850 Odometer driving me crazy
 

Hello All

I have a 95 850 Man Black T5R Sedan, The problem is that the odometre does not work. I have two dashes both VDO, I can make the odometer work by applying 12 volt ac to the small motor and that drives the gears and turns the km's over. The ABS trac lights some times come on, could this be an ABS module failing causing me Odometer issues? I can turn the key back a little and these lights go out. Please help. I am getting great practice of pulling the dash apart!

thanks for any help!

Regards

Arzy from downunder

RE: 850 Odometer driving me crazy
 

It sounds like you havetwo different issues going on.As long as the speedometer works, the ABS module going bad will not cause the odometer to not advance. On the VDO clusters it isusually the small gears in the cluster that go bad. You can get new gears at IPD, FCP Groton, or fromwww.odometergears.com.

There is a very good writeup on changing the gears here:

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/odometer_fix.php

If you click on the "Comment on this odometer fix procedure" link at the bottom of the writeup there is additional information. Even though you odometer has not been operating the brain in the instrument panel has continued to logthe distance traveledand you can correct the odometer to read the actual distance traveled if you so desire. Keep in mind that the distance is stored in the instrument cluster itself so the replacement cluster that you have will not be accurate for your car.

Your observations about turning the key back and the ABS lights going out is an indication that the electrical part of the ignition switch is failing. It is a common problem and a very easy fix.

...Lee

RE: 850 Odometer driving me crazy
 

Thanks Ozark Lee

I can operate the motor on the odometer with a 12 volt ac power supply and the odometer works. The gears appear to be fine. Is there a sensor somewhere that may be faulty?

Cheers

Arzy

RE: 850 Odometer driving me crazy
 

Definitely agree with Ozark Lee's advice. Our 850 was doing the same thing and we had to change the gear. I would take the odometer cluster out and check the gear. Might as well change it while you are in there as it is not a question of if it will go bad, but when!

RE: 850 Odometer driving me crazy
 

Hmmm, that is a new one. If the speedometer works then your Vehicle Speed Sensor is working and the signal is getting to the instrument cluster. My schematics basically show theinstrument clusteras a "Black Box" withvery little detailabout what is going on beyond the connectors. It does go so far as to show the VSS signal going to the microprocessor and then the microprocessor running the gauges.

There are two versions of the odometer motor connections on the VDO clusters that I have seen. My older version has a cable that comes out of the odometer stepper motor and it plugs into a socket. My newer one on the turbo hastheplug built into the assembly and it plugs directly into the PC board. Particularly with the latter style I would check the PC board itself for a bad solder joint at that connector and make sure that the connector is firmly seated into the pins from the main PC board. One other guy at the end of this thread had the same problem:

http://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/cha...c&start=50

Good luck with it.

...Lee