80' 450sl odometer stopped working

I have a 1980 450sl - my odometer has all of a sudden stopped working. I reset the tripometer and it will go 9/10 of a mile and then both stop again! Can this be repaired/fixed??

Any thoughts are welcomed.

[suginami]

Yes, it can be fixed.

There is a lot of information here in the archives, if you can find it. Try the search function, and if you have enough patience, you'll find the threads.

There are VDO shops that can rebuild yours for you. There are several shops that advertise in the Star Magazine.

Try calling Bill (webmaster) and Donnie's (Benzmac) shop in Peachtree (they own this website).

There is a link to their shop, MB Autowerks, on the home page. I'm sure they could help you out in this regard.

[kip Foss]

I just got through going through my speedo and it is dead easy. My instrument cluster slides out easily but you may need to make two hooks from a coat hanger or the like to slide in between the cluster and the dash to help the cluster out. The cluster is connected by an oil line, a wiring harness, and the speedo cable. All are easy to remove. The oil line takes a 10 mm wrench. The speedo cable might need a pair of pliers, no more.

The speedo comes away from the cluster after removing 4 approx. 6 mm screws. A nut driver is handy for this. Unplug the instrument lights and you should have the speedo in your hand. Good time to replace the lights.

The speedo is held to the backing plate with 2 screws. The drive side of the speedo comes away from the dial with 2 screws. This gives you access to the gears (nylon) and the odometer and trip meter. Both are simple but be careful not to take out the small rod that goes across the top of the odometer. This frees up all the cylinders and will take some time to get back together. If there is a problem with the trip meter it should be obvious at this point.

I took mine apart because the needle would stick and then jump ahead. The problem was that a small screw had come loose from just above where the cable comes into the gears and had jamed the magnetic coupling (that is the two metal dishes that trun inside each other). One is connected to the speedo cable and the other to the needle. See that this screw is tight.

Before you start on this clean a place to work so that if you drop a screw you can find it. I don't think that you need to oil anything since the moving parts are nylon. A drop of oil where the cable comes into the speedo might not hurt but I wouldn't spread a lot of grease around.

Good luck

[kip Foss]

I forgot to mention that you must first take off your steering wheel. Before you start, center the wheel so that you can put it back on in the same place.

Pry out the plastic plug in the center of the wheel. Get a 17 mm (I think) socket with an extension and remove the nut inside the wheel. My whell slid off w/o any trouble. You might have to tap your's from the back if it sticks.

When you put the wheel back on put a piece of crumpled paper or a rag in the socket so that it will keep the nut from sliding up into the socket when you try to stab the nut on the shaft. You can't get your fingers inside the wheel so you have to put the nut in the socket and then tip it down the hole.