At 07:36 PM 1/25/2001, Jere & Beth Hawn wrote:

>I understand the logic behind this issue however, I have been pushing my
>trip meter while the van has been moving *not continuously* for the last 11
>years/249,000 miles and it has never broken... what gives?

You'll have to work harder than that to keep *me* from messing with your
commas...you must have quite a callus on your finger by now <evil grin>.

Seriously, though, I'm sad to say that what you have heard is an Old Wives
Tale.  In order to reset the tenths wheel on the trip meter (which drives
the rest of them) it is necessary to disengage it from the drive gear
coming from the main odometer (which looks a lot like a hundredths wheel
hidden behind the faceplate).  In fact all the wheels need to be able to
turn freely, and the reset mechanism does this by lifting away the rack of
gears that drive each wheel including the tenths wheel from the preceding
one.  The only difference is that the tenths wheel follows 1:1 with its
drive, while the others move one tooth per revolution of the preceding
wheel.  You verify this by gedanken-experiment or by taking your speedo out
and trying it -- you can learn enough without taking off the needle and
faceplate.

This points the finger of blame at VDO for not correctly figuring out the
assembly dimensions and allowable stress for the drive pinion, or else on
some other demon that creates extra drag in the odometer assembly -- but
feel free to push that button until you get tired, if you're not already.

Sigh...I've been hoping for a year or two now that someone other than me
would mention this. :-/

david

David Beierl - Providence, RI
  http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"