Odometer gear...'94 850

Tiny little bugger for $40 isn't it?

Are there any tricks or short cuts beside the Haynes manual
instruction for getting the cluster out?
Ron/Champ 6

1963 8E5 Champ (Champ 6)
1962 Lark Daytona Convertible (Boomerang)
1995 VW Passat (Vanilla..yuk)
1994 Volvo 850 (Tilley)
1973 Volvo 1800 ES (An Clar)

 

I just changed it on my 95, and if I can
blunder through it, I suspect most anyone can.
I removed the entire dash top, a bit more time
but well worth. Here are the notes I collected
before I started -- I didn't have a Haynes manual,
just googled and asked here. Good luck!


http://www.volvospeed.com/Dashremove.php

1. Remove the entire dash top. It takes about 20 minutes longer, but
saves a huge amount of struggle and potential damage compared to the
alternative of prying up the left end of the dash and forcing the
panel out through a tiny gap:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/Topless.jpg
Remove the two green connectors and the hose (The hose L-connector
pulls off with a bit of twisting)
NOTE: This requires disconnecting the airbag, Disconnect battery and
follow proper procedures for handling this explosive device)

2. Remove these screws and the nut around the boost gauge fitting.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/PanelBack.jpg

3. Remove the front housing. You can then gently pry off the dial
faceplate using a flat stick of wood It's a tight friction fit, with
plastic guides and the contact pins. There are no "hooks"
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/PanelSplit.jpg
The odoometer just lifts out. Remove the reset pluger to avoid
breaking it.

4. Two screws removes the motor from the right side, revealing the
broken gear:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/ODOgear.jpg

5. Install the gear you got from odometergears.com before starting
this process. The one in back was cast in a flexible mold, and was
unusable, I waited until he got his molding machine fixed, and sent
me the one of the left. Still not perfect, but it works. If I had
to do it again, I'd add a thin washer behind it to replace the raised
boss on the original (amber) gear.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/gears3.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/InstalledGear.jpg

Put it all back together. The airbag bolts above the glovebox have a
specific torque requirement.


If you think you might have to drive the car with the dash off, get a
2.5 ohm, 1/4 watt resistor and stick it's leads in the airbag cable
pin holes. This will make the controller think the detonator is still
connected so it won't generate an airbag fault. Tape it up to keep it
from shorting to the chassis.
I drove mine this way for two weeks while waiting for the new gear.
Also, keep track of what screws go where.


The torque is 5.2 ft-lbs.
The removal pages form the SRS service manual are here:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/DashTop.jpg

 

and one more thing I forgot -- most of the screws
holding things together are T-25 and T-10's, but there
a few smaller ones that I think are T-8's on the
instruments cluster.

 

I took some photos when I did mine:
Yep.. And, if anyone wants to see some photos:

First, after a big struggle getting the cluster out while bending the
right half of the dash up, I removed the glovebox, a few more screws,
the right speaker, and the airbag calbe and bolts. then lifted the
whole dash out. A 2.2 ohm resistor in the airbag connector keeps the
controller from posting an ignitor fault:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/Topless.jpg

Back of the cluster. To get the front window section off, remove the
screws indicated, as well as the nut around the boost gauge stem.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/PanelBack.jpg

Front view. The dial plate is clear acrylic, about 1/4" thick, Just
pry it offm working around the edge. It unplugs from the board in
back
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/PanelFront.jpg

Open view: The pins on the instrument actuators plug into the board.
Reassembly involves pusing the panel back on, taking care to avoid
fingerprints on the flat black surface.
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/PanelSplit.jpg

The odometer is, located by a couple of pins in holes. A 2-wire
connector links it's motor to the board. Just lift out and unplug.

I removed the motor from the odometer's right side and found this:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/ODOgear.jpg

Also, the location of the screws and bolts for the dash top:
http://webpages.charter.net/dwarner2/DashTop.jpg




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Why, oh why, did I wait so long to fix this? I bought the gear in May,
and only put it in today.

It's really not a bad job, much easier than I expected. I was planning
for a 3-4 hour job, but was done in 45 minutes! So I changed the oil
(who knows how many miles..(maybe 4000 or so?), rotated the tires,
decided the clunk in front is the sway bar end links, ordered them,
had a beer (or two, or more) and still was done in less than my
planned time, so started back on the brakes on the 1800 ES!

Gotta go, it's time to walk ( no driving tonight!) to the local
brew-pub for a good porter, some pizza, and a movie...and AIR
CONDITIONING!

Ron

Ron/Champ 6

1963 8E5 Champ (Champ 6)
1962 Lark Daytona Convertible On eBay now...(Boomerang)
1995 VW Passat (Vanilla..yuk)
1994 Volvo 850 (Tilley)
1973 Volvo 1800 ES (Hyacinth Bucket)