Odometer gear busted one tooth!

White Lincoln

White Lincoln

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New Mexico
Vehicle Details
1994 Mercury Cougar XR7, 3.8L, all stock
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SOB!
Took the Cougar out for a spin this morning after fixing he seat belt to see if I could actually make it burn some rubber. As I am driving along, I look down and I noticed my odometer reset had not changed from 0000 since the last time I reset it. Then I notice my main odometer is not changing either! SOB! "If it's not one thing..."

So I tore my steering wheel and dash assembly out to get to the display assembly. I made sure I did not have one of the two cables partially disconnected. I start tearing into the display assembly and pull the speedometer out. I start tearing it apart, afraid I was dang well going to brake or scar something bad. I got it all apart and I can't see any gears with issues. I pull off the drive gear for the speedometer and sure enough, ONE GEAR IS BROKE OFF, laying there next where it should be.

It's not the part replacement and all the work to get into fix it, its THE COST!!!!! I did find one on Amazon for $32, about the cheapest I can find without getting into risky vendors from somewhere I can't spell and it be made of really cheap plastic.

The red arrow is pointing to the broken gear sitting next to the gear.

BTW: I forgot to mention that the gear will be here by 8 am tomorrow. Knowing Amazon, that will be 7 pm tomorrow night. Sometimes I think our delivery guy drops off our packages last before hitting the bars for the night.
 

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One of the common failure for these cars. One of the reasons you can't really trust the mileage if you buy one. With the age of them now I guess it's not really a concern. Wouldn't be surprised if odometer fraud was a thing on these back in the day given how easy it is.

Not a bad job to fix just lots of time to take apart everything, and having to deal with the brittle dash parts.

They have about doubled in price since 2017, I paid $23.72 back then. Best price I can find now is 45 on eBay.
 
I still have 35k in the car 5 years later lol.
 
Even the article they guy did on this 8 years ago paid $20. Just sad. I have to laugh at eBay sellers trying to sell things at a higher price than years past. I am like "the crap is still used and probably not worth anything". A set of Ralph Lauren frames from the 80's that I bougth a few years ago averaged around $30, used of course. This lady was trying to sell her POS frames, and they were in pretty bad shape for $135! WTF is WRONG with people.

The average now for those gears is about $50. It is criminal. Shipping is not much more these days nor was the part in that high of demand or out of stock. So, I ask you WHY??? WTF gives people the right to just jack prices cause everyone else is? Minions...

Oh wait, don't answer that. Capitalism. WOOT!

(kicking foot stool out from under me)
 
...and we all have a lot of shit we could get rid of.
 
Okay guys, the gear is in and I took it for a drive. Using a GPS App called GPS Speedometer & Odometer by Cool Niks, I found I did not need to adjust my speedo needle. I might be a mile off, but heck, it used to be about 5 miles off for the last 20 years. My odometer recorded I drove for 1/2 mile and I watched the reset odometer moving as I drove.

I would like that thank this web site for providing really easy to use instrucitons that confirmed my assembly and process was correct.


I would like to add that using a microfiber soft towel on the face plate, clear screen and any other areas for removing finger prints and dust is an excellent way to keep the process clean along with using compressed air to blow any dust that settles on the components while working on the speedometer.

Now to put everything back together.

Hope this helps someone else down the road.
 
White Lincoln said:
Even the article they guy did on this 8 years ago paid $20. Just sad. I have to laugh at eBay sellers trying to sell things at a higher price than years past. I am like "the crap is still used and probably not worth anything". A set of Ralph Lauren frames from the 80's that I bougth a few years ago averaged around $30, used of course. This lady was trying to sell her POS frames, and they were in pretty bad shape for $135! WTF is WRONG with people.

The average now for those gears is about $50. It is criminal. Shipping is not much more these days nor was the part in that high of demand or out of stock. So, I ask you WHY??? WTF gives people the right to just jack prices cause everyone else is? Minions...

Oh wait, don't answer that. Capitalism. WOOT!

(kicking foot stool out from under me)
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Do what I do and just don't buy it then. Just because they are asking that price doesn't mean they are or ever will get it. Ebay used to be good for car parts (20+ years ago) when it really was just a bunch of guys selling parts. Now, 90% of parts for sale are from junkyards. Some have reasonable prices. Others just throw crap up there for some ridiculous price in the hopes that somebody stumbles upon it one day that really needs it and pays their price. They don't care if it sits there for 5 years. At the end of the day, a part is worth what somebody is willing to pay.
 
KevinVarnes said:
Do what I do and just don't buy it then.
Click to expand...
Exactly! That was the first thing I have considered and pretty much knew the seller was an idiot. I quite buying on eBay because I can't trust the sellers anymore and can't trust if its packed right to make the trip. I buy used from Etsy if I can find it.
 
