GQ 4.2DX Ute speedo sticking

Crowe,

The very first car i had did exactly the same thing although it was a datsun 180b lol

As it turns out it was the actual speado cable that sh-t itself and had nothing to do with the speado itself. Might be worth looking at.

Goona

The old odometer sticking problem?
I had th esame problem with my 90 GQ patrol. Imtermittent sticking and required a couple of thumps or pokes of the reset button to get it going for a few kays more.

I finally found the time and frustration to pull out the instrument cluster(easy job , by the way).
I pulled apart the instrument panel and removed the odometer mechanism. The speed and odometer are electronically operated and the odometer drives off the speedo via a little cable and a "stepper motor" like those used in computer disc drives etc.
I unscrewed the stepper motor and lo and behold as I spun the little worm drive in my fingers I found that it stuck. What to do?
I rang a local car instrument shop to see if they had a spare but was told I should hunt for a instrument cluster from a wreckers.
Deciding I had nothing to lose, I had a close look at the little stepper motor and noted that it was made in two halves with a small blob of weld holding it together.
Using a small triangular file I filed the welds off and prised the havles apart carefully.
Inside there are two small coils and a permanent magnet rotor. I pulled off the plastic worm gear and removed the rotor.
The rotor has some small spacer washers at each end and I noticed that the one at the non-drive end had split and had a small piece broken off. I removed the broken spacer and reassemble the rotor, testing for any binding or jamming as it turned. I "adjusted" some of the small "fingers" on the coil assembly to make sure that they cleared the rotor. Finally made sure that there were no small pieces of metal stuck to the magnetic rotor and assembled the coil halves and soldered it together.
Reassembled the whole lot, put it back in and whoopee, it works. Still going strong.

Yes, just used normal solder and iron. Just put a small dab of solder in the spots where I filed the weld blob off. Solder took with no problems.
Just make sure that the little motor is free to rotate. Clean any bits of metal off the magnet and make sure it doesn't bind. Take care not to break off the wires.
I wasn't sure what the problem was when I started and when I found it was the stepper drive I thought I had nothing to lose to try and pull it apart to fix it.
I don't know if I could have bought a replacement from some suppliers locally or via the net.

G'day

My old GQ did the same thing. Brother (auto electrician) told me that it was common and most of the time the worm drive on the back of the odometer came loose on the axle. A spot of superglue to reaffix the worm drive to the axle was all it took. Much less hassle than pulling apart stepper motors and such. Took about 5 minutes once the dash was out.

Try that first I reckon.

Wayne

G'day

My old GQ did the same thing. Brother (auto electrician) told me that it was common and most of the time the worm drive on the back of the odometer came loose on the axle. A spot of superglue to reaffix the worm drive to the axle was all it took. Much less hassle than pulling apart stepper motors and such. Took about 5 minutes once the dash was out.

Try that first I reckon.

Wayne