Date:         Sat, 20 May 2006 12:11:07 -0700
Reply-To:     Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
Subject:      Re: Speedometer Ok -Odometer and trip meter dead!?
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=response

> On the Vanagon odo I have in front of me, the bridge gear disengages the
> 1/10 th gear well before the mechanism to reverse all the wheels to zero
> engages. If I slightly push and hold the rest button I can freely spin
> all the digit positions of the trip meter to whatever numbers I want. I
> need to push it in about 3 times as far if I want to reset them all to
> zero.

Ok. On mine, by the time I've pushed the button in far enough to completely
clear the gears, the lever is already well into the path of the cam on the
wheel. I can see this best by holding the odo assembly flat with the button
pointing down by my left thumb so that I'm looking at the wheels on end,
with the drive gear on the right and towards me. Even with it pressed only
far enough that the small gear teeth are 'clicking' on the wheels, the lever
is into the path of the cam. I can see this clearly by leaving the lever
where it was when it was touching the tall point on the cam- when I continue
to turn the wheel I can see it turn the gears and hear the clicking. The
difference in travel on the button is almost nil.

> As to your theory that something could bind the 10ths gear to it's
> neighbor even after the bridge gear has withdrawn, I suppose it could.
> Seems unlikely unless someone has sprayed or dripped something in there
> that they shouldn't have.

Don't see anything at all. In fact, I was prepared for a mess when I pulled
the cluster from what other folks had posted, and I was surprised how clean
it all was, especially with the kind of dust we get here. It's gotten
dustier sitting on my shelf than it did with 19 years in the van. I don't
think it's been replaced either, both because the various PO's records
didn't say so and from observing the overall state of the dash interior.
Anyway, there's no clearance to speak of between the trip drive gear and the
tenths gear. I'm not about to pull them apart so I'll just have to live with
the mystery, but I definately felt something catching in there.

> None of the 3 versions of 7 VDO Vanagon speedo instruments I just looked
> at have a pot metal gear visible. The failure prone gear is the plastic
> one external to and on the input shaft of the main odometer. These tend
> to crack and then lose their friction hold on the shaft. I have seen
> some that slipped laterally out of position without any apparent crack.

The grey pot metal gear on mine is on the shaft at the end of the mileage
wheels opposite the main drive gear that you're talking about. I bit it- it
is metal. It was a press fit that slipped, apparently and several people
have had this problem because I read about it a number of times in the
archives. I also read about the main gear problem, and sometimes both at one
time.

> I push my reset buttons while moving any time I feel the need.

I usually reset a trip odo when I get gas. In this case I forgot until I was
half-way down the street (gas station is at the other end of the street from
my house) and I pushed it in doing about 25 mph. I was looking right at it
when it died, I faintly heard some clicking and I felt sort of a jump in the
button. It hasn't moved since. It turns normally maybe 50% of the time when
I move it by hand but the metal gear slips the rest of the time

There's a number ( 81 152 027  2 ) across the top of the thing, but no other
markings. From your description I wonder if there several versions of this
thing and perhaps one of them is more prone to this failure than the others.
Perhaps I should send you some pictures (later- got stuff to do).

Cya,
Robert