Ebay is still a good source for tools and parts, it just takes a lot longer to sort through all of the garbage first. I've never been burned by anyone selling me something that was misrepresented or over-priced. The last issue I had was a bent cam sprocket on a used cylinder head that was clearly straight in the auction pictures. Junkyard refunded my money within a day after I sent pictures. There are good sellers out there yet. Unfortunately there are a lot of not real great sellers as well.
 
KevinVarnes said:
Ebay is still a good source for tools and parts, it just takes a lot longer to sort through all of the garbage first. I've never been burned by anyone selling me something that was misrepresented or over-priced. The last issue I had was a bent cam sprocket on a used cylinder head that was clearly straight in the auction pictures. Junkyard refunded my money within a day after I sent pictures. There are good sellers out there yet. Unfortunately there are a lot of not real great sellers as well.
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You are lucky then Kevin. I kept getting burned with electronic stuff and have tried to report some false advertising and their BS percentage rates and never got anywhere with them. I bought a CAT back for my 94 3.8 and got a 93 or earlier AFTER they guy assured me it was for a 94. I fought with that SOB from Canada (who gave my VISA number to someone, yes I have proof) and eBay and I ended up losing - stuck with a CAT back I could not use. After a few years I got tired of it sitting around and gave it to a scrap man. Got tired of the way eBay has become a market place of scammers. Not that all are, as you mentioned, you have to dig and dig and find someone honestly selling a product for a good price and have a 100% approval rating with over 300 sales. AND, they are not jacking up their shipping to compensate the lower price of the product. But I am telling you Kevin, "it's a jungle out there".

Dang it Kevin... you got me all riled up now! :p
 
I gave up on ebay almost 4 years ago. They screwed me over (as a seller) because I didn't have enough transactions in recent history for them to be bothered to help me with a minor problem with how their system processed a transaction (CSR's words).

It's been a little tricky finiding what I need on other sites... but my wallet has benefited from not buying a bunch of crap that I don't need from that place. :)

The only thing they have going for them is the fact that they're still the dominant marketplace for most of the random stuff that can be impossible to find elsewhere.
 
theterminator93 said:
I gave up on ebay almost 4 years ago. They screwed me over (as a seller) because I didn't have enough transactions in recent history for them to be bothered to help me with a minor problem with how their system processed a transaction (CSR's words).

It's been a little tricky finiding what I need on other sites... but my wallet has benefited from not buying a bunch of crap that I don't need from that place. :)

The only thing they have going for them is the fact that they're still the dominant marketplace for most of the random stuff that can be impossible to find elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Have you tried Etsy? They can be pricey on some stuff, but offer more and more as more buyers use it for everything else that is not a "home made craft". My wife got mad that I was buying my Win 11 and Office software licenses on there. Dang! Who can beat $10 - $15 for a license???
 
I've more or less replaced it with a combination of Amazon, Etsy and Mercari. Though the latter is hit-or-miss with some "sellers" just ignoring you and never shipping stuff. :facepalm:
 
White Lincoln said:
Even the article they guy did on this 8 years ago paid $20. Just sad. I have to laugh at eBay sellers trying to sell things at a higher price than years past. I am like "the crap is still used and probably not worth anything". A set of Ralph Lauren frames from the 80's that I bougth a few years ago averaged around $30, used of course. This lady was trying to sell her POS frames, and they were in pretty bad shape for $135! WTF is WRONG with people.

The average now for those gears is about $50. It is criminal. Shipping is not much more these days nor was the part in that high of demand or out of stock. So, I ask you WHY??? WTF gives people the right to just jack prices cause everyone else is? Minions...

Oh wait, don't answer that. Capitalism. WOOT!

(kicking foot stool out from under me)
Click to expand...

Capitalism is not to blame. It's called greed.
 
I have noticed though if you look at somethng on ebay and go away, in a couple days I usually get a hey, price dropped notice. doesn't always work but if they are tacking close they can sweeten the offer. BARTER still works at times.
 
Generalee0527 said:
I have noticed though if you look at somethng on ebay and go away, in a couple days I usually get a hey, price dropped notice. doesn't always work but if they are tacking close they can sweeten the offer. BARTER still works at times.
Click to expand...
I get that a lot if I put something in my watch list. but 5% discount really does little to encourage me to buy the product.
 
Generalee0527 said:
I have noticed though if you look at somethng on ebay and go away, in a couple days I usually get a hey, price dropped notice. doesn't always work but if they are tacking close they can sweeten the offer. BARTER still works at times.
Click to expand...

I’ve also found if an offer expires you can contact the seller and haggle even lower using said offer… “hey I saw your offer last week and it was definitely tempting but it’s still a bit too much, I could use these but only for $x.xx.

I’ve had decent success with that angle.
 
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