My 83 300D odometer never worked but the speedometer works fine. Thanks to the excellent pictorial how to from Dieselgiant, which provided the diagnosis of exactly what's wrong. After reviewing the procedure and the recommendation of applying threadlocker to the strategic spot on the shaft, I decided it was not do-able without getting the thread locker in places you don't want to and thus freezing up the whole thing.

The problem with my odometer was as described by Dieselgiant: the pot metal gear was spinning on the shaft. Applying thread lock to just that part of the shaft is not really possible unless you're a magician.

I used a different approach which is simpler and requires much less disassembly. Basically I "knurled" the part of the shaft where it contacts the pot metal gear so it will not spin anymore. See the murky photo where the shaky hand drawn line points to, that is the end of the shaft (with the brass gear) that you have to withdraw about half an inch. To do that, you'll need to remove the retainer on the other end of the shaft first (as shown in the dieselgiant photos), then use a small drill bit and push the shaft out about half an inch. Next, determine where the contact area of the shaft to the pot metal gear is by measuring it and marking it with a indelible marker. Now take a wire cuter and "knurl" the marked area of the shaft to make it just a little bigger in diameter where it counts. Don't go nuts doing it or you will have a hard time getting the shaft back in, just a few nicks all around where you have marked it is enough. Use a small flat ended punch and a hammer to tap the shaft back in and that's it!

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Congradulations on your repair and thanks for the additional description. I will be tackling this one soon my-self.

"Now take a wire cuter and "knurl" the marked area of the shaft to make it just a little bigger in diameter where it counts."

I've done several this way, using a small pair of small bolt cutters to "knoth" the shaft. Then I didnt have to worry about "glueing" all the works together

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

I will try this soon on the sd,then i will be able to check fuel mileage.

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1982 300sd (totalled) 1992 300se

Here's another fuzzy pic. A is the brass gear. B is the pot metal gear and is the one that slips.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Can't seem to post pics anymore. Is the feature disabled?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Did you mean "notch" the shaft?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

Repairing the odometer was one of the most satisfying repairs I did on my car, for a short moment I felt like a genius

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

While I had the thing open, I bypassed the rheostat which was also broke, so I'll have dash lights again. Checked all the bulbs and cleaned all the bulb contacts on the PC board with an eraser. I also have this jumpy fuel gauge. I re-soldered the the printed circuit "tab" above the rheostat, which was loose and reportedly can give you a jumpy gauge. Have not re-installed the instrument panel yet but I hope all my repairs will work.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I installed the instrument cluster and everything now works! The "knurling" did the job and the odometer is now clocking the miles. Bypassing the dimmer switch and re-soldering the bad connection on the mother board gave me a lighted cockpit and also the fuel gauge now works much better, it's not jumping full scale as before just a little twitchy at times. I think I'll pull the fuel sender next and clean the resistance wire with 600 grit paper and that should fix it for good, hopefully.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked