safulop

One of their claims to fame at Palo Alto Speedo is "OEM parts for VDO instruments". I spoke to the tech on the phone and he was quite specific about preferring the "original gears" for these odos, and told me that they would never have installed the aftermarket one in the first place had I not supplied it to them.

So I'm not sure who's on first, but I think my odometer is working again.

SeanR

LOL, hope they took pictures of the one they put in. I'm betting they left the one that everyone else in the world is using, in there and just charged you more. The OEM one is what causes all the issues to start with.

safulop

They do these all the time, so, I suspect they know what will work. Now you're guessing that some shop you don't know is lying to me about a $5 gear? That'd be strange, for sure.

SeanR

It's not really guessing when you've done close to as many clusters for the 928 as they have. Hell, I've done two already this week. And yes, i've used Palo Alto many times for other things so I know them well, they do good work.

safulop

I picked up the car today and the console and odometer is definitely in good order now. On the phone the tech said that he found the aftermarket gears to be noisy in these clusters, so he changed it out for the other kind. What do I know, it turns and it's quiet and I just hope my console can stay attached to the dashboard for the next several years. Getting tired of having it sent over there. Thanks for your thoughts and advice.

Bill Ball

I saw exactly the same problem in an 87 I worked on. I replaced the gear, but the odo still did not work. I shimmed the number wheel shaft with a tiny thin washer and it has worked fine since. I believe Dwayne covers this in his tome.

SeanR

Just to add to the database of information. Here's one I'm doing today, the odo had not quit yet but was on the way, as you can see from the debris on the black gear, the OEM one is letting go. These bits that fall off of it end up in the worm gear, number clickers and jam up the works. You need to get all of them out. This one is on an 86.5 with 57k on the odo.

The green gear is the replacement and these don't make any noise, thought that was amusing.

As Bill also said, sometimes the numbers get loosened up and start to jam so check for alignment. You can roll the numbers around by hand to test it out, if you feel any restriction, bet on it not working at a later date.

Just things to ponder.