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Performance Upgrades - Maintenance - Modifications - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street Trucks. Covering the Explorer, ST, Sport, Lincoln Aviator, Sport Trac, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Aerostar. Featuring H.I. - Human Intelligence.
Now that the weather is cooler, I am getting around to fixing some things that are bothering me. The speedometer works but the odometer has stopped months ago. I have read that it is electronic and not cable driven. Any ideas?
Thanks,
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There is no cable. The odometer is an electro/mechanical set up that is separate from the speedometer. What usually happens on the '96 is that the gears of the odometer disentigrate and the wheels quit turning.
The fix in my case was to buy a ''take off'' instrument panel and change it out. (I got mine on ebay)
There are several sources on the net for new gears and one place I found in Tampa. The usual charge for rebuild is about $100 plus shipping. The gears are about $40 or so. (Some a little cheaper. Google speedo repair and it will turn up a bunch. It appears to be a pia to change the gear. In the future don't try to change the mileage while in motion, however the gears seem to deteriorate with age.
It's not a bad job to change the instrument panel module out, but that is up to you.
Today I received an instrument cluster from a 97 that I got on ebay. It looks to be in perfect shape. Now I am wondering how long the 97 will last and if they used better parts inside it for the odometer worm gear. I read somewhere that a guy repaired his odometer with a secction of a 1/4" stainless steel lag bolt. He said the pitch was about the same and he drilled a hole down the center of it and glued it to the stepper motor shaft and it worked great. When I get the old cluster out, I will investigate this possibility. If I can do it like he did, I'll take photos. He didn't.
There is no cable. The odometer is an electro/mechanical set up that is separate from the speedometer. What usually happens on the '96 is that the gears of the odometer disentigrate and the wheels quit turning.
The fix in my case was to buy a ''take off'' instrument panel and change it out. (I got mine on ebay)
There are several sources on the net for new gears and one place I found in Tampa. The usual charge for rebuild is about $100 plus shipping. The gears are about $40 or so. (Some a little cheaper. Google speedo repair and it will turn up a bunch. It appears to be a pia to change the gear. In the future don't try to change the mileage while in motion, however the gears seem to deteriorate with age.
It's not a bad job to change the instrument panel module out, but that is up to you.
Today I received an instrument cluster from a 97 that I got on ebay. It looks to be in perfect shape. Now I am wondering how long the 97 will last and if they used better parts inside it for the odometer worm gear. I read somewhere that a guy repaired his odometer with a secction of a 1/4" stainless steel lag bolt. He said the pitch was about the same and he drilled a hole down the center of it and glued it to the stepper motor shaft and it worked great. When I get the old cluster out, I will investigate this possibility. If I can do it like he did, I'll take photos. He didn't.
I used a take off from a '97 and it has worked great for quite a while now. While the gears do seem to expire from age, I think the big culprit is that some of us try to reset the odometer while the vehicle is in motion. It's ok if you have the later model digital set up, but not with the electro mechanical. All of the vendors that I researched said that 'their' new gears would not deteriorate. There are several on the web with the prices running from $25 to $50 with a couple of rebuilders (1 in tampa area) with a price of around $100 + shipping. Sorry I don't recall the names but google will find them.
I used a take off from a '97 and it has worked great for quite a while now. While the gears do seem to expire from age, I think the big culprit is that some of us try to reset the odometer while the vehicle is in motion. It's ok if you have the later model digital set up, but not with the electro mechanical. All of the vendors that I researched said that 'their' new gears would not deteriorate. There are several on the web with the prices running from $25 to $50 with a couple of rebuilders (1 in tampa area) with a price of around $100 + shipping. Sorry I don't recall the names but google will find them.
I just replaced the worm gear in mine today. Definitely follow the instructions on therangerstation.com page. I found this thread a few weeks ago and decided to tackle it without checking back. I ended up removing the spedo needle (definitely don't do this - keep reading...) and the odometer wheel cluster. I got it all back together fine, but damaged one of the clips holding the motor to the housing and had to rig a solution to keep it in place. I also had to remove everything again as my spedo was sitting at 30mph when stopped. I got it dialed back in, but had to leave the cluster open and set the cruise at 50mph, then affix the needle back in place.
The worm gear (black) had failed on mine (233k miles) and appeared to be made of medium density rubber, rather than the hard white plastic the new gear was made from.
There is a motor which drives the instrument, thus the electrical signal from the VSS.
There are plastic gears which drive the odometer from the speedometer motor. Those must be what are failing. I've had them apart, once from the odometer randomly stopping. That's great that someone makes the replacement gears.
I didn't need the other gear (the black, non worm one), and the place I linked is $10 cheaper. Was $29 shipped. I agree is seems expensive for what it is, but cheaper than a new cluster or paying a shop $100+ to do it.
The odometer seems to be the most fragile part. My first one didn't always work, but the speedometer did. It's much easier to swap the whole speedometer section if part of that doesn't work.
Help! 95 Explorer with tachometer, have a replacement instrument cluster (odometer stopped working on the old one), can't figure out how to disconnect the speedo cable (short cable) from the instrument cluster, so I can use the old cable (new cluster does not have a cable).
