Car is a 1984 300SD. My odometer crapped out about 2 weeks ago. The trip started slipping and catching and then stopped alltogether (the trip odo drives the main odo - so that stopped turning as well). Everything else guage wise works. Odometer failure from what I have read is fairly common. Usually the gear spins on the shaft, or one or all of the three gears break.
After pulling the guage cluster and then pulling the speedo, my gears looked intact. Unfortunately the speedo / Odo looks to be more electronic than other versions (which can be fixed fairly easily as documented on this site).
So I'm going to send the unit off for repair. I'm thinking of sending the entire guage pod cluster as I'm worried about how to package the speedo needle if I send just that guage. Keeping the speedo in the cluster seems the best way to protect the instruments.
Of course the question is - would you drive a car without guages for up to two weeks waiting on the repaired unit to come back??? I'm 99% sure you can physically do it. Car is otherwise up to snuff (new oil cooler lines, water pump, etc.) As I type this.... it is pretty nuts no matter how well maintained... hmmmm
