This is probably the common problem of the 20-tooth blue gear sheared off inside the odometer. You can get a replacement one at www.odometergears.com for $25 plus $4 shipping. Improved plastic, works great. This is a delicate tweezer job, but not beyond anyone. There is a clear plastic shield that must be removed to get at the gear, might involve drilling a small hole to get at the screw that holds it.

 

Welcome to Allpar. Check the plastic odometer drive gears for breakage or stripped teeth?
http://www.odometergears.com/products/Chrysler-Dodge/All+except+Monaco/125

 

There are internal plastic gears that are broken. They look like this (good one and bad one):




Unless you are pretty skilled at disassembling and repairing sub assemblies, you would probably do best by finding a speedometer repair shop that can replace those gears. A few people here have made the repair. Unfortunately many of the old posts disappeared when the forum board was upgraded. I do have some more pictures of the speedometer head if you think that this is a repair you want to tackle. Just post back and I will try to dig up those pictures.

 

once you fix it.... never push the trip reset again. That is what killed mine. I pushed it for work mileage and i heard the crunch of broken teeth.
I replaced mine but wouldnt want to do it again.

 

It's been my experience that pushing the trip odometer reset WHILE MOVING is the only issue. Once I resolved never to do that, I never had a problem again. Reset it while not in motion and it should be OK.

 

If you are handy at DIY repairs and can cope with small parts and tight spaces then changing out the broken gears is all you need to do. The instructions supplied with the gears, and also on line, YouTube, etc. detail what's involved. This repair takes less than an hour once you remove the instrument cluster from the car. You need good eyes, steady hands, good lighting and a nice place to work. Only basic hand tools and patience are needed to get the job done.

 

Thank you all for the fast and informative replies. I had removed the speedo to examine it, didn't notice the broken gears but then again, didn't disassemble it and it appears as though I wouldn't see this gear damage unless I disassembled the speedo itself. I also didn't notice any bits of plastic anywhere in the speedo or the gauge housing. But, this makes sense so I'll give it a go.

 

John, any other pix would be appreciated, either here or to my email: resolver1@comcast.net. Thanx much

There are internal plastic gears that are broken. They look like this (good one and bad one):
Unless you are pretty skilled at disassembling and repairing sub assemblies, you would probably do best by finding a speedometer repair shop that can replace those gears. A few people here have made the repair. Unfortunately many of the old posts disappeared when the forum board was upgraded. I do have some more pictures of the speedometer head if you think that this is a repair you want to tackle. Just post back and I will try to dig up those pictures.

 

There is an instructional video on the odometergears website.
Does the electric odometer drive motor turn if it is plugged into the harness and the car moved?

 

I remember having to drill a tiny hole through a Lexan cover to get a screwdrier at a screw, to remove the gearset, which took tweezers and pliers. Not hard, but you need patience and an hour or two.

 

Below is a picture of two speedometer heads as viewed from the side. The silver colored odometer drive motor is shown at the top of the picture under the plastic shield. Once the plastic shield is out of the way, the odometer motor can be unscrewed and gently lifted (wires will still be attached) exposing the gear pod. The gears can be swapped at that point.

Each model of vehicle from the late 80's to mid 90's has a different speedometer head and they are manufactured by VDO. Speedometer heads from different models are usually not interchangeable, but all the FWD EEK cars all use the same gears. In most cases, the speedometer needle will have to be removed and that is where the biggest risk of damage by a DIYer can occur. Sometimes the needle comes off easily and other times it is stuck on so hard that the force to pry it off can damage the unit. The needle has to come off before the shield can be removed. Some people report that they have been able to drill through the shield to get to the screws and lift the motor enough to swap out the gears. Note that the shield for the unit on the right side of my picture has a pretty good gap between the top of the motor and the shield, but for the unit on the left, the shield sits right over the motor. These speedometer heads (from a junkyard) came from different vehicle models, but I can't tell you what they were.

Since the shield functions as a light guide to illuminate the bezel with distributed light (when your dashboard lights are on), cutting it off or removing it permanently would probably not be a good idea.

 

You can find a multitude of how to videos on youtube. That's where I learned how to replace the gear in my Saturn. If you do it yourself, take your time. That plastic gets brittle with age and if you're not careful, you can break tabs! Don't ask how I know, I just do. LOL

 

I just noticed that there is a set of both gears for $22+ plus $3 shipping from a seller on EBay. They probably aren't as good as Jeff's gears (odometer gears.com), but unless you are going to keep your car going for many years, I would be tempted to go for these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Plymo...Speedometer-Odometer-gear-Repair-kit-includes-both-gears-/151587282207#ht_0wt_0

 

I just noticed that there is a set of both gears for $22+ plus $3 shipping from a seller on EBay. They probably aren't as good as Jeff's gears (odometer gears.com), but unless you are going to keep your car going for many years, I would be tempted to go for these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Plymouth-Chrysler-Speedometer-Odometer-gear-Repair-kit-includes-both-gears-/151587282207#ht_0wt_0

All 17 sets were sold. I guess that is an indication of how prevalent the problem is. Hopefully the OP got a set.

 

John, I did NOT have to remove the speedometer needle. I drilled through the Lexan and got at the gears without touching the needle. I think my way was far less risky.

 

Yes, you are one of the lucky ones with the wide gap between the top of the motor and the shield. That gap allows you to lift the motor to get to the gears without removing the shield. That is less risky and the way to go. Presumebly it had no effect on the light distribution over the bezel when you are driving at night with such a small hole drilled.

However, as shown in the picture, some models had only a 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of gap which was not enough to raise the motor and access the gears. It is hard to say how the OPs 1989 New Yorker's speedometer head was built.

 

I'll have to do the same job on my Acclaim, thanks again for the replies.

