Fix Your Broken Odometer

[Lost_Pete]

Following on from this great thread about fixing your odometer;

Broken Odometer

You can buy the gear which normally breaks from;

Able Instrument Sales & Service
6/ 10 -12 Babdoyle St Loganholme QLD 4129
(07) 3801 1232

Cost $11 + about $2 postage

Here is the VN version.

1. Clear a table and find a small box and some padding or newspaper.
2. Check the instrument panel at night and see if any bulbs, including warning lights, need replacing.
3. Disconnect the battery (I don't think this is really necessary but for safety).
4. Remove the 4 screws shown holding the dash surround and wiper and lights switch banks.
5. Pull the surround away from the dash.
6. Disconnect the wiring harness to both sides of the surround. I had two on the left and three on the right.
7. Remove the surround
8. Undo the two screws shown holding the instrument panel to the dash.
9. Carefully remove the instrument panel from the dash. It is a bit of a squeeze but can be done.
10. Lay the instrument panel across the box. This is so you don’t apply too much pressure on the “Reset” button and face.
11. Remove the flat connector as shown.
12. Undo the 8 screws as shown.
13. Unclip the two top clips and separate the front cover from the instrument panel.
14. Loosen the 4 nuts as shown. Do not remove the nuts.
15. Turn the instrument panel over and slide out the two long thin plastic pieces that hide the join between the fuel, temperature and speedo.
16. Carefully pull out the speedo. I recommend you avoid pulling on any needles and avoid touching the matt black faces.
17. Turn the speedo on its side and find the two screws holding the motor in place.
18. Remove the two screws as shown note that the picture shows the screws already removed. One of the screws is difficult to get to but if you have a short right angle screwdriver you should be okay.
19. Carefully pull the PCB and motor up and to one side. There are some wires connected to the PCB so don’t pull too hard.
20. You will see the gears. Remove the gears and replace the broken gear.
21. Reassemble by working back the way you came.
22. While it is all apart you might as well resolder the voltage regulator as described in this thread;
Solution to Sticky fuel/temp guages
23. Change any bulbs that need changing or maybe just change them anyway. Clean all the bits.
24. Refit to dash.

[VPioneer]

Nice thead!
But where do you buy the gear from? The other guy said it cost him $40? wtf?
Where did you get yours from mate?

Thanks, Ryan.

[jas98]

me dad ended up (after a long time seching for one) being told that the ford EA speedos use the same cog....so we ended up getting that and it is the same cog as the vn's use

cost 20 bucks though

[VPioneer]

so you bought it from ford?

Thanks, Ryan.

[jas98]

so you bought it from ford?

Thanks, Ryan.

well me dad did for me mums vn but thats cause that was the only place we could get it from as holden said they dont sell!!!!...........but i dont know where "TurboXS (Pete)" got his from

but if u ring ford and ask them how much a ea falcon speedo cog thing is the should know what u are talking about (should lol it is ford however jks)

cheers

[J_D]

For those playing in QLD you can pick up the cog from Able Instruments at Loganholme for about $11.

[Lost_Pete]

Call

Able Instrument Sales & Service
6/ 10 -12 Babdoyle St Loganholme QLD 4129
(07) 3801 1232

Cost $11 + about $2 postage

[VP-Matty]

Thanks TurboXS and kopper69,

Great threads.

Resoldered my voltage regulator and have ordered the new gear.

I am assuming this will fix my two problems.

Cheers,
Matty

[VT-565]

I swapped out the "we'll-give-you-a-huge-bloody-fuel-gauge-and-no-tacho" instrument cluster in my old VG ute for one with a tach in it. The guy I bought it off of said the original lubricant that was used on the sprocket actually made the plastic brittle and caused breakages. This may be true, may not be. Another useless bit of information for the day

[88GreenVN]

Any places in SA to get this little gear?

[Lost_Pete]

Able in Queensland mail out the part pretty quickly, just call them.

There was talk about Ford selling the same part. It looks like it was a common part in a number of cars around that era that used VDO instruments. In fact I changed the same part in a 1991 N14 Pulsar not too long ago.

[jas98]

yeh ford sells them but holden dont (in my town) but yeh kinnda sad me and me dad going into ford to buy a cog for a vn speedo and holen dont sell them for the cars they sold! lol

infact i ahd to replace mine the otehr day as it decided to stop....found teh cog missing 1 tooth but what got me was the cog was soooooooooooo soft i could just flaten the cogs with the slightes pressure

[MyVPIsFasterThanYourVP]

its true!!! i drove to loganholme tody, and bought a cog for $11
Colin

[jgrock2020]

great post turbo XS(Pete) ,one Question= when it comes time to get car inspected for rego ,could the mechanic fail the car for having a non working odometer?
otherwise a very good and pratical post that I can follow
cheers

[88GreenVN]

great post turbo XS(Pete) ,one Question= when it comes time to get car inspected for rego ,could the mechanic fail the car for having a non working odometer?
otherwise a very good and pratical post that I can follow
cheers

Yep - I think it's a road worthy fail.

