It isn't quick or easy, but with patience, you can reset the odos on your
meter. My wife has the Van today, so I can't verify that the speedo is
exactly the same as on my Jetta, but I would bet it is, and I on my third
speedo on it, and have reset both replacements.

Remove speedo cluster, remove speedo. Remove pointer needle by GENTLY
prying straight off. Remove two tiny screws on face of speedo to release
faceplate. This exposes the gearshaft (small gears)  and the Odo shaft,
(large gears with number wheels attached). Note that the odo shaft is a
piece of wire a little thicker than a coat hanger. It is *JUST* pliable
enough to pry up *slightly* from the gear shaft, thus making it possible to
spin the odo gears to whatever position you choose.

Mind you, the thousands are the easiest to spin, as they are in the middle.
The ten-thousands are a bit more difficult, as they stay mated, and the
100-thousands are out of the question. You will see what I mean when you
open it up. Point is, to move an odo from 45k to 160k you have to spin the
ten-thousand or thousand gear for a while to "rack up" the miles on the
100k wheel.

Put it all back together when you are done. There is a little dot on the
face of the speedo to which you line up the needle when replacing it so
that the needle return spring is pre-loaded at zero mph. The dot is
approximately where negative-25 mph would be (below zero mph). Put the
needle one pointing here, then gently rise the tip of the needle over its
resting post to point at zero.

Cheers.

G. Matthew Bulley
Director
Bulley-Hewlett & Associates
www.bulley-hewlett.com
Cary, NC USA
888.468.4880 tollfree

-----Original Message-----
From:   Karl F. Bloss [SMTP:bloss@ENTER.NET]
Sent:   Friday, November 12, 1999 8:42 AM
To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject:        Re: Odometer - needs resetting /F

> Does anyone know of a quick way to fast forward ??

Drive around the block a few times every day.  That should get the miles
back
up.  ;-)

-Karl

Karl and Kristina Bloss, Trexlertown, PA
'87 Westfalia Weekender  "Beverley" - 189K miles
VW Mechanic list: http://www.enter.net/~bloss/vw/vwshops
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