How-To Repair Your Broken Odometer & Tripometer

[Xenocide]

My odometer and tripometer stopped working at almost 73k miles and i was on a mission to fix it! after a little research i decided to try and fix it myself rather than buy a new cluster or send it to a shop.

here is my adventure.

1) take your cluster out just as you would to install guages, but take one extra screw out from the top AFTER you get the plastic cover off. http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/fcar/whtf1.htm

2) the cluster is in 3 different pieces, pull up on the temperature and oil part and set it aside.

3) next pull out the middle part with the speedo.

4) flip it over and note the clear blue plastic housing which holds the motor, worm drive gear, main drive gear and all other pieces of hardware.

5) remove this housing and remove worm drive gear by prying up on plastic tabs on both sides (i used flat head jewlers screw drivers) and rotate clock wise.

6) flip the odometer over so your acutual mileage is facing you and push the main drive gear out towards the bottom.

my problem was that my main drive gear shredded itself against the worm drive gear, leaving a tooth stuck in it. i removed all the teeth stuck in the worm gear and laying around in the housing and will be replacing my main drive gear. the worm drive gear seems to be in decent condition.

Ill update this thread once my gear comes and i have it installed!

EDIT: i recieved my gear, poped it in, and that was all, works just like new

Replacement gears can be purchased from: http://www.odometergears.com/subpages/ford.html

here are pictures:

Removed Odometer & Tripometer Housing

Worm Drive Gear & Motor Assembly

Shredded Main Drive Gear

 

[AutoBadges]

jeez how would that happen

 

[Xenocide]

mostly age i guess, the gear was quite brittle, possible temperatures changes affect the rigidity of the plastic.

obviously i don't know much about plastics though

 

[lane]

I see this is already a sticky. Great pics... they seem to be the most important in a writeup for this process. I can see that place getting deluged with for drive gear orders now, since this seems to be a common problem.

 

[stang_ahead]

Wow! You may have just saved me some money and a trip to the Ford dealer or mechanic. Mine went out about a month ago, and it's really been bothering me cuz I couldn't check my gas mileage. Hopefully, mine is the same problem. Thanks.

 

[Xenocide]

well update, i got my new gear poped it in, and it works GREAT! props to the guys at odometer gear!

 

[Rainmaker106]

WOW TOTALY ILLEAGLE, correct me if im wrong but i heard that you cannot mess with the odometer. only "trained professionals" can, idk maybe im wrong

 

[Munstang]

way late to respond, but i believe rainmaker is correct, becuase then wouldn't everyone change the mileage on the car?

 

[Xenocide]

i don't really check this forum anymore, but no it is not illegal. As long as the mileage is not tampered with. It is *supposed* to be installed by a professional.

What defines a professional?

either way, no the device will NOT let you roll back your mileage unless you disassemble it further than i did in this guide. There is some sort of locking mechanism inside of the rotating unit.

 

[r3d]

Were these gears located where in the odometer/tripometer housing?

And did you have to remove any needles to fix?

 

[Xenocide]

no needles were removed.

do just as you would to install white face guages (you can find guides everywhere) then take out each individual cluster. (two on each side, then speedo and tach)

it should be right behind there if my memory serves me correctly. (look at the pictures )

sorry, don't have my mustang at school

 

[Munstang]

What defines a professional?

I don't really know much about this topic, but perhaps a certified technician?

 

[r3d]

I need to recalibrate a couple of my needles so I will take the opportunity to fix the odometer/trip.

Where did you get the replacement parts?

 

[95mustang210]

WOW TOTALY ILLEAGLE, correct me if im wrong but i heard that you cannot mess with the odometer. only "trained professionals" can, idk maybe im wrong

OH NOOEZZ, lol. It is actually illegal (in some states) to not fix it, as long as you don't tamper with the mileage its perfectly legal.. heres one states law but they are all pretty much the same...http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/29-A/title29-Asec2106.pdf

 

[kllrjess]

WOW! This is a great thread, because I bought mine in 2004, with the Odometer stuck at 93,000 miles (although I didn't know that when I bought it ) and have always wanted it fixed... Thanks!

 

[LighTer97]

You think i need a new one of these? LOL

thx for this thread bro, cheap fix when u know what ur doing. i called my local Ford dealership and they price quoted the fix at $354.58. they said i had to pre-order the whole cluster through so and so and then i had to tell them my exact mileage so they could configure it for me...

 

[NMStang218]

TO OP: Did the needle stop moving completely or kinda get stuck everyonce in a while? My gauge sometimes gets stuck or moves slowly but a swift pound a fist usually fixes it for a while. Maybe I need a new gear..

 

[006]

My forum buddy "mwolson" from SVTPerformance asked me to post this for anyone that needs the info:

It's how to convert a 150mph/160mph cluster to work with a V6 mustang.

http://accutach.com/V8toV6ClusterConversion.aspx

He tried to register on here, but his conf email is not coming through.

 

[copternadley]

My odometer and tripometer stopped working at almost 73k miles and i was on a mission to fix it! after a little research i decided to try and fix it myself rather than buy a new cluster or send it to a shop.

here is my adventure.

1) take your cluster out just as you would to install guages, but take one extra screw out from the top AFTER you get the plastic cover off.

2) the cluster is in 3 different pieces, pull up on the temperature and oil part and set it aside.

3) next pull out the middle part with the speedo.

4) flip it over and note the clear blue plastic housing which holds the motor, worm drive gear, main drive gear and all other pieces of hardware.

5) remove this housing and remove worm drive gear by prying up on plastic tabs on both sides (i used flat head jewlers screw drivers) and rotate clock wise.

6) flip the odometer over so your acutual mileage is facing you and push the main drive gear out towards the bottom.

my problem was that my main drive gear shredded itself against the worm drive gear, leaving a tooth stuck in it. i removed all the teeth stuck in the worm gear and laying around in the housing and will be replacing my main drive gear. the worm drive gear seems to be in decent condition.

Ill update this thread once my gear comes and i have it installed!

EDIT: i recieved my gear, poped it in, and that was all, works just like new

very nice guide. 2 thumbs up

 

[vince317]

i was hoping this was for digital odometers

mine does this odd blinking thing, then goes black. sometimes, it comes back on on it's own. i got mad one day and flicked it with my finger and it came right on.

now, i do it every time it happens (every time i start my car) and it always comes back on.

anyone else have this issue, or can point me to a thread that talks about it?