Unofficialbmw.com

JRS · Joined: 09 Jun 2002 Posts: 2386 Location: USA

Ok.. on my daily-driver 1987 BMW E30 325, sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday evening, my odometer and trip meter both stopped.

Where should I begin looking for the culprit ?

TIA,
JRS

jamesnau · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:25 pm Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

JRS,

I see you are from TX, the land of the sun! Probably disintegrated gears in the odometer...they don't like the heat. Take the cluster out and investigate carefully...only one or two missing teeth will cause the odo to stop. Order new gears from Jeff Caplan at www.odometergears.com

Search the UBB for recent posts on gear replacement...it is a piece of cake...I went through this myself in late June. You should find a number of posts from me and others on gear replacement. I will be happy to help you once you confirm your gears are shot.

Let us all know or send me a PM,
Regards,
Jim Nau
'85 325e 163k

Billo · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2004 12:29 pm Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

It's the dreaded odo gear. Either the gear guy or a samsung CD-Rom drive.

Odometer Parts 'R' Us (Odometer parts 'o plenty!)

Where I found mine!

Bill

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Ken Juul · Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 4:45 am Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

Jeff Caplan owner of Odometergears.com lives near me. Together we replaced the gears in both my 325 and my MB380sl. Piece of cake. You need to pull your odometer and take a good look at the gears. On the MB we had to replace all three gears because pieces from the failing gear jamed the other two causing a loss of teeth. Jeff says it's the stuff they use to lube the gears that causes most of the problems. Over time the grease makes the the gears get sticky/soft causing flexing and failure. clean everything well, you don't want a piece of the old gear causing a failure of the new one(s). The 2 large gears are supposed to freewheel on the shafts. When you take it apart you will probably find them stuck so pull the shaft out and clean well.

As Jim said do a search, lots of good information on pulling the cluster/odometer. No sense writing it all again.

JRS · Joined: 09 Jun 2002 Posts: 2386 Location: USA

Excellent responses guys. I'm sure it's the culprit but I've always been hesitant to remove any dashboards. Is it fairly easy to do on the E30 ? Anyone got pics of where the screws are to remove the dashboard ?

TIA,
JRS

JRS · Joined: 09 Jun 2002 Posts: 2386 Location: USA

quote:
Originally posted by Ken Juul:
.. Jeff says it's the stuff they use to lube the gears that causes most of the problems. Over time the grease makes the the gears get sticky/soft causing flexing and failure. ...

Same reasoning for why my 1/3hp LiftMaster garage door opener suddenly stopped working... a big, white-polyurethane gear lost 3 teeth. Cost of the gear (online) was $65. Cost for a new 1/2hp Chamberlaing Whisperdrive opener with lifetime warranty on the belt: $175. I spent the extra dough.

JRS

jamesnau · Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 5:35 pm Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

JRS,

Replacement of the gears is pretty much self-evident when you get the cluster out. The url below will show the steps to remove the instrument cluster. After removing it and the back, remove the green electrical connector, and the 4 screws that hold the speedo/odo to the back of the cluster. Lift the entire speedo/odo unit out of the back of the cluster. Then you will see a clear plastic cover over the gears. Very easy to remove and replace the gears. The little gear on the long drive shaft is pressed and glued to the shaft. The others rotate freely on their shafts. Jeff Caplan is very helpful if you run into a problem. It really is easy.

Here is the url: www.e30m3performance.com/maintenance/SI_Board/Step_1.htm

Regards,
Jim

P.S. While you have the cluster out, go ahead and change all of the bulbs...a bunch, but they are cheap!

[ 08-13-2004: Message edited by: Jim Nau ]

[ 08-13-2004: Message edited by: Jim Nau ]

[ 08-13-2004: Message edited by: Jim Nau ]

MattB · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 1633 Location: Lakeland, FL

i'm gonna have mine out to fix the gears myself soon.
Anyone got the part #'s on those bulbs?

jamesnau · Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2004 6:09 am Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

lamp with socket:
62-11-1-368-299 $1.05 each. As I recall, I needed 10; bought a dozen for a couple of spares. Used one of the spares in the OBC. The backlit buttons use the same bulb.

MattB · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 1633 Location: Lakeland, FL

thanks Jim.

Is that the BMW part # or some part # for radio shack or something?

jamesnau · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 5:39 am Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

BMW part number...I wouldn't think you could get these bulbs (with integral black plastic base) from radio shack...They are one of the, if not the, most inexpensive items from the stealer...oops, the dealer.

Jim

MattB · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 1633 Location: Lakeland, FL

thanks for the part #'s Jim.
Round here, we refer to them as SQUEALERS.

Billo... or anyone that happens to have one on hand... can you measure the diameter of one of those gears?

I've got lots of dead cd-roms around here and would like to know if I have the right size.
Otherwise, instead of spending around $50 to buy gears and replace them, i'll just send it in and pay $100 to have them rebuild the whole thing.

jamesnau · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:32 pm Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

Matt B,

I ordered the whole set from Jeff, but I did not install the small gear on the long shaft from the motor, so I still have this one that I can measure for you.

I can't remember if this small gear is the same for both VDO and Motometer clusters. Mine is a Motometer. Which cluster do you have? Will the diameter of this small gear help you?

I would be willing to bet that a "send-in" rebuild only includes the gears...not much else to replace that would be that inexpensive...everything else is electronic....Do it yourself, man, and take pride in your work!....just what I would do, so please don't be offended...

Please let me know if you need the diameter and number of teeth on the small gear. This is the only gear I have that I can look at for you.

Regards,
Jim

MattB · Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 1633 Location: Lakeland, FL

he he he.
no offense taken.

It's not pride in my work that i'm worried about.
It's time in my day.

don't sweat the measuring. it'll be awhile before I pull that sucker out. I didn't know that there were different sized gears.
When I pull it out, i'll post online and see if you've still got it laying around or just rip open a cd-rom and go from there.

jamesnau · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:54 am Post subject: Trip and Odometer stopped..

Thank you, Matt.
I understand the "time in the day" thing...Start to finish to R&R the odo gears is maybe 2 hours, if this is the first time you have taken your cluster out. Most of this time is to R&R the cluster; replacing the gears is minutes, assuming no glitch arises.
Regards, Jim