please help - odometer problem

[drummergirl]

I just had my shocks replaced at Pep Boys and when they were doing the rear ones, they pulled down a black box thing and let it hang by its wires. It was located above the spare tire underneath the rear of the vehicle. When I drove it out of there my odometer was no longer working, but my speedometer is still working.

I called Pep Boys and they say it is not related and my problem is in the cluster and there is no way they did it when replacing the shocks because the odometer and speedometer come from the same cable off the tranny.

I have a 96 xlt 4.0

Does anyone out there have any info on this? I still think they did it, but unless I have specific info on how the odometer is hooked up they are going to continue denying it.

Thanks!
Claire

 

[Nate1]

I was under the impression that the odometer used the VSS in the ABS system to calculate distance. Although, this may be a blessing in disuise. Can you take a picture of the black box hanging down?

PS: You live in tampa, If they dont solve this and you want some ruckus help, call me

 

[drummergirl]

guess I should have mentioned that it is not a digital odometer, but a mechanical one.

Does this make a difference?

 

[drummergirl]

Cant take a picture, besause I would have to drop the spare tire and crawl up under there... but it is black and sort of triangular-ish in shape and bolted to the frame right above the spare. If you drop the spare tire and look up where the tire was, the black box thing is up and slightly to the left side.

I saw it dangling down and watched them put it back up when they were doing the shocks.

I agree it might be a blessing, but I don't like the idea of the shop breaking my car and then not fessing up to it so I have to deal with no trip meter, having to guess when the oil changes are due, and being generally annoyed.

 

[drummergirl]

I guess what I'm really asking is .....

Is there any way , black box or otherwise, that this could have occured when changing the shocks ?

How is the odometer hooked up and is it separate from the speedometer, or does the speedometer feed the odometer, like the Pep Boys guy said?

 

[Jason_25]

That black box is the charcoal canister and yes, it is totally unrelated to your speedo/odo. Although I can't imagine why they had to remove it to do the shocks

 

[drummergirl]

I think the guy took it down to get a better angle with the air gun on the top bolts on the rear left shock.

It's starting to look like an unbelievable coincidence. I called Ford and they werent sure what black box I was referring to, but said it is probably something with the fuel vapor system on the fuel tank and unrelated to the odometer.

I guess I need to go to a scrapyard and look for an instrument cluster? Does this sound right? Is there anything near the wheels at all related to the odometer that could have been knocked loose before I go looking for a "new" cluster? Or is there a better way of fixing this besides replacing the instrument cluster?

 

[Naga Sadow]

I'm unsure if your explorer has the same transfer case as mine but my odometer is pluged into the back of transfer case where it meets the driveshaft. It is gear driven check if any wires are loose on the transfer case.

 

[rfuree11]

if you brought it to pep boys, odds are they somehow managed to break it- they seem to be good at that stuff.

 

[drummergirl]

ummmmmm....... The strangeness continues...

For some unexplicable reason the odometer started working again all on its own
????

Whatever.... I guess my problem is solved!

Thanks!