Van Conversion Odometer
Yaabob
still works. Anyone have an idea?
Bob
Elliot Richmond
>On My 91 Dodge Van Conversion the odometer stopped working but the speedometer
>still works. Anyone have an idea?
In that age vehicle, the speedometer is most likely mechanical. An
armored cable from the transmission runs up to the back of the
speedometer. Inside the armor sheath is a cable that rapidly rotates,
driven by a worm gear in the transmission. This rotating cable causes
a magnet to spin inside a spring loaded cylinder, which is dragged
around by the magnet. The faster the cable and magnet rotate, the
further the cylinder moves. the speedometer needle is attached to the
cylinder.
There is also a worm gear attached to the top of the cable that
operates a series of other gears and pawls that rotate the odometer
wheels. One of these gears is probably broken or the worm has simply
worn out. That can easily happen after, what, 200,000 miles?
The unit is probably unrepairable. The onl;y solution is to by a new
speedometer head (if one is available) or hit the junk yards. If you
are mechanically adept, you can replace it yourself, but it is a
complex and tricky job. Replacing the speedometer unit is fairly easy,
but getting to it is a *#$&!. A professional mechanic will probably do
it for a couple of hundred dollars plus parts.
Elliot Richmond
Freelance Science Writer and Editor
Jeff Deeney
that sent a new speedo for my Windstar. Tell them the miles you
want on the odo & they'll set it up for you.
-Jeff Deeney-
GBinNC
wrote:
>Do a web search on speedometer rebuilders. I found one in Texas
>that sent a new speedo for my Windstar. Tell them the miles you
>want on the odo & they'll set it up for you.
The odometer on my old '82 Vanagon camper quit working once, for about
a year. I keep records of gas purchased, so I know how far I'd driven
while it was broken.
One day I finally decided to fix it. I removed it, completely
disassembled it, fixed the problem (don't remember now exactly what
had happened, but it was easy to fix once I got in there), reset the
odometer to the correct numbers, and reassembled it and stuck it back
in. It was tedious but not difficult.
It was still working fine some years later when I got rid of it.
GB in NC
Jeff Deeney
"GBinNC" <GBi...@yahoooo.com> wrote in message
news:dhrb4017tmufqqu1q...@4ax.com...
> One day I finally decided to fix it. I removed it, completely
> disassembled it, fixed the problem (don't remember now exactly what
> had happened, but it was easy to fix once I got in there), reset the
> odometer to the correct numbers, and reassembled it and stuck it back
> in. It was tedious but not difficult.
Yes, it's not rocket surgery. Once you've got the speedo out, it's
pretty easy to see what makes the odo work. On my Windstar,
the main speedo bushing was shot, causing the needle to bounce
up and down. Since bushings were not available (Ford would only
sell the entire instrument cluster for $600), I went with a rebuilt
speedo unit I found on Ebay. I believe it was around $100.
-Jeff Deeney-
Neon John
<xmric...@xaustin.xrr.xcom> wrote:
>The unit is probably unrepairable. The onl;y solution is to by a new
>speedometer head (if one is available) or hit the junk yards. If you
>are mechanically adept, you can replace it yourself, but it is a
>complex and tricky job. Replacing the speedometer unit is fairly easy,
>but getting to it is a *#$&!. A professional mechanic will probably do
>it for a couple of hundred dollars plus parts.
This is not correct. There are many speedo rebuild shops around and the
prices are quite reasonable. there is a huge one in Atlanta (called "speedo
shop, interestingly enough.) There are several on the internet. For depot
repair (delivering the speedo mechanism to the shop) I wouldn't expect to pay
more than about $50 or so for repair and recalibration. Most mechanical
speedos more than about 10 years old read a bit low, caused by the magnet
slowly losing its magnetism. Part of the calibration is recharging the magnet
and then slowly draining some charge via a small degausser until the thing
indicates correctly.
Repairing a speedo is very simple, particularly if the problem is in the
odometer. I've only rarely seen odometer failures in otherwise functioning
units. In those, it is almost always the coupling gear falling out of place.
Very very rarely a stripped gear.
Personally, I'd just send the mechanism to a repair depot. Most of the work
is getting it in and out. Might as well get a calibration while you're at it.
John
---
John De Armond
johngdDO...@bellsouth.net
http://bellsouthpwp.net/j/o/johngd/
Cleveland, Occupied TN
Jon Porter
news:3P6dnV742IO...@comcast.com...
> Do a web search on speedometer rebuilders. I found one in Texas
> that sent a new speedo for my Windstar. Tell them the miles you
> want on the odo & they'll set it up for you.
Shops in my area won't do that, they'll only set the repaired odometer to
zero and affix a tag to the vehicle stating the odometer has been reset.