stuck odometer, type 44, infamous gear is intact

[kbogach]

I took apart odometer very carefully, trying not to push on reset knob, 
not shaking internals.   And what?  When I rotate magnetic rotor of the 
stepper motor with my fingers everything works smoothly, no cogging, 
anything.  When it was on the car it did not work!  I would think it is 
electrical problem but resetting the odometer does changes something - 
it starts working for sometime.  Not always, but most of the time.  It 
solidly stuck a few days ago - pressing reset know did not help.  It is 
when I decided to get it apart again and try if I notice something if I 
rotate stepper's rotor by myself.  
Now I stuck too.  Not sure what else to do.   I think I need a bench 
test setup like Huw used when he fixed his odometer.   I contacted him 
off list asking for help.

Konstantine

kbogach wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I got sick of stuck odometer in my UrS4'93.  I said type 44, I know, 
> but instrument cluster is virtually the same as in my 200tqa.  At 
> least, odometer/speedo part.  First thing I did is  searching  digests 
> I stored unread for the last 2 years (unfortunately, I am still that 
> crazy busy and I am lucky that both cars do not give me big problems 
> for the last 3 years. Except broken clutch pedal, but it was on 
> another 200tq which I lost to divorce.   By the way, it was foolishly 
> "got rid of" for $500 to some lucky guy).
> So, I found out that Huw dealt with the similar problem in January 
> 2007,  a little after I replaced that  15 tooth gear, which was 
> completely fine, by the way, with one I bought from Southern 
> Electronics (I posted a question and got a pointer right away.  Thanks 
> again!)    Did not help.   Odometer  was still  intermittent.  Taking 
> it apart 2 more times and trying to figure out a cause did not do any 
> good.  I lived with it until today.   By the way,  I seems to me, it 
> works better at colder temps.  Bug rather than planning to move to 
> colder state I decided to poke into the odometer again.
>
> I've never heard about similar scenario on these clusters(I spent some 
> time searching through archives before).   All posts about the stuck 
> odometer concluded with broken gear. But just in case,  anyone can 
> think of something?  I am planning, if I don't find anything 
> mechanical, to solder 2 thin wires to odometer's motor, lead them 
> outside and solder a LED to them to exclude electrical problem.  
> Unfortunately,  I don't have a pulse generator to test it on a bench.
>
> Konstantine (feeling very sentimental while typing.  Nice to see so 
> many familiar names are still active on the list)
>