Speedo & Odometer Just Quit Working

Post your E12 technical questions and comments here. Please, no off-topic posts.

Moderators: Mike W., Pierre

Post Reply
tonypatthou
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:54 am
Location: HOUSTON, TX

Speedo & Odometer Just Quit Working

Post by tonypatthou »

Three weeks ago, all of a sudden the Speedo and Odometer in my 1981 528i just quit working.
Nothing major happened, no accidents, no bumps, or driving through standing water. The car has 127,000 original miles, and everything has always worked perfectly. I have no idea what caused this, or what to do next. Could some connection underneath the car have loosened, or fallen off? Is there some sort of cable that needs to be replaced?
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Tony
1981 528i 5 speed
2000 Z3 2.8 Roadster, 5 speed
2003 540iA M Sport
2007 335i Coupe, 6 spd, Sports Pack
2016 328i Auto, Sports Pack
Champie12
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:37 pm

Re: Speedo & Odometer Just Quit Working

Post by Champie12 »

Well your speedometer is driven by a series of cables (in-line) that come out the back of your speedometer, go through the firewall, and travel around to the back of your transmission. Inside the transmission the cable attaches to a gear which drives it. I would start by checking the entirety of the cable from the transmission to the speedometer and ensuring that all the connections are together and tight. I'm not too knowledgeable on the inner workings of the speedometer or transmission and whether or not anything in them is prone to breaking. However your odometer gears are very prone to breaking but shouldn't stop your speedometer from working. If something inside your speedometer/odometer has broken, I would recommend sending it to odometergears for fixing. Yous could also pull the cables apart at their connections and check that the square ends of the cables are still square and not rounded, leading to a situation where one cable is no longer spinning the next one.

Hope this helps! Anyone that knows more, please chime in!
tonypatthou
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:54 am
Location: HOUSTON, TX

Re: Speedo & Odometer Just Quit Working

Post by tonypatthou »

Thank you for your feedback.
It seemed weird that they both stopped working at the same time.
Tony
1981 528i 5 speed
2000 Z3 2.8 Roadster, 5 speed
2003 540iA M Sport
2007 335i Coupe, 6 spd, Sports Pack
2016 328i Auto, Sports Pack
User avatar
Odometergears
Posts: 217
Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 11:37 am
Location: newport news
Contact:

Re: Speedo & Odometer Just Quit Working

Post by Odometergears »

Cable broke. It controls both the Odo and the Speedo. Unbolt the cable at the tranny and attach a drill. Run it in reverse on speed two. Have someone watching it. If it works, it's on the transmission side. If it doesn't, disconnect the next section and repeat. Work your way up. The car is either a two or three piece cable.

Call me if you need. I haven't been on the board in quite a while.

Jeff Caplan
Odometer Gears Ltd
757-593-3478
Jeff Caplan 1981 Euro E12 3.5 M106 Block w/T4
Post Reply