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Subject:Re: trip odometer myth
From:shawn luft
Date:Fri, 18 Apr 2003 11:56:01 -0400

Ok, I got curious...... and pushed the button while en route yesterday...... and
IT DIDN'T BREAK!

Thanks for the insight Bill!!!!

Regards,
Shawn.

Bill Marshall wrote:

> OK, I've heard enough.  If you push in the trip odometer button while moving,
> you will reset the odometer.  That's it.  The first thing that happens when
> you push the button is that the gears disengage.  So, it won't matter if it's
> moving or not.
>
> Those of you who have had their vans since new, did these break the first
> time you tried it?  No, probably not until the plastic aged for a decade.
> How is it that everyone (including me) talks about how the speedo plastic is
> brittle and broken, but no one thinks the trip odo is in the same condition?
> Mine broke, and it was the brittle plastic ring that holds the axle in place.
>  A weak design, and the plastic was brittle.  I rebuilt it with JB Weld and
> it is now permanent.
>
> I'll bet that the workings get sticky with age and lube drying out, and you
> have to push harder to activate it.  Combine that with old brittle plastic
> and you've got breakage.  I reset that thing on the fly every tank of gas for
> 6 years.  I figure that was 500 times before it went.  Why didn't it go the
> first time? Or first 50 times?
>
> Because it is a myth.
>
> So that's my rant, hope you enjoyed it ;-)
>
> Bill Marshall
> '85 GL Tiico "Pandora"
> Aurora, IL