Ry:

I just recently started having a problem with this. The shaft that
transports the odometer numbers (odo-shaft) would slide to the left and the
numbers would appear to have dropped down and back from their normal place
when looking at them through the "windows" in the speedometer. The odo-shaft
had slid far enough to the left that the right end would drop out of the
hole it rides in on clear plastic part on the right hand side of the speedo
assembly. Every time it drops out the darn thing stops registering mileage
on both the odo and trip meter. Speedo would still work so you knew how fast
but not how far.

I took the dash apart several times and slid the odo-shaft back into place
but it seemed that whenever I reset the trip meter the thing would slide
back out within a few miles.

The solution I used was to drill a small hole in the left hand side of the
outer dash housing, and thread in a screw to act as a stop to limit how far
the odo-shaft could slide to the left. The hole is drilled in the housing
that carries the tach, speedo, guages, and idiot lights. I measured it so
the hole is located at the end of the odo-shaft that keeps slipping to the
left. I threaded in a small allen head screw I had laying around and
tightened it down by feel until it just touched the odo-shaft. I backed it
off so there would be a little play and not have constant pressure on the
odo-shaft. Seems to be working so far. I did this repair about a week ago so
only time will tell. Good luck and let me know if you come up with a
different solution.

Dan Weber
Miss Blue-'87 GL Weekender

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ry L Blaisdell" <rblaisdell@JUNO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2002 7:12 PM
Subject: Odometer/ tripometer broken

> Does anyone else have problems with the gears in the vanagon odometer
> sliping out of alignment?
> If so has someone got a good solution?
> Peace,
> Ry
>