I know there are a lot of posts about replacing the odometer gear on here, so maybe someone had the same problem I'm having. I replaced the gear in my 1987 240 wagon, and it works great, but now I'm trying it on a relative's car (same model, but 1988) and once I put everything back together the odometer still doesn't work, and the speedometer is now not working! I checked all of the connections in the back, and they're just like the ones in my car (except I put a tach in mine so the red/white cable is connected, while in the problem car it's not connected to anything). I took everything out and put it back in a couple of times, still not working. Please help!

(I read something about a clip that's supposed to be over the back of the speedo, but I never ran into it in either car... could that cause problems in an 88 but not an 87? maybe i snapped it off without seeing it and it vanished? i have no idea...)

Thanks for the quick response! I took the instrument cluster out of MY car, put it in the other car, and everything (speedo and all) works fine. I put that car's instrument cluster back in and everything works except the speedo. I then drove around a bit and it turns out the odometer IS working. So I guess I fixed the original problem (broken odometer) but have now created a bigger problem (since I'm pretty sure it's not legal to drive around without a speedo). I'm going to just keep taking it apart and putting it back together; I must have not screwed something in correctly. I don't think I damaged the needle or anything... I was pretty careful. Thanks again!

The white plastic cover that was over the 3 wire plastic plug is not needed, but I would make sure that the 3 wire plastic plug itself is securely pushed into place over the ears of the connector board, because I think this is the speedometer connector. There is an orange wire with a kind of clear plastic plug that pushes onto one of the 2 terminals just a little above the 3 wire plug, and of course the large round terminal plug and the smaller plug (half moon with 4 female receptors) then the small white plastic spade that plugs on just below the half moon plug. I just replaced the odometer gear on my 1988 and to test everything, and so I didn't have pull it out again, I left the cluster pushed in just enough so I could turn the steering wheel yet get my hands behind to ensure all the connectors were seated. As a note, my odometer worked for 2.5 tenths of mile, then quit again. I drove it about 12 miles and stopped to play golf, came back 2 hours later and when I drove home the odometer started working. I don't know why that happened either, unless it had not worked for so long it wasn't accustomed to rotating.

I'm not too sure what suggestions I can make, as when I fixed my odometer I was lucky--got in, switched the gear, and reinstalled the instrument cluster without any problems.

I would say that the problem likely lies within your instrument cluster--you probably didn't pull any wires in your car loose while removing it. So, I would suggest taking the cluster back apart using the same technique as before until you get to the part where you put in the gear. Re-assemble the instrument cluster and install it, and see if it works.

I don't know what else you might want to try doing. You've checked the connections, so it's not a forgotten wire. Do the other gauges besides the odometer and speedometer work? I wouldn't think it would be too likely you could break something that affects only those two instruments, so you probably forgot to put something back or put it in wrong. Good luck getting things working again!
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'89 244 GL -- 113,600 miles (see profile for info on car)