[V8] Fixed broken dimmer dial inside cluster........

[dsaad at icehouse.net]

My sons mercedes 190E had a bad odometer - apparently all mercedes from
that era (1989) do. A pressed on gear starts to slip on its shaft. The fix
is to remove it and give the shaft collar a little squeeze with some vice
grips and press it back on. The hard part was calibrating the needle - and
I found a great way to do it with very good accuracy. Here is the Audi
content...

I had a seat control motor from a V8 class seat. not sure exactly what
year/model, but the motors drive little gear boxes via flexible cable. The
cable is very much like a speedometer cable only a little bigger. File one
cable end so it fits into the speedo head.

Next you need a variable power supply and a good lap timer. An iPhone
works great here.

Connect the motor to the speedo and set the variable power supply so you
are ticking off 1 mile a minute, or 1/10 mile every 6 seconds. Use the lap
timer and just eyeball the odometer as you adjust the power supply. When
you are ticking off a mile a minute, you are going 60MPH. Once you reach
this setting, press on the speedo needle right at 60MPH.

After doing this, I verified the speed with an app on the iPhone and it
came out exact. More accurate than any other car I have. Ironically, the
Audi is the furthest off - reading 3 to 4 MPH off at the upper speed
range.

That process was for a mechanical meter. The V8 meter is actually easier.
All you need is a variable power supply. Connect it to the speedo drive
motor and from there the procedure is the same as above.

Dave


> And for the odo fix, replace the gears. Odometergears.com is where I buy
> them. Done quite a few over the years.
>
> You will have to completely dissassemble the face of the speedo, which
> actually isn't as dificult as it sounds. Then pull the motor off the side,
> replace the gears, and reassemble. Honestly the hardest part is getting
> the
> needle in the right place.
>
>