560sl odometer and speedometer not working
 

Hey everyone..my odometer and speedomter stopped working this morning..just out of the blue stopped working. Any ideas of what is causing this? I hope to gosh that they don't have to go into the dash board..I understand that can be very expensive.

Any thoughts?

Happy Holidays from Charlotte

it's fairly easy to push the instument cluster out from behind. unscrew the speedo drive to make sure it still spins. it might be the cable.

(if you remove the cluster, don't start the car. you will be covered in oil.)

if the cable spins, your problem is in the speedometer itself.

on some older mechanical vdo's, the 10ths wheel gets stripped from the shaft. if you are confident, you can dismember the speedometer and force fit the 10ths wheel back on with piece of waxed thread ( had worked three times in three different cars )

do not reset the trip meter while moving. that is what strips it from the shaft.

Important to remember for new owners
 

Tryan
Too funny your last comment hits it on the head. Don't wonder if it is broken or not just ask the question: Did you reset it while you were moving? I did on Friday right after I bought the car. Thanks for the information. Good thing I live in Norfolk VA which is just across the river from Odometer gears http://www.odometergears.com/mercedes.html.

Thanks again
Pat

Suggest you ignore the above advice about the cable spinning. Your 560 has an electric speedo.

I am having the same trouble with my 380. Here is the best post on the topic:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=18744&highlight=380sl+speedometer

Odometer issues
 

Thanks for the comment ctaylor738. There might be some clarification needed on this. My speedometer works fine just my odometer not working. My odometer is 100% mechanical so something turns it and that points to broken little gears inside the instrument so I shall investigate in that direction. Thanks
Pat

This might help both you and the OP http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=206598&highlight=odometer

If you look on ebay under "mercedes speedometer," you'll find a guy named Jason in Phoenix who fixes them. His email is jschoenfeld at coxdotnet. He fixed mine. What usually happens, he said, is that either the gears get a small chip and get stuck, or the gears lose their adhesion to the rod that threads through them.