Stuck Odometer

[Plan B]

My odometer has just stuck on 42000. I've got an MOT due end of this month and I assume this might impact it being passed. Whilst it's a dark temptation to freeze the car's mileage I really need to get this fixed in any event. I know this is a common problem and I've tried thumping the speedo to try to jolt it free with no result. I've read another possibility is to ping the trip reset in hope it frees things but I can't even do this as the reset button was jammed into the depressed position when I bought the car - I assume by the previous owner trying the same thing. I'm loathed to send the speedo away as I hear from other forum comments that I could be waiting months to get the repaired thing back. So before I take out the dash my question is whether it's an easy job to remove the back of the speedo casing so I can get some graphite into the tumblers. Is this like opening a sealed for life cover or are there nice friendly set screws?
Any other thoughts also welcome.
The car is 1998 if that has a bearing on the speedo type.

[Goaty Bill]

As you have no doubt read; they usually start working again when they are 'in the mood' to do so.
It should not affect your ability to get an MOT as they won't be putting enough miles on it to notice that is isn't working; i.e. 0/10s miles

[Podie]

Goaty Bill said:

As you have no doubt read; they usually start working again when they are 'in the mood' to do so.

Yeah - just drive down a bumpy b-road...

[magpies]

the odeometer is not part of the MOT

[Mellow Yellow]

It's not a requirement to have a working odometer for an MOT test. Get it MOT'd then get it taken out and fixed.

Whatever you do don't just leave it. When shopping for a Griff I looked at a very good one, better condition than the one I eventually bought. It had a few issues but the main reason I walked away was 2 or 3 MOT's showing identical mileage due to stuck odometer. The owner had effectively documented the fact that the mileage was wrong, for all to see.

I'd be the first to say condition is the main factor when buying a tiv but it's a fact of life that mileage has a huge impact on value. By not spending a couple of hundred quid on getting the odometer fixed, the owner of that Griff had wiped thousands off the value of the car. I could put a price on fixing the other "issues" but no amount of money would give that car a "genuine" mileage.

[rev-erend]

Is there not a common transducer problem on these .. seem to remember it's near the diff..

[dantvrgriff]

Hi

Have the same issue. Have just build out the speedo, but how do I open it and how do I fix it ?

Also is there a way to test the odometer before assembling the dash again ?

Cheers,

Dan

[QBee]

if the thingy on the diff ain't working you will have no speedo as well, I believe. So your problem looks like being the instrument itself.

[ESDavey]

Just keep pinging the trip reset button as your driving - I'm 99% certain it will free itself. Maybe try on the motorway .... keep it legal though !

[Plan B]

Mellow Yellow said:

I'd be the first to say condition is the main factor when buying a tiv but it's a fact of life that mileage has a huge impact on value. By not spending a couple of hundred quid on getting the odometer fixed, the owner of that Griff had wiped thousands off the value of the car. I could put a price on fixing the other "issues" but no amount of money would give that car a "genuine" mileage.

Fully agree on the provenance argument that's why I need to get this fixed. If the speedo was bust I'd definitely send it away, however apart from showing 60 mph when it feels like 75 mph it's fine. With just a sticking odometer there must be an easy fix. With the frequency of this problem on Griff/Chim someone out there must've opened up the can to do a fix??

[dantvrgriff]

I tried hitting the dash - pinging the trip reset button while driving fast - nothing worked.It's stuck at 27999 mil. Must be a way to open them -clean and test them

[V8 GRF]

Mine used to stick regularly on XX,999. It always started moving again once I'd given the glass some really hard and frequent raps when driving down the motorway or similar, one time it look about 10 miles of driving but once it gets over the top it's good for a while.

[macdeb]

My first Griff used to gain 1 mile every time the ignition was switched on or off! So, if I backed it out of the garage to clean and then parked it back in the garage, it clocked up 4 miles!

[roseytvr]

Mine took a real thump to get it going, try 3 shredded wheat, a tin of red bull then go for it.... Good luck!

[tivver500]

Mine used to stick at almost every '9' before rolling over.
Took speedo out, sent to 'Speedy Cables' who fixed it.
That was 4 or 5 years ago and it's been fine ever since.
Definitely a 'known issue'

[lwt]

It's the speedo unit, not the transducer. You can try all the advice on hitting, tapping or driving fast in reverse but in the end the only fix is to take it out and send it to SpeedyCables for repair. That takes about 4 weeks so this is a good time of year to do it. The MoT test does not check the odometer but you may run into issues if you have a limited mileage insurance - declaring the same mileage year after year is just an excuse for them not to pay out. IMHO.

Ian