Amazingly well documented Odometer Fix

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 13 Jul 2005, 13:48

spdykat wrote:For the person who posted as Guest above, re: trying to open your glovebox, there is a really awesome set of instructions on that fix, created and posted by Yeagermeister on another thread entitled "94 850 Glovebox frozen shut"...good luck.
It's reassuring in a weird way to know that mine is not the only 850 with a permanently frozen odometer (164,450) and a permanently locked glovebox. Today I took it to the dealer for the fuel tank recall fix, and one of the mechanics said, hey at least it's still rolling, right? haha, whatever.

Only 113k here, Should get a good price for it *hehe* (more like 125-135k). Yeah, still thinking about tackling the glovebox by the drill-hole method.

Kara · Post by **Kara** » 11 Aug 2005, 10:05

matthew1 wrote:Many thanks to Rox for this fine series of photos and text on how to fix an 850s odometer.

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/odometer_fix.php <-- big bandwidth

Fantastic. If anyone has comments, please add them here.

It's so nice to know that others are having problems with their odometers. Mine stopped working 3 years ago with 87,000 miles on it.

Thank you for the detailed fix. I'll be asking my husband if he's up for a little project.

Thanks!

volvo850_1994 · Post by **volvo850_1994** » 12 Oct 2005, 21:44

Excellent help! Have some pointers. I got the 15 tooth gear from odometers.com. There are two gears in the odometer that can fail. The 15 tooth is most likely to fail while the other one is quite sturdy. Taking off the dashboard requires a Torx-25 and opening the instrument cluster requires a Torx-10. On the instrument cluster only 11 screws need be opened (9 over the edges and 2 above the black ones on the back of the digital clock). Also note that after replacing the face plate back after the repair and before putting the clear cover, the temperature gage should be below zero (mechanical jarring can leave the needle stuck higher than actual). Good Luck!

Tsquared · Post by **Tsquared** » 13 Oct 2005, 13:52

I purchased the kit from IPD with the step-by-step video. My daughter drives the 850 now and I made her do the maintenance. I sat back and supervised by telling her lefty lucy and righty tighty and provided her with the correct tools.

It took her 1 hour 20 minutes and she also changed out the light bulbs for the cluster and clock. This was her first attempt on any maintenance for the car and we went on to change the rotor, cap and spark plugs.

bills '94 850 · Post by **bills '94 850** » 13 Oct 2005, 20:36

Thankyou very much. The job was easily done with your directions.
Bill

Post by **matthew1** » 16 Oct 2005, 13:15

The repair page has been updated with more images, these from Govil. Thanks Govil!

Mike in SC · Post by **Mike in SC** » 20 Nov 2005, 14:37

Thanks, Instructions were excellent. My mechanics told me minimum $400 to fix, and they had trouble doing the fix without breaking plastic. Mine went smooth, $50 for both gears from odometergears.com, a little over 2 hrs.

make sure you have a #8 TORX head for the 3 screws that hold odometer onto frame, and #10 TORX for rest of the speedometer screws. Dash cap screws are all #25 TORX. also, only have to remove left and center 2 vent heads to undo dash cap screws.

to remove vent, i used a small hook, pulled straight out from dash so not to break anything. Here is photo:

Mike in SC · Post by **Mike in SC** » 20 Nov 2005, 14:48

OK, photo didn't go ... try again

[img=http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/8949/ventandpivotdetail27fv.th.jpg]

also, on our 97 850, instead of a wired connector, it's an edge type connector that has to be pulled away from board to disconnect odometer, and replaced by aligning and gently pushing straight in: photo:

[img=http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9697/elecconn97850odometer0aa.th.jpg]

Thanks again, mike

steveiz · Post by **steveiz** » 22 Dec 2005, 01:32

Great descripton.
Where does the signal come from to increment the odometer / trip meter?
Before I pull this, I want to insure that the speed sensor or whatever sensor that is used is not bad.

In my 850, it is both the odometer and trip computer that is not moving. It happened after I did work on multiple other systems, and had the battery removed (front suspension work, cap, rotor, ...). After banging on the dash to attempt to move the gear, I now have a bad bulb. ( I need the number for that also, if anyone has it). sh*t happens.

Thanks all
[email protected]

dd · Post by dd » 02 Jan 2006, 11:29

Once you get the failed gear out try to locate the broken tooth. Mine was stuck to the motor drive gear and it looked like a dab of oil. If you don't get the tooth out it may get caught and prevent the odometer from working.