my '93 odometer isnt working either

dear to whoever reads and replies to this: hi i have a '93 sl2 and my odometer quit working the other day and i see what your saying about getting the drive gear but how do you put it in the dashboard panel?

Thanks

Reply to
mattsutt1232
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Reply to
BläBlä

My brother replaced the odo gear on our '93 SL1, worked for awhile, then intermittently fails, oh well. They are tough to get to and tougher to keep reliable, it was a "feature" of 1st gen Saturns. There are a few places online to buy this gear cheap too.

Reply to
marx404

Just out of curiosity, is the gear that is failing in the speedometer/odometer or transmission? I am trying to understand what is failing and possible causes. Is there something that is binding that causes the gear theeth to strip? Is there a worn bushing that is causing the gears to not mesh properly? In other (old school) speedos, there was a plastic gear in the transaxle that drove the speedo flex cable and in turn screwed into the speedo indicator on the instrument panel. I saw a few flex cables over the years that were either worn or needed lube to keep them from making noise and eventually binding that chewed up the plastic gear in the transaxle. Saw a few speedometer units also in the instrument panel that the input shaft started to stick and needed to be re-lubed. I never had to open up a speedo unit to fix anything inside. If you do open one - be careful not to get any iron debris inside. there is a very tight clearance between the iron bell driven by the speedo cable and the driven magnet. Iron filings or any ferromagnetic debris will get sucked into the magnet and mess things up. I use automatic transmission fluid for all oiling. It doesn't gum up like motor oil does. Oppie

Reply to
Oppie

Hey Oppie. The gear in question is a tiny plastic gear inside the dash behind the guages. Its a be-yach to get to and the tiny gear is no fun either. once replaced, there is a 50/50 chance that it'll remain working forever. The gear is actuated by the reset button for the odometer. One major cause is old age but also pressing the reset button will further cause the tiny plastic gear to break as well.

Reply to
marx404

Thanks for the clarification. Does this gear drive both the trip odometer AND the main odometer? If pushing the trip odometer reset exacerbates the problem, it's possible that the reset pawls from the button are not retracting all the way when the button is released. This might cause jamming of the odometer advance mechanism and a broken drive gear. I had a car that had such a problem and it was easier to use a gps to keep track of speed and distance. The readings were, of course, volitile and distance readings were lost on power off. I changed oil based on color rather than mileage... Oppie

Reply to
Oppie

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