Re: Odometer drive gears .....

[steveb@newkla.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

> In a rare moment of candor, someone once told me the truth about why every
> VDO repair shop in the world refuses to sell just the plastic gear: 1) the
> zinc gear that drives the plastic gear often needs to be replaced as well,
> and 2) their license agreement with VDO prohibits them from selling parts;
> anyone caught doing so, he claims, will be terminated and removed from the
> list of authorized VDO repair stations.
> 
> My guess is that because VDO can provide them with an exclusive on repairs,
> they can in turn charge them that much more for parts and/or the license...
> in the end, everyone except those of us who drive german cars for more than
> 60k miles, benefits from this kind of arrangement.  That said, at one time,
> there was a place in Atlanta that would sell gears to licensed repair shops
> for about $2.50 per ... unfortunately, I can't remember the name or number.
>  
Thanks for the info Jeff ... I figure that the repair folks could also use 
the argument that since the value of the car is based on the odo reading 
that by law they cannot sell parts to you ...

I know about the metal gear also, but when I opened up this odo the worm 
gear was nylon as well.  Could it have been replaced when I had it rebuilt 
last time?

There's a lot of folklore out there on the VDO odos.  My favorite is the 
standard "You broke the gear by resetting the trip odo while the car was 
moving."  If that were indeed true, I would still fault VDO for not expect-
ing the trip odo to be reset while the car is moving ...

Steve
s_buchho@kla.com