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PV544 Odometers[444-544/1963] posted by Gary on
Saturday, 9 January 1999, at 7:34 p.m.
I posted a message in early September on broken odometers but working speedometers. I got a good response (from Leonard) and today, I attempted to pull out my instrument cluster and remove the odometer and trip odometer. I ran into trouble.
I disconnected all of the bulbs, labeled them, disconnected the speedometer cable, unfastened the trip odometer reset pull from the bottom of the dash, and removed the 2 7/16" hex nuts that secure the cluster to the back of the dash. I did not yet disconnect the wires from the fuel gauge (4-5 wires on 2 terminals) nor the wires to the wiper motor? (silver cannister @ 3"x3") just over the fuel gauge on the left when looking from the back upside down. There's 4 female connectors on that motor and I don't see how to get that off but it may not need to be removed. That wiper motor does make it difficult to remove the fuel gauge wires.
Right now, the cluster is loose and can be pushed in a maximum of 2", but I cannot wiggle it out the front. It can't come out the back because of a metal bar just to the left of the steering column that does not appear to be removable. I know that the temp gauge has a hose that cannot be disturbed but I only see a cable partly covered by a black plastic sleeve going into the back of the temp gauge. I have not removed the temp gauge yet. does the temp gauge have to be removed BEFORE the cluster comes out?
Once the cluster is out in my hands, does the chrome bezel come off via bent clips? Then the transparent plastic cover lifts off and access to the odometers is available?
Please advise, am I doing this properly? With limited clearance (2 inches), I'm having difficulty in pushing the cluster in to then get it out. Tricks you've used? What did I forget? Thanks for any help.
Re: PV544 Odometers[444-544/1963] posted by Mike Dudek on
Sunday, 10 January 1999, at 3:58 a.m.
Gary,
It has been many years since I removed one (I have one with the same problem now) so I don't know about the wiper motor/wires but the fuel guage connections and temp guage definately need to come out. The temp guage tube as you say, is a capillary tube that is copper filled with a gas that expands with increased heat moving the guage needle via a mechanical linkage. It is all rather fragile, so be very careful with the tube. If kinked it could block the gas from the guage or if ruptured the gas will escape. Either catastrophic to the operation of the guage. Try to get a little slack to work with by carefully pushing the tube from the engine compartment through the firewall. Hope this helps.
Mike
'61 P210, '73 1800ES, '84 244DL, '84 GTO
Re: PV544 Odometers[444-544/1963] posted by Jim McDonald on
Sunday, 10 January 1999, at 2:57 p.m.
Remove the wiper assembly. It's held in by the 2 nuts on the cowling and a 6mm screw inside.
You'l need to remove the temp. sensor bulb from the head and ,as Mike says CAREFULLY push it back through the firewall as you remove the panel[with the gage still installed]. The "cable" you see is the capillary tube.
Be sure to disconnect the battery ground lead before messing with the wiring to the fuel gage.
When you get the speedo out[yes, straigten the tabs], you'll find the gears that drive the odo eaten up; do you have spares? The drive gear taps out along with the plug that holds it in.
Re: PV544 Odometers[444-544/1963] posted by Chris Stevens on
Sunday, 10 January 1999, at 9:26 p.m.
Gary,
I recently performed the same surgery on a 1963 122, which should be similar. I think that I went through far more agony than was really necessary though - I removed the steering column brace, the choke cable, the ignition switch.... Eventually I found that simply removing the temperature gauge from the cluster and disconnecting the wires to the fuel gauge was sufficient to allow the cluster to be rotated so that I could pull it out the front of the dash, although removing the ignition switch really helped.
A couple of things that might help you:
1. It doesn't look like there is even remotely enough room to pull out the instrument cluster - but there really is (at least on a 122).
2. The face of the instrument cluster comes off fairly easily. I ended up replacing the speedometer drive and a few other bits with ones from a good cluster. I couldn't just swap the whole cluster because my replacement unit had a bad trip odometer. A warning if you do this: My speedometer now reads 80mph when I'm doing around 50. I suspect that I un-calibrated it when I replaced the drive. So now I have another project to remove it and have it calibrated. My suggestion is find a speedometer shop to calibrate yours before you reinstall it - unless someone has better advice (which I'd love to have myself. Anyone?)
--
Chris Stevens