Speedometer has been flakey over the past month. Won't function, If I cut the car off and back on clears up. Intermittent problem. This morning Noticed on the way to work that the Odometer and Tripometer were not racking up the miles. Is the Odometer controled by a relay or fuse or is it mechanical? Could not find anything in Haynes.

I do not have an "Electronic" Cluster. Needle speed & tach. no trip computer.

Dennis
'96 850 GLT - 190K

The odometer is mechanical and subject to odometer gear failure. A tiny little plastic gear in your odometer has lost a tooth or two which makes your odometer inoperative. Mine failed last year in my 1996 Volvo 850.

You may go to the dealer who will try to sell you a whole new instrument cluster costing $690 plus labor or go to odometergears.com. The fellow who runs this business sells the gear for around $25. You must remove the instrument cluster from the dash, disassemble the cluster to access the odometer and disassemble it to access the gear. There are two types of gears, one has more gear teeth than the other. You must note how many teeth your gear has and order the correct new one. Do a search using the words"Volvo 850 odometer gear failure" and a site will pop up with instructions on how to disassemble the instrument cluster. Check Bay 13 for instrument cluster removal instructions. Micro torx screwdrivers are required to disassemble the cluster.

I is amazing that a gear so small can cause so much trouble. Small wonder that all new cars have electronic odometers and trip meters. (no gears to break).

Dan

Thanks - Will do. Already had the Cluster out once to replace back lights for clock, etc. Got my w/e project now.....

DB

DennisB,
How'd the gear change go? I'll be doing the same soon, mine stopped last weekend.
1995 850
Darrell942
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Learning, Loving, and growning. Volvo just keeps it interesting!