Odometer

I have 2002, 4x4 Tacoma with just over 200,000 miles. I bought the truck new and I have loved and well cared for it since. Recently, the odometer stopped working. The speedometer works so it’s not the speed sensor. My mechanic wants to charge me $500 to replace the odometer with a used one. Ouch! I found a entire instrument panel for $130 and bought that but just before I was going to install it, the odometer started working again so I sent the panel back. But then the odometer stopped working a second time. What the heck? Could this be a broken gear or dust stick in the gears? Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

there are specialty shops that only do speedo/odo work. Look in your area for one and seek their professional advice.

 

Gremlins

 

The odometer module is all electronic so no gears or anything like that. You can swap the whole cluster or just the odometer module but it’s going to show the mileage of whatever truck it came out of. 500 bucks to swap a cluster seems like way to much, I’ve removed and replaced mine in about an hour.

 

Possibly a bad connection. Remove your cluster, and check the connections where the wire harness plugs into cluster. It switches from wiring to a printed circuit at this point. Check for pulled out wires, or odd looking terminals compared with the rest of them. You can also look at the printed circuit and follow the exact circuit that is giving you the trouble. Might as well switch out all of the light bulbs while you’re in there. Pretty easy job to r&r the cluster. Keep in mind that everything doesn’t have to be back together to test it, it simply needs to be plugged in. Your dash lights will not work with the rheostat unplugged. If the speedometer is working fine, pay close attention to the printed circuit connecting the odometer module, and look for breaks, or cracks that pass through the circuit.

 

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions. I just assumed the odometer had gears, since it is analogue and not digital. Knowing this helps in my decision. I may just buy a used instrument panel and replace it as I don’t have the skill or time to learn, to fix it myself. My mechanic was able to replace with a used odometer but the part itself was $400 (thus the high cost) which I find over priced. The panel itself I found for $130. What confused me was the intermittent working of the odometer. But if it is a bad connection that makes more sense.

 

Now I’m confused! I was assuming that it was digital.

 

X2. It should be…

 

My '02 is a digital. It is electronic with an LCD readout. Can you take a pic of your odometer?

 

The odo in my ‘02 base model is analog

 

I have uploaded a few images of my truck and instrument panel. Maybe I am misunderstanding the term "digital" so pardon me if so.

 

No, you’re correct. That is what “looks” like an analog device. I’m wondering if it’s really electrical, and you could easily get a complete cluster off of eBay (upgraded SR5 or whatever) and it would be a simple plug and play.

 

No, that's a cable driven analog speedometer.

 

What the what?
That can’t be original in an 02 can it? Every single 01 and up had the white face digital dash.

 

Looks like some of the regular cabs had analog clusters even all the way to 2004.

https://www.aceautodealers.com/inventory/toyota/tacoma regular cab/101624/

https://www.carplusva.com/pre-owned-cars/detail/2004-Toyota-Tacoma/736472

 

Well damn! Learn something new every day. I wouldn’t figure they would change that much from base model to anything else.
If this is indeed a cable driven speedometer/cluster, I’d contact a speedometer shop and get a price on repairing it.
I’ve not seen a cable driven speedometer since the early 90’s on most vehicles.
If you opt for a used one, depending on different gear ratios, it and the speedometer may not be correct after replacement.

 

Here is the ebay link. Looks like a "plug 'n play" and my mechanic gave me the green light.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/373712122656?ViewItem=&item=373712122656

 

You can order a cluster from like an autozone or oriellys with whatever mileage you actually have on the truck.

well we did for my buddys gmc anyway

 

Hard to find clusters that are no longer being made. Even the Toyota dealer told me the part was unavailable. This is a good source, it seems. https://www.instrumentclusterstore.com