Clicking Odometer

Does your Odometer click every mile?

If so, chances are you have a very common problem with VW odometers. Look for a detailed writeup on this fix on "Jan's VW page". There are detailed instructions on the fix there.

In my case, the fix was easier than described above, it was simply the main spur gear that is driven by the worm gear that had cracked. It is a press-fit nylon gear on a 3mm shaft. As the worm teeth passed the crack, the crack would expand, allowing the worm gear to slip past the spur tooth (i.e. click!). I pulled the spur gear, reamed out the hole to 1/8" (a shade over 3mm) then used some activated super glue to glue the gear back onto the shaft. With the larger hole, stress of the press fit is relieved allowing the crack to remain closed and the glue now holds the gear to the shaft instead of the press fit (which led to the crack in the first place).

Notes:

1. I can remove my instrument cluster quite easily due to some minor dash trimming I did a few years ago. I trimmed the havy plastic at the bottom of the dash where it contacts the bottom of the cluster. This allows the cluster to be tilted forward after removing the dash panel, speedometer cable and steering wheel.
2. Since it seems to work for the Snake Oil Vendors, I figured I might as well hype the MPG improvement of this fix. This simple fix will gain you 5-10% (or more) MPG. Why you ask? The gear in question has 20 teeth. It rotates once per mile. Every click is 1/20th of a mile (or 5%). Mine seemed to click one or two times per mile, on average, so I think I'll see a 5-10% MPG improvement (measured not actual).

Cost:

       $3 for some plastic-compatible super glue
  

Rating:

   --  (it depends on how hard you need to work to get to the odometer)