Replaced broken odometer gears - still not working

I ran into this problem as well. After installing my odometer gear, the odometer would initially work, but after less than 1 mile, it would stop working. It turned out that I had a bad gear. One of the gears was missing a tooth, so it would stop working soon as it rolled around to the missing tooth. I contacted the company which I bought from and after some picture proof, they sent a replacement.

That is a bit of an odd situation, but worth a check. By now, you are good at taking it apart I'm sure.

You said you did a PI swap? Did you retain the same VSS sensor as the car had when you took it apart? The newer (PI) VSS sensors are different and not compatiable with the older ones as I recall.

yep, the VSS is attached to the transmission. I asked because I didn't know if you swapped the whole engine (and transmission) or heads.

The speedo gear set is pretty sensitive. As I recall, there was a tiny motor to operate the odometer seperately from the speedo and that's what the worm gear mounts to. Make sure you plugged the motor back in? Did you get the driven gear set firmly in place? It is a tight fit and pops in roughly. You can try rotating the gear train before putting that motor back in. It should be smooth.

odometer fix

Saw your post. Interested in outcome. I'm next.... Never took gauges out of car before, a little scared!
Thanks

ibileaux said:

Saw your post. Interested in outcome. I'm next.... Never took gauges out of car before, a little scared!
Thanks

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Gauges are a piece of cake to take out on our cars. I have a little newer mustang but its really similar inside and would guess its close to mine there as well. Take the headlight knob off, 2 screws on the underside of the bezel/dashpad and then that front piece will pop out. Then it is 4 screws and pop the 2 wires off the back and it should come right out and allow you to work on the cluster outside the car. On the newer cars its recommended that you disconnect the battery but I don't think you would have to do that since its gear driven and not digital.

1987stangman:

Warning, warning: be careful when you remove the VSS from the tansmission and when you put it back in. It is held on by a single small bolt. Don't lose the bolt and don't overtighten it when replacing the VSS (and take care when putting it back in - don't force it).

OK, now let's get to the next part. You can check the VSS output with a multimeter. It puts out AC voltage (yes, it's true). Spin it with a drill (slow speed and see if you get any voltage. Next, plug the VSS into the harness and run the drill while watching the speedo-odo in the car with the key turned to the ON position (dash lights on but engine not running). If all is well, both should be working. If they don't move then you have to take the cluster out again. Make sure that the speedo needle is not dragging on the face of the cluster. Don't push on the needle and don't move it with your finger. You just want to make sure that there is daylight between the needle tip and the plastic face with the numbers on it. If it is touching, you can use a salad fork to move the needle us JUST A TINY BIT on the speedo motor shaft. This is a very delicate operation so take your time and don't make like the Incredible Hulk.

HTH,

Chris

1987stangman:

Thanks for the update!

Glad to hear all is well.

Chris

1987stangman said:

Yea, as dumb as it sounds, it's really nice to have it working again.

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Hey. How easy is it to replace this odometer motor? I have a 95 mustang and really don't want to pay a mechanic if I can do it on my own.