dash, once it is removed.

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Now there are two screws either side of the instrument cluster. You will need to take these out (unless one of them is broken like mine).

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Remove the instrument cluster and place it face down on a piece of newspaper or old sheet to prevent scratches on the screen. There are 8 screws which can be removed using a flat blade screwdriver and 3 nuts which will need a 10mm socket.

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The odometer/speedo will come out as well as tachometer.

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In order to get good access to the gear you are trying to repair you will need to remove the small screws and needle. The needle simply pulls off.

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You will then need to remove two more screws connecting the circuit board on the end. The flat round cylinder is the motor that turns the odometer, just for general interest.

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This is the little gear that commonly causes the fault. The teeth are supposed to extend the diameter of the gear on the smaller gear. This is the one you will need to replace. It simply sits there on a small lip, so just lift it off and put on a replacement gear.

Putting it all back together is simply the reverse of removing it. Hope it helps someone out there, please let me know if you have any difficulties.


Chris

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[hako]

Excellent job kopper69....I've seen the little gearwheel for $13 but we all know it only costs a few cents to make. Again - a top post and one that will certainly add to the confidence of many Commodore owners.

[raywise]

I've just pulled my VP gauges apart to find out why my odometer is not working, and the small plastic gear is only missing 1 tooth, so I dont' think that is the problem. I can manually run the gear around in the housing and the odometer turns, maybe the drive motor is faulty. Bah, i'll have to keep trying.

Hoo Roo

[aa23]

Positively excellent post. And especially the pics explaining it all. Guess who's pul;ling their dash out next week to replace a switch, now that he's seen how easy it is?

[hako]

Raywise - one tooth missing and you have a problem. It'll work for a day or two till it stops again where the tooth is missing. The plastic that the gear wheel is made from ends up just like cheese - try digging your fingernail into it. VDO sure know a thing or two about planned obsolesence.

[Infus10n]

i suggest an admin or mod move this topic to the how-to section.

[raywise]

Raywise - one tooth missing and you have a problem. It'll work for a day or two till it stops again where the tooth is missing. The plastic that the gear wheel is made from ends up just like cheese - try digging your fingernail into it. VDO sure know a thing or two about planned obsolesence.

ah, yes. I didn't check the teeth themselves, probably are all soft and not doing the job. I'm going to pull the dash out again now and check, lol. Good thing it is easy to do. Thanks for the heads up.

Hoo Roo

[Ragg]

Have saved me so much time and money with this post .
Thanks .
Managed to track down the part from local auto elec guy Brand new $11.00
Wreckers wanted me to buy the whole spedo $220.00

[hako]

Chris - Kopper69, Just a suggestion but how about editing your excellent post on this subject by stressing the need to disconnect the battery before playing around with the dash. Someone only has to turn the ignition on to listen to their radio with the dash out and they will cause all sorts of error codes etc. Regards and again - a top post.

[bodgeydodge]

has anyone thought about the speed sensor on trans as this convert the speedo signal that is sent to cluster from mechanical to electrical in the early vn-vp there is a driven gear mounted on a steel shaft these snap off and strip teeth vr on use a magnetic pulse signal in a square wave form

[etower]

Well done kopper69... Is this the same for vp level 2 odometer

[Moylance]

My tacho seems to play up, on the highway its off but today it seemed acurate and responded correctly. (Havent been on the highway since I fixed it, so maybe its alright..

If I do find it is inaccurate may I be able to fix it by removing the dash?

[nick88]

Ey guys, how would you get the clear face off the dash to change the colour of the facia? or how would you change the facia to a different colour like some guys on here are selling? i can see how to get the dash out but after that ive got no idea
thankz

[kopper69]

nick88 you should be able to follow the pictures to see what you are doing step by step. Some of them you may need to copy and paste the link because i couldnt get that many pics on the post. Otherwise search around. Its really easy, i would advise you follow these instructions that will get you where you need.

