240 What is this lever on some Odos/Speedos for?

Hey all long time lurker, now I've got my very own 240 and I'm in love with it.

I've been doing some work on it and I've noticed this curious piece that has a tube that leads to a button that can only be pressed with a pen tip on the cluster. This tube looks like it actuates a switch. However, once it's done it doesn't return the switch back to its prior position. I've been curious about it, especially since my odo has stopped working and I'm working on fixing it.

I've been searching for more about this, and can't seem to find it in any of the Volvo literature or anything about it online. Been curious so I figured i'd ask the gurus. This is towerymt's image from the Odo gear repair thread:



That silver tube coming from the left bottom corner goes to said pen button visible from the front of the gauges on the bottom right.

My switch just stays in the up position, I also have the square Trip Odo button on the dash (which coincidentally doesn't work either).

I'm going to take this whole thing apart and fix it, but just wondering what this thing does.

Thanks in advance!

YES! Thank you so much! I've been looking for that very page!

I did not know they had a maintenance reminder flag. That's neat!

Learning more every day. Much appreciated!

Remove it. It's a pain in the ass to flip and all it does is put extra drag on the odo gear

freevolvos said:

Remove it. It's a pain in the ass to flip and all it does is put extra drag on the odo gear

Click to expand...

I've gotta replace the odo gears anyway. I'll definitely do that.

Thanks for the advice.

I'd recommend removing the spring from the actual speedo itself - that'll disengage the dial thingy and prevent it from snapping the small and fragile plastic tab that holds that spindle thingy in contact with the gear.
You need to remove the speedo from the cluster to do this. It's pretty simple to get at; I did it while I was in there to replace the odo gear on my new wagon.

Just took some photos using a speedo from my 93 parts sedan. You don't have to remove the faceplate to do this, but it makes it easier to see how it all works together so I did it for the sake of taking pictures.

Before:


After:


(The mechanism can now be disengaged permanently. Just make sure you keep changing your oil.)


Taking this photos reminded me I should probably start crawling through my car preventatively replacing capacitors everywhere I can, since most are only rated for around 15 years expected life (They can last significantly longer – I have an oscilloscope from the 1970s where about three quarters of the caps are original – but I would rather take care of it in advance).

Sounds like a fun weekend project for me. Might even help prevent an ECU failure, for all I know.