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, Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:52:20
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Just fixed mine in the '80 900t. Things to know:
It's good to have a spare instrument cluster to take apart first. Go through it and get used to the potential problems. You may also need a couple of parts for yours. Keep in mind, parts get brittle after so many years, so it's good to take pictures as you go in case something falls off or you forget where something goes.
Before taking it out of the dash, know that there are two cables on the back of the speedo. One is the speedo cable itself. The other is a cable that hooks to the back of the odo that connects to an exhaust light of some kind in the dash. It's not necessary to hook back up later, in fact, you can leave it out completely and will not notice any difference. Just make sure you know it is there as you are taking it out so it doesn't damage anything on the way out.
Take the cluster out of the dash and set it face down. Remove the screws from the back and separate the three main parts. Be careful of the circuit sheets - they can tear.
Possibly the most difficult part is removing the speedometer needle. With thin needle-nose pliers, grasp the center of the shaft (not the upper orange plastic part of the needle or the black circular part underneath, but the metal shaft underneath that). If you do it right, it will slide off with some force. Prop the needle nose pliers off the faceplate with a rolled up piece of cloth or something so that you can pry it up as you squeeze. Be careful not to push down on the faceplate above the screws that are below the faceplate or they will leave indentations (you can see them underneath before you start prying). Also before prying it off, lift the speedo needle over the stop and take a picture of where it rests. You will need this to set it correctly when you put it back together.
After you get it off, take out the two small flat-head screws and lift off the faceplate. Once in there, there are two halves to the speedo/odo. Take out the necessary screws and remove this slowly, taking note of how everything is. On the back of the odo is a curcular thing it fits into that has a gummy surface and a female end in the center of it. There is a very small needle that fits into it that you will see on the back of the odometer. This has to fit in perfectly when you put the two halves back together, so make note of that as well. If you do not put these back together correctly, then the speedo needle will not spring back. If you find this to be the case once everything is back together, then take that back apart and fit it in correctly. It should work.
Once the odo is apart, you will see gears all over. As you look at the back side, there are two gears on the left side of the odo shaft. One is a cork-screw gear that is pretty solid. The one on the inside of that is the most common to break or go loose. If it spins loosely on the shaft, it is your culprit. They commonly split in half, lose gears, or just loosen. Common cause is resetting the trip odometer while the car is moving. If it catches when the gears are on top of each other, or if it causes binding, it can split that gear and the odo stops.
To fix: slide the outer corkscrew gear off and then slide off the broken gear. Replace it or superglue it with the runny, liquid superglue. Before you put it back on, put some superglue on the shaft. Once it is back on, slide the outer gear on over some more superglue. Once it dries, you can it all back together making sure to slide the needle in correctly to the gummy backside, and the speedo needle slide back on pointing in the right direction. Make sure it springs back, or you will have to line up that back-end needle again.
Try it out and it should work.
posted by 66.118.206...
, Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:52:20
, Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:40:11
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