[hoxygt]

NOTE: The utes use a different gear. Its a smaller 9 (odd) mm little blue gear. Were bloody hard to find until I found this thread and had instant success with;

Able Instrument Sales & Service
6/ 10 -12 Babdoyle St Loganholme QLD 4129
(07) 3801 1232

Thanks a lot crew - champions

[Lost_Pete]

Not sure how it would apply to a private person;

MOTOR DEALERS ACT 1974 - SECT 47A
Odometer offences
47A Odometer offences

(1) A person shall not interfere with the odometer of a motor vehicle.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units.

(1A) A person must not fit to a motor vehicle a device capable of rendering the odometer of the motor vehicle inoperative or inaccurate.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person interferes with an odometer if the person:

(a) alters the reading on the odometer,

(b) removes or replaces the odometer, or

(c) renders the odometer inoperative or inaccurate by any means whatsoever.

(3) A person may, with the written approval of the Director-General or of a prescribed person or a person of a prescribed class or description, alter the reading on an odometer, or replace an odometer, in accordance with the terms of that approval.

(4) If in proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) it is proved that the defendant had possession of the motor vehicle and that, during the time it was in the possession of the defendant, or shortly after the time it ceased to be in the possession of the defendant, the odometer reading was less than the odometer reading at the time the defendant acquired possession of the vehicle, it shall be presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the defendant interfered with the odometer of the vehicle.

(5) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove:

(a) that the action was not taken by the defendant with the intent of enhancing the apparent value of the motor vehicle for the purpose of sale, and

(b) that the action was not taken by the defendant for any other fraudulent purpose.

[spoonfork]

I live in Sydney and ordered the part from "Able Instruments (QLD)" over the phone. It came in three days via Oz Post. I fitted it and also resoldered the Voltage regulator to fix the "sticky Fuel gauge" problem plus replaced a dead bulb for the Rear Window De-fogger indicator. So managed to sort three problems out in one hit. Really happy now!

Thankyou!

[White89VN]

This thread saved me alot of hassles. It should be a sticky thread listed at the start of the posts.

I tried to ger the cog from a Ford dealer but the 1st one i called could only find a 23 tooth cog for a EA not a 25 tooth that we need.

The 2nd dealer I called said that all the cogs in the speedo for the EA are no longer available from Ford.

I ended up getting the cog from Able in QLD installed it and it is all good.

The only prob I had was the plastic the motor screws into was brittle and started to break away. One of the screws would not tighten so I needed to find a longer one to solve the prob.

Awsome thread

[vpchaser]

Thanks for posting this one up, VP just had it's ODO die = bugga . Looks to be a straight forward job that takes only a couple of hours.

Damn cars !!!!



A

[Super_Low 91]

another lil thing that i learnt .,. only press the set button to reset the trip meter when the car is stationary, never press it while the car is moving can also cause the gears to break.

[rojumena]

Lost_Pete

Thanks for the great help. Pics were extremely helpful.
Minor gliches experienced:
first with removing the panel because mine is an Executive with column gears. Had to release the nuts clamping the ignition etc and slide that out of the way.
second was removing the ribbon cable - almost damaged it...
Assembly and test worked out ok.

Thanks mate.

[chook69]

Not sure how it would apply to a private person;

MOTOR DEALERS ACT 1974 - SECT 47A
Odometer offences
47A Odometer offences

(1) A person shall not interfere with the odometer of a motor vehicle.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units.

(1A) A person must not fit to a motor vehicle a device capable of rendering the odometer of the motor vehicle inoperative or inaccurate.

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person interferes with an odometer if the person:

(a) alters the reading on the odometer,

(b) removes or replaces the odometer, or

(c) renders the odometer inoperative or inaccurate by any means whatsoever.

(3) A person may, with the written approval of the Director-General or of a prescribed person or a person of a prescribed class or description, alter the reading on an odometer, or replace an odometer, in accordance with the terms of that approval.

(4) If in proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) it is proved that the defendant had possession of the motor vehicle and that, during the time it was in the possession of the defendant, or shortly after the time it ceased to be in the possession of the defendant, the odometer reading was less than the odometer reading at the time the defendant acquired possession of the vehicle, it shall be presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the defendant interfered with the odometer of the vehicle.

(5) In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) it shall be a defence for the defendant to prove:

(a) that the action was not taken by the defendant with the intent of enhancing the apparent value of the motor vehicle for the purpose of sale, and

(b) that the action was not taken by the defendant for any other fraudulent purpose.

ok guys an thanks for that 88green... if you not aloud to fix the ODO your self, then i think ill take it to a place that can.. tho its pritty simple to do, i just done it on a wreck at a wreckers just to find out haw its done,, but that odo cog was ****ed aswell lol... so when me VN comes back from my mechanics from being tuned an stuff, i will rip the cluster out an repair the ODO..

thanx guys....

[Panda01]

Just letting you all know, I called Able instrument Sales and Service and their price has gone up to $15.90 plus GST. Still worth it as far as I'm concerned.

[bogan4life]

anybody on the goldcoast looking for the small cog bit to fix there broken odometer i found it here for $10!took me 30mins to fix!! my first time doing it following instructions above!

goodluck :

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