The odometer in my '86 740 hasn't been working for a few months. A recent post said I could be as lucky as just needed to unstick a gear. However, I did not find a stuck gear. http://www.odometergears.com/ says that a common failure is a gear in the electronically driven volvo speedometer. My car's speedometer is not cable driven.

My question is how do I get access to that little gear to see if it's broken? I've got the speedometer/odometer part out of the rest of the cluster. I found little tabs to remove the device that controls the speedometer needle, but I can't remove it because the needle is connected to it and I'm afraid of using too much force to disconnect the needle.

Thanks,
Nathan

They do make special pliers or tweezers for pulling instrument needles- they're usually just pressed on, but of course they're delicate.
The 740 isn't subject to gear failures *that I know of*. The problems in 740 instruments are usually electronic in nature, really just poor connections mostly.
Good luck!
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '86 244DL- 215K, 87 244DL- 230K, 88 744GLE- 198K, 91 244 180K

Well, I did finally get that needle off. I just pried it off. I was worried it wasn't going to work right because it wouldn't turn freely. It was bent, so I tried to bend it back. Now it turns ok, I hope it registers correctly. I dissassembled it to the point where I could roll the mileage forward. I took the gears off of the motor that drives the odometer (it is _not_ electroncically driven like the speedo) and found the culprit gear. It is the one that website in my first post sells. I'll be getting one from him after I search my city for a specialty instruments/clockwork shop.

On another note, do you know how I could wire up a temporary engine temperature instrument so I can tell if I've lost fluid or whatever could happen.

Thanks,
Nathan