Odometer fix

[Beddo88]

Found this online:

http://www.vintagewatercooleds.com/tech ... ometer.htm

So far removed my clocks, stripped them down and *hopefully* fixed the odometer sticking problem. Will find out tmoz when i put them back in! Very quick way of accessing the innerds of the clocks, got them out in like 10 mins if that.

Mine didnt have a seperate electrical feed though, and its worth nothing that the bulb holders twist to remove.

Dunno if this will be of help to anyone else, but it was a great help to me!

All 3 of my bulbs have failed, so i'll be picking up some new ones tmoz. Out of interest, does anyone know of the legalities of driving without clocks in?

Dan

[DT1]

Out of interest, does anyone know of the legalities of driving without clocks in?

Dan

To be succinct, it isn't legal.

[ianaudia4]

The clock bulbs are available from VW still, renewed all mine in the Scala.

[the edmundator]

It isn't...

Yes, they aren't part of the MoT, so they aren't necessary. You just have to be good at knowing how fast you're going and when you're likely to run out of petrol. And confident that your cooling system is working properly.

[DT1]

Doesn't matter about the MOT, it's an offence to drive a car without a working speedo if it was originally fitted with one. I assume that's the only one he was asking about.

[the edmundator]

How do they define working, I wonder? Most cars have a non-working speedo from the factory, since they are generally inaccurate. And if you've made it more inaccurate by altering the rolling radius of your wheels, then you essentially have a non-working speedo.

Nonetheless, I stand corrected, you do need something that tells you a speed at which you might, or might not, be travelling, if such a device was originally fitted to your vehicle:

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q601.htm

[DT1]

I think that you would probably get pulled for speeding since you don't know how fast you are going. It's unlikely that non-working speedos would be noticed when you are stationery.

You can always claim that they just failed on the journey that you are on, but if you don't actually have them fitted I don't think that argument will work.

[Nate]

whilst you can get done under the construction and use regs for not having a speedo, would sticking a satnav with speed display get you round this?

[the edmundator]

Technically it would be a speedo, though I think the law would argue that it has to be a fixed part of your car. After all, you're perfectly entitled to fit a different type of speedo (such as a digital display in place of analogue clocks).

[Beddo88]

I was just about to mention the satnav. To be honest, i use that as my speed base anyway as the speedo is soo far out.

"However, if the speedometer develops a fault whilst being used or a defect has been discovered then all steps must be taken to rectify the fault with reasonable expedition. This exception applies only when the defect develops and must be repaired before the next journey." Taken from the site posted.

So, from that i'm taking that it wouldnt be justifable to make a journey to get hold of the parts to fix it, although for someone with only one car that could leave a tad stuck!

[Beddo88]

Just refitted it and been for a test drive.

TERRIBLE IDEA. The odometer STILL doesnt work, and the speedo is now more out than ever. :( On the plus side, the three bulbs should now work! Gotta find the positives..

Anyone know roughly how much a new/second hand odometer costs? And any way of testing one to check it works?

[MikeH]

Thread revival !!

I stripped the clocks down from my '86 GTX last night, to investigate why the Odometer keeps sticking, works for a bit, and then sticks again.

The guide from Vintage Watercooleds was handy for getting them apart, but I did some testing before full reassembly and it hasn't worked. If I turn the little red gear at one end of the clocks cassette, the other end sometimes turns, and sometimes doesnt - I guess something is broken inside the trip meter, as when I take out the little gear that connects the odometer to the trip meter, it seems to work ok. I've gone a bit further than the FAQ

Has anyone tried pulling these odometer cassettes apart? I'm thinking I'll just try replacing it with a unit from a spare set of clocks, and adjust the mileage to the 180k that the car reads. Interestingly, if it's done 180k with a partially working odometer.... what's the REAL mileage??

Any ideas on pulling these apart?

[Beddo88]

I was pretty close to using a hammer. Gave up in the end, all i managed to do was get my speedo reading further out than it was. Gunna get myself a new one at some point!

Should mention i also tried the 'fix' as can be seen quite unsuccesfully. Mine worked a little bit while it was out of the car, and could read occasinally going up. Now the most it'll read is 0.1 very rarely 0.3 of a mile and it stops. :(

I remember looking at the clocks and thinking it looked like an absolute mission to open it up. However, if you do find a method for opening her up, do spread the word! :)

[MikeH]

The 'fix' doesn't make any sense - lube on one gear that isn't under any great strain. However the link was useful in getting the clocks apart. Swapping the odometer part worked for me - speedo reads a bit high now - putting the needle back in the right place is tricky - not sure how to do that right. Trial and error is a pretty slow process too. Might try leaving the speedo face loose, refit the needle, then refit the face to counteract the spring loading. Any idea how to set the needle properly?

Mine reads 20% over now - at town speeds anyway. Didn't do a long test drive as it was near midnight.

[Beddo88]

Mine reads about 20% under at 30. and is roughly spot on at 70. I tried loosely putting the needle on, twisting it back slightly(to get some tension on the spring) then pushing the needle on more firmly. But.. as you said, isnt an exact science!

So did you try swapping out the little red gear? Did that fix the problem? Or was it another part you replaced?