And i habe to say....it's stunning that you can ask ANYTHING about vehicles, that are no longer seen that often an the streets, a few people here are true machines knowing anything about almost all Mopars ever produced....thanks for that, pretty impressive!!

 

When my odometer gear broke in my last car, I started keeping a logbook of mileage. I had about 268K miles on it and didn't want to miss my goal of going over 300,000 miles. It took several weeks to get the part and fix it, and as soon as it was fixed, I brought the odometer into work and rigged it up to a frequency generator. I fed it 50% duty cycle pulses, and turned up the frequency. As I did so, the indicated speed climbed to over 100 mph, and the miles started racking up. After about 20 hours, I had added on the missing 2,000 or so miles that it skipped during the time it was broken. So if you are so inclined, you can restore the missing miles.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Plymo...773&meid=3be50d38fcb64b689e4ad35745dda5ff&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=4&sd=151587282207

There's more listed again. I got the same set from the same seller for my Spirit. They looked pretty good and installed pretty easily. I couldn't see paying $50 plus shipping for 2 gears about the size of a dime.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dodge-Plymouth-Chrysler-Speedometer-Odometer-gear-Repair-kit-includes-both-gears/161622810197?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=28773&meid=3be50d38fcb64b689e4ad35745dda5ff&pid=100011&rk=1&rkt=4&sd=151587282207

There's more listed again. I got the same set from the same seller for my Spirit. They looked pretty good and installed pretty easily. I couldn't see paying $50 plus shipping for 2 gears about the size of a dime.

Heh. Same gears my 1991 Cougar uses. And this guy? Is local to me! However, his email isn't working (from his web site). I'd rather pick up in town than pay shipping, but eh.

RwP

 

It's always the 20-tooth gear, so it's $29 with shipping. If you know what it takes to have a mold machined, and turn out small quantities, that's a fair price. Especially when the plastic is a more rugged type.

 

Sure - didn't say it wasn't. Just thought it was funny to me. It's like the Teves Mk II Integral ABS that a lot of the Gen1 MN12 owners keep working ... by scavaging parts off of GMs of that vintage with the Teves Mk II!

Bought a set of those gears and drove out to the guy's shop to pick them up. Speedometer is now fixed, is going back into the car this week (before a long trip Thursday).

RwP

 

I used a screwdriver that removes tacks or staples to lift my needles up. I put the RPM one back in the same spot but the rpm is now wrong. The mph is correct. Small price to pay for it working again. I may pull the needle off again and put it on while at idle.

 

wow 17 sold in a week . I need to quit my job and make these...

 

Well, followed the advice: took the speedo apart and, not realizing until AFTER I disassembled the gear/motor that I didn't have to, I pulled the needle off the speedo. Anyway, got the gears, put them and and all would have been well except I couldn't get the needle back onto the speedo.
So, good money having been wasted on the gears that would have made everything better until I fixed it real good, off to a local 'recycler' I go and find a speedo from a '93 New Yorker that plugged right in except I had to remove one of the panel light bulbs. All works well except the speedo reads incorrectly. Is there ANY way to adjust these things like we could do on a mechanically-driven speedo or do I have to learn what the real speed is and drive accordingly?.
Sometimes................

 

Too bad you didn't read my post #15, which said that you don't need to remove the needle.

Post #19 tells how to wind the odometer ahead electrically. Can't be wound backwards.

 

Some were 125 MPH speedometers and some were 120 MPH. In my picture in an earlier post, the one on the left was a 125 MPH max and the other was a 120. Are the two that you have different in that regard? That could explain why they read differently.
Getting the needle on should be easy if it is not damaged. Removing it is where it gets tricky.

 

Well, John, the unit I took out of the '89 (the one I snapped the speedo needle on) is 85 mph. The one I put in, from a '93, is 120 mph. It reads 35 when doing 40 mph. The speedo needle snapped off with about 1/4" of very thin (maybe 16-18 gauge) rod at the inside end. It doesn't seem to push into anything, more that it seems to have broken off from the same size pin inside. I can't get it to stick into anything to put it back in place and trying to super-glue it on only results in getting it glued to the case. If I can't figure out how t0 get the speedo needle from the original '89 back in place, I will re-number the face of the '93, making each current '0' reading into a '5' reading, ie: '40' will now become '45'.

 

That's not good. The needle should have come off flush. I'd say the movement is shot on that unit. The 85 mph units are also very rare. I thought all the 85 mph were cable driven units, but apparently in 1989 there was an 85 mph electrically driven speedometer. You can refer to this link for the different types of cluster over the EEK AC/AY body style.
http://dodgedynasty.50megs.com/mods/cluster/acay.html

One thing you might try, is to use the 120 mph speedometer (assuming it fits OK) and try changing the pinion gear in the speed sensor. You will need to see what is in there now, and go to a gear with 1 less number of teeth. The pinion gears are color coded according to the number of teeth.

If you have a blue gear (20 teeth), switch to a yellow gear (19 teeth).
If you have a yellow gear, switch to a red gear (18 teeth).

Part #'s are
4567883 Red 18 teeth
4567880 Yellow 19 teeth
4567882 Blue 20 teeth

The housing for the speed sensor that has the pinion gear attached, is located on the transaxle, driver's side axle extension. It faces up and has a wiring harness plug connected. There is one 10 mm head screw holding it in-place and an internal o-ring that sometimes makes it a little tough to pull up the speed sensor. Expect some small amount of transmission oil to come out when you pull the speed sensor. Good luck.

BTW, I should have a yellow gear in my spare parts collection (sent for cost of postage) if you find that you have the blue gear and need to change it to yellow. If you need a red gear, find one online or visit your Mopar parts counter. They will probably have to order it.