I went through this with my 88 GL. Did a teardown on the Speedo several
times. Even built a device to prevent that shaft from slipping out.
Tried fastening the potmetal gear to the drive shaft. Nothing worked for
more than a few days. Finally bought a new one from Camelback VW. -
$180. I'm happy now. No more problems ..... until the next time.

The alternative to buying new is to find on the Net a source to have
them rebuilt, or adapt a later VW speedo to do the job.

Good luck

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Don in North Carolina wrote:

> Listee's,
>
> I need to add some data to my original post that I should have given
> in the
> beginning.  When I got the van (for free - thanks Chamilka!) the odometer
> and trip meter did not work, but the speedometer did - with no noise.  I
> removed the speedometer, and found that the right hand side of the
> odometer
> had pulled out of it's support (the worm gear had pulled the straight
> gear
> and shaft to the left).
>
> To many of you, this should sound strangely familiar...
>
> So I lined the odometer shaft back up, and pushed it back into place.  As
> many here will testify, this is a temporary fix at best, as it just pops
> back out later.  I was hoping for it to work long enough to get it
> inspected, and then send it off for a proper repair.  It seems now
> that the
> straight gear is spinning on the shaft, and is no longer driving the
> odometer - this is causing the noise.
>
> I want to thank all that responded to me with suggestions of
> checking/lubing
> the cable, and lubing the speedometer.  What I really need now is a
> speedometer with ~140K on it (that works - mileage needs to be around
> that
> number for the paperwork) so I can put it in for inspection and use
> while my
> speedometer is getting repaired.  If you have one that you will loan for
> awhile, that would be excellent!
>
> Again, my thanks to all that responded in p-mail to me.  And a big
> Merry-Happy to you all!!
>
> Don in Reidsville, NC
> 1987 Vanagon GL Syncro (Suzie)
> 1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Don in North Carolina" <Don_Dixon@bellsouth.net>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Tue 21 December 2004 20:13
> Subject: Need speedometer for '88
>
>
>> Listee's,
>>
>> I need a speedometer for my 1988 GL.  Tonight it started making a
>> horrific
>> noise.  I have disconnected the cable for now, but I'm looking for a
>> good
>> used speedometer with ~140K on it (I have 137K on mine now).  This is
>> for
>> a 2WD van, speedo number (above the reset button) 805.
>>
>> TIA,
>> Don in Reidsville, NC
>> 1987 Vanagon GL Syncro (Suzie) Soon for sale!
>> 1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia)
>
>
>