[bazzaau]

If you live in Brisbane it can be purchased from Able Instrument Service, 10-12 Babdoyle st Loganholme, 38011232, $11, its tiny.

[bazzaau]

Just an update, I have just put the gauges back in the car and its all good. Saved me a bit cash and I got a lot of job satisfaction out of it. Feel free to ask me any questions.

[markc3012]

Only one tooth was broken off mine and it wouldnt work
I got a cog (tiny little thing) from Able Instrument Service, 10-12 Babdoyle st Loganholme, 07 38011232, $11.00...They posted it to me for $1.00..
Have just put it all back together and it works fine....thank goodness for this forum....

[habro]

Yeah i just bought mine for $6.50 off ebay. The $15 express postage I'm none too pleased about but meh - 21.50 ain't that bad seeing I didn't have to put in any effort. This tutorial will be a huge help though, thanks Kopper

[habro]

Just did it on my VP at the moment. Two things that were different to what you said;
1: if you've got a vp, the speedo/odo won't come out of the dash part, but on the side is where you'll find the odo winder and cog that needs replacing
2: i was never warned that on my test drive around my culdesac that my exhaust would break away from my muffler! i'm sure its related somehow. its a rich tapestry

by the by, great instructions

[pyro_104]

Excellent how-to Kopper69 - my lack of odometer has been bugging me for 2 years now but I wasn't going to pay Holder 120 bucks to fix it for me. Saved me over $100 doing it your way! Able Instrument Service did the goods regarding the replacement gear... easy as! Even solved my sticky fuel guage while I was in there.

I do have two questions. When putting the speedo needle back on, I assume it can be re-zeroed by just turning it anti-clockwise until it rests at zero? I did that and it seems ok...

Second question, does anyone know the legality regarding this repair? Are you actually allowed to go in and touch the odometer (even if just to fix it)? My car looks ridiculously under-kilometer'd for a 12 year old car because the odometer stopped on 79,999 km. Is there tamper evidence on the odometer to show that people have been in there (even if just to repair it)? I couldn't see anything obvious.

[kopper69]

No there is nothing to stop you winding the odometer back. However it is very illegal and not the right thing to do. No there is nothing that is evident if you do alter the reading. When putting mine back together I just made sure the needle sat on 0, havent had it tested but am fairly confident about the accuracy.

[spectre]

Thanks Chris. Excellent guide - very helpful.

[Clarrie]

kopper69,

You're a champ! Ducked over to Able Instruments at Loganholme for my $11 plastic gear yesterday and fitted it tonight. Took about an hour all up because I took my time and had a bit of trouble getting the dash facia out. The demister plug just wouldn't undo so I left it in place and swung the whole facia up out of the way.

When I tried to pull the instrument cluster out of the dash, two out of the three power plugs popped out of their mountings and stayed plugged into the rear of the cluster. If this happens to anybody don't keep pulling, just reach around and gently unplug them. Once the cluster is completely out, just snap them back into the dashboard backing shell.

I couldn't get the speedo needle off and I didn't want to break the clear plastic shaft so I left the whole speedo face in situ. I was able to use a small jeweller's phillips at an angle to get the two screws out of the side circuit board which I then lifted up to gain access to the gear and plate assembly. Only one tooth was broken off my particular gear.

Anyway, she's all back together and working fine. Thanks kopper69 (and this great site) for saving me a bucket of $$$$

Cheers!

[Max Power]

Does anybody now how much Able Instruments would charge if i got them to do it all, im lazy and couldnt be farked pulling and unscrewing shit, lol.

I was given Able's number by my mechanic to get it fixed, but havnt got around to givin em a ring yet, but if they dont charge too much i might get around to it.

[kopper69]

Max Power dont be lazy. I put a heap of effort into making this how-to guide. I made pics and everything so that a trained monkey could do it. I paid $40 to get small plastic gear and 4 blurry photos and had to do it myself without these instructions. Dont be lazy, it takes no time at all. You might even learn something. Or hell, Ill do it for ya for $50.