Odometer Gearing Fix
 

My 1990 SE's Odometer quit at 117,000 miles. I plan to tear down the dash [done that before] to get at the Odometer/Trip assembly on the back of the instrument cluster. Lots of posts here have talked about it, but no one has given details on what you're likely to get into once you disassemble that module. Comments like "gears weren't engaging, an little adjustment and it was fine" aren't very helpful. What is there to adjust???? I'd sure like to know the details of what I might find and have to do there before I tear down the dash. Anyone that's done this willing to offer a few details?

Getting a replacement out of salvage is on a great option, as I'd have to tear down the salvage car dash to get the instrument cluster. This is such a common problem I'd probably get one with the same problem. This time of year I'm not likely to get much repair time due to cold weather. I have a newer car for a daily driver, so I'm not limited that way. Of course, Nissan had discontinued any parts.

are you sure it's the dash and not the sender?

the ODO is almost like it's only module. it's not that hard but you'll need to pull out the dash and gut it. that you point you can even adjust mileage on it. i did that when i swap dash boards with a VE.

honestly i've never heard of a problem with the dashboard...i would check the sender before ripping the ODO apart.

Pretty sure; I've researched a MANY past posts; they all indicated in was gears not engaging in the Odometer unit (which is located in the Instrument Cluster) and indicated it was run off the Speedometer. The Speedometer kept going for 5+ years past when the Odometer quit, which works off the Vehicle Speed Sensor mounted on the transmission (Nissan Part No 25010-85E00 for manual transmission). You'd think that if the Odometer ran off that, it would still be working, at least until the Speedometer quit, which was just a week ago. I HAVE just ordered that Vehicle Speed Sensor to get the Speedometer working again, so I could try installing that first; I'm just doubtful replacing that will get the Odometer working from all the research I've done. I've not found a separate sensor for the Odometer.

I haven't torn down my dash yet, as I need to for more than just the Odometer unit problem; I've got to replace a Manual Climate Control unit also, and do LED upgrades on the Instrument Cluster as the bulbs are dim. As long as I've got the dash disassembled that far, it not a lot more work to get at the instrument cluster (I've been that far into it before). I'm working to get my garage clear enough to get my Maxima in, using a portable propane heater to be able to work in cold weather while waiting on parts to come in.

Here's the Nissan Parts Diagram showing the Odometer unit (circled in red). Its discontinued, or course! I've been looking at Instrument Clusters on Ebay for parts, and looking closely at photos, it think I see the cable going from the Odometer unit and plugging into the back center of the Speedometer.
FYI I'm the original owner of my 1990 SE, going on 30 years now!

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....c2d07fcbbb.jpg

My odometer reset button broke while resetting it. At the time I did not know I broke it, so it was stuck in a partial reset and would not work. Speedometer worked fine. I found the broken button only after pulling the cluster apart.

Thanks for the input. Did your (main) Odometer still work after the rest button was broken?
Mine feels OK, but it stopped resetting the Trip Odometer long before the Odometer quit. At first, I get some partial resets, then it just barely moved the trip numbers, the stopped resetting entirely.

I AM planning on taking the cluster apart, and removing the Odometer module to see what's going on. I would appreciate telling me what you saw when you got in there.
There's GOT to be an electric motor in there, as it seems to run off an electrical cable that plugs into the back of the speedometer, and some gears. I'm worried I'll get into it and find one or more gears broken, as I expect they are nylon. Nylon tends to weaken and get brittle with age. It would sure be nice to know if they are metal gears by any chance.
Broken gears would mean buying a another instrument cluster. I've seen a few on Ebay, but the white face SE ones are all high mileage, like 190,000 or more.

gears are plastic.
i have a spare cluster laying around but you know it's in the pile of stuff that i haven't touch in 10 years.

the trip odo has always been a little...flakey. like you have to push it a few times to get it to work kinda set up. over time i'm sure the plastic just gave up.

If you run across that instrument cluster, I'd be highly interested. Not only for the Odometer Module, but I may need a speedometer too; I'll know soon as I'll be testing and/or replacing the transmission speed sensor soon. I bought what is probably the last new one available anywhere for a manual transmission. I'm not that concerned about the Trip Odometer, while It's a convenience, I'm focused on getting the main one working again. Hard to track mileage for maintenance without one.

My odometer stopped working when the trip odometer stopped working. My reset button was very difficult to reset before it broke and the replacement worked much smoother / better. The speedometer worked fine.

Inside, there is an small electrical motor (with a nylon gear) that drives a nylon shaft which drives another cross shaft (nylon) between the odometer and trip odometer. The reset button operates a bus bar which makes it reset to zero. This bus bar is what was stuck on mine causing it not to operate. It looks like the odometer should work independently of the trip odometer, but mine did not. It is pretty self explanatory once you get it apart.

I was able to match my mileage to my odometer by getting some slack between the wheels and rotating them, then pushing them back together. Be careful, YMMV. I seem to recall removing that cross shaft made it much easier.

If you need an odometer, I can send you one out of one of the clusters that I got from the Junkyard.

I am on my last speedometer, so I can’t help you there. If you find a speedometer repair shop that repairs them, let me know.

