Trip odometer on the fritz...

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garyfish
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My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5, stock; 1987 T4WD DLX wagon, manual tranny
Location: North Coastal California

Trip odometer on the fritz...

Post by garyfish »

My '85 T4WD, which I purchased in Feb. 2009, has a non-functional trip odometer.

The speedometer and regular odometer work fine, but the trip odometer reads all zeroes. The reset button may work, as it slightly moves the far-right digit of the trip odometer when I press it.

Anybody have any knowledge or experience with this sort of thing?
1985 Tercel SR5 4WD wagon, 301K
1987 Tercel DLX 4WD wagon, 6-speed manual, 277K -- got this one running Jan. 2015 (had been sitting for 2 years); this has been my primary daily-driver since 2016
keith
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Location: Tennessee

Re: Trip odometer on the fritz...

Post by keith »

Yeah, the reset button broke internally so even though the outside popped out, the inside was still down in the reset position. Ended up breaking the button but that mean that using the reset was like pushing on the head of a pin, ouch.
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garyfish
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Posts: 912
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:22 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5, stock; 1987 T4WD DLX wagon, manual tranny
Location: North Coastal California

Re: Trip odometer on the fritz...

Post by garyfish »

Keith, how exactly did you "fix" the problem?

Did you end up removing the instrument cluster to get the internal part of the release mechanism to retract? Was it bound up internally, and if so, would something like silicone spray be useful?

A friend of mine told me he's seen this problem with non-functional trip odometers in other cars. Says it's because of stripped "teeth" or gearing that rotates the trip odometer... and that it's caused by resetting while driving rather than at rest. Any possible truth to his claims?
1985 Tercel SR5 4WD wagon, 301K
1987 Tercel DLX 4WD wagon, 6-speed manual, 277K -- got this one running Jan. 2015 (had been sitting for 2 years); this has been my primary daily-driver since 2016
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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
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My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Trip odometer on the fritz...

Post by ARCHINSTL »

garyfish wrote:...and that it's caused by resetting while driving rather than at rest. Any possible truth to his claims?
I think this is true - I've heard it over the years about various cars. I recall it happened on the Industrial Age bicycle odometers we used to have.
Tom M.
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keith
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Re: Trip odometer on the fritz...

Post by keith »

I didn't fix it.
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