Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
Subject:Re: Shoddy German Workmanship?
From:EMZ
Date:Wed, 28 Apr 1999 07:33:29 -0400

It is a common problem for the 4 corners of the speedo mount
(where the 4 screws go) to break. I would not be suprized if
there was some butcher mechanic in there trying some "plastic"
welding with a torch. A better fix for this is body plastic.

            Eric                   86-VW4x4
            vw4x4@fyi.net          72-240z
            Pittsburgh, PA USA     1936-Chrysler

On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Mark Mages wrote:

> I just pulled apart my instrument cluster today, and I
> found an interesting surprise... part of the
> instrument housing is melted.... one whole corner of
> the speedo mounting box is melted right off.
>
> I looked around in there with my flashlight, and I
> couldn't find any evidence of any sort of electrical
> fire, all the wireing & other parts of the dash seemed
> untouched - it looks almost like they melted it on
> accident @ the factory, then bolted everything in.
>
> I haven't had any electrical problems with it, and
> can;t see anything that might've burned...
>
> That brings up the question - the amount of damage
> that was done to the housing, and the speedo was
> untouched... that could mean a replaced speedo &
> possibly incorrect mileage... any way to tell 100%?
> all the record I have from the PO jive with the
> current miles, but that leaves 1.5years and 15K and a
> journey from michigan to Houston unaccounted for.  It
> never seemed an unreasonable amount of miles, so I
> never thought about it.
>
> Anyways, I pulled the cluster apart & cleaned the
> faces - WOW - taking 84K of dust & grime off makes a
> lot of difference... I don't recommend doing this - it
> isn't hard, but if you haven't done it before it can
> be tricky.
>
> Oh, and I inadvertently fixed my intermittant speedo
> problems... seems some mysterious red paint was coated
> around where the speedo clips in, and was preventing
> it from seating tight all the time.
>
> So the vanagon saga continues...
>
> ===
> Mark
>
> 87 Westfalia Gl
> 84 Scirocco 8v
>
> http://members.tripod.com/~jehanno
>
> _________________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>