I went through this with my 88 GL. Did a teardown on the Speedo several times. Even built a device to prevent that shaft from slipping out. Tried fastening the potmetal gear to the drive shaft. Nothing worked for more than a few days. Finally bought a new one from Camelback VW. - $180. I'm happy now. No more problems ..... until the next time.

The alternative to buying new is to find on the Net a source to have them rebuilt, or adapt a later VW speedo to do the job.

Good luck

John Rodgers 88 GL Driver

Don in North Carolina wrote:

> Listee's, > > I need to add some data to my original post that I should have given > in the > beginning. When I got the van (for free - thanks Chamilka!) the odometer > and trip meter did not work, but the speedometer did - with no noise. I > removed the speedometer, and found that the right hand side of the > odometer > had pulled out of it's support (the worm gear had pulled the straight > gear > and shaft to the left). > > To many of you, this should sound strangely familiar... > > So I lined the odometer shaft back up, and pushed it back into place. As > many here will testify, this is a temporary fix at best, as it just pops > back out later. I was hoping for it to work long enough to get it > inspected, and then send it off for a proper repair. It seems now > that the > straight gear is spinning on the shaft, and is no longer driving the > odometer - this is causing the noise. > > I want to thank all that responded to me with suggestions of > checking/lubing > the cable, and lubing the speedometer. What I really need now is a > speedometer with ~140K on it (that works - mileage needs to be around > that > number for the paperwork) so I can put it in for inspection and use > while my > speedometer is getting repaired. If you have one that you will loan for > awhile, that would be excellent! > > Again, my thanks to all that responded in p-mail to me. And a big > Merry-Happy to you all!! > > Don in Reidsville, NC > 1987 Vanagon GL Syncro (Suzie) > 1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia) > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Don in North Carolina" <Don_Dixon@bellsouth.net> > To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> > Sent: Tue 21 December 2004 20:13 > Subject: Need speedometer for '88 > > >> Listee's, >> >> I need a speedometer for my 1988 GL. Tonight it started making a >> horrific >> noise. I have disconnected the cable for now, but I'm looking for a >> good >> used speedometer with ~140K on it (I have 137K on mine now). This is >> for >> a 2WD van, speedo number (above the reset button) 805. >> >> TIA, >> Don in Reidsville, NC >> 1987 Vanagon GL Syncro (Suzie) Soon for sale! >> 1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia) > > >