Thanks so much, LQ91SE! That was exactly what I was trying to find out; I copied your description and saved it for reference.
Yes, I'd be highly interested in your Odometer module. I haven't torn down the dash yet, but I'd prefer to have the extra parts when I do. Could save me from having to do that job twice.
As for the speedometer, I'll find out whether I need that after I replace the Vehicle Speed Sensor on the transmission - my very next task. If I do, I've found some white face SE instrument clusters on
eBay, but they all have so much mileage (like 195,000 or higher), I figure the Odometer module gears would be likely be shot.

Look for an email from rhamil54 at Cableone dot net [Randy Hamilton]. Thanks Again!

Randy - did you end up fixing this?

I just picked up another VE 5 speed and the odometer isn't working. When I push the trip meter reset, it doesn't feel like it's actually engaging anything so I assume it's broken. Oddly enough, the tachometer seems to be 500 RPM high too, because when I turn the ignition to "ON", the tach instantly jumps up to 500 RPM and it "idles" at 1500 RPM even though you can tell there's no way it's really that high.

Hi James
No, not yet. Still re-arranging my garage for winter work, and setting up the propane heater I'm going to use. I have obtained a salvage odometer module, and also an entire instrument cluster that's immaculate, since it's likely I'll have to replace the speedometer or the entire instrument cluster.
My current trip odometer behaves just like yours, pushing the reset feels like it's not engaging anything. I can't offer any helpful info one that VE tach, other than to agree it's not working right.
I hope to crack open my dash sometime after the holidays; It will be apart for a while as I've multiple things to fix once I'm in there, including the Climate Control.

Well I got mine working last night. The guy I bought the VE from said "the odometer just stopped working a couple of months ago". I ran it on the TX inspection database where you can see the inspection/mileage history of all cars inspected in Texas along with their dates and mileages. I use this as a sort of faux Carfax since it's free. This car was first inspected in Texas only a few years ago so I'm not sure where it was originally from. I bought the car a few weeks ago at ~152k miles and the past few inspections on it showed a couple thousand miles in between so I know the odometer WAS working at least until this year.

I pulled the gauge cluster out last night. The whole gauge cluster wasn't even screwed in - not one screw. Half the dash panels weren't screwed in either. Looks like a classic case of somebody losing a bunch of those little Phillips screws used all over the interior lol. Thankfully I have enough spare parts I was able to replace them all.

Anyway, this odometer/trip meter "just stopped working" because it was completely GUTTED of the gearing lol. I can see the little arm on the trip meter was broken off, so I bet that was their reasoning for digging in there - then they lost some gears/broke some stuff trying to mess with it, and gave up and put it back together gutted. The nylon gear was totally removed from the little motor that drives the odometer, and the motor wasn't even screwed down. I swapped in a good tachometer too.

Thankfully, I had two spare gauge clusters, so I was able to sacrifice one to make this one work. I'm not sure why the existing tachometer in this car read almost exactly 500 RPM high, but it sure was annoying and, again, thankfully I had a good one to put in. I rolled the mileage up a bit to guesstimate the miles put on it in the past couple of months. Like @LQ91SE said, it's pretty self-explanatory once you get in there. I too ended up removing that cross shaft that runs through the small white gears on the odometer numbers. It's kind of fiddly to line them all back up and takes some trial and error to get them all even and displaying on the right "row" to look correct in the gauge cluster. Hard to explain, but you'll see when you get in there. I also put a little bit of grease on all the gearing and whatnot while I was in there. If you have completely broken gears you'll likely need a donor cluster as I don't see how you can replicate them. The trip meter "arm" being broken you could probably rig or glue something up, but the actual gearing you'll have a hard time fixing without straight replacement.

The little white gears on the cross shaft have alternating wide and thin teeth so make sure you line those up properly:

Attachment 59127








Here's where the gear should be on the little motor:

Attachment 59128










Here's the broken tab on the trip meter (very difficult to see but it's on the far right - the push knob should rotate that bus bar down, but because the arm/tab was broken it doesn't move the bus bar):

Attachment 59129

You've never encountered or heard about a frozen odometer? Two or three of the 8 or 9 3rd gens I flipped back in the day had a broken or frozen odometer. The only situation where the speed sensor would cause a frozen odometer, is if the speedometer was also dead, in conjunction with both the odo and trip. Which would likely be caused by signal wiring or an issue with the cluster circuitry. Kind of unlikely for the speed sensor to suffer total electromechanical failure.

Excellent write up, James, Thanks! Just what I was looking for. I've examined the spare Odometer I've got, and it has all the gears and they seem to be lined up - but Man, are they complex. No broken teeth. So it seems to be in working order, but won't know until I test it. Of course, there is another one in the very clean salvage instrument cluster I bought, but haven't disassembled that yet - I just got it. I've tracked the approx mileage since mine stopped working about a year ago, so I should be able to re-set it to correct mileage.

Nice write up James. That broken bus bar is what I had about 15 years ago. I hope Randy has some luck with his repair.

Now we have to find someone who fixes these speedometers. I have 2 dead ones.

Now I have 3 dead ones- My speedometer stopped working last night. I guess I’m going to try re-flowing some of the solder joints on the speedometer circuit board.

Re-flowing the solder joints on the speedometer circuit board fixed my speedometer. It is not a difficult job if you can solder through a magnifying glass. I didn’t see any cracked solder joints, but there was an IC chip that didn’t have much solder on it. There are also several surface mount capacitors and resistors on the board which are very small. I’m sure any electronics shop could do this job for you if you don’t want to chance it.