What makes the odometer work?

What makes the odometer work?

Most odometers work by counting wheel rotations and assume that the distance traveled is the number of wheel rotations times the tire circumference, which is a standard tire diameter times pi (3.1416). If nonstandard or severely worn or underinflated tires are used then this will cause some error in the odometer.

Do you need an odometer to use a speedometer?

While that does work on older mechanical odometers, it does not work on the new electronic ones, as we will see in the next section… If you make a trip to the bike shop, you most likely won’t find any cable-driven odometers or speedometers.

Why does my odometer not show 20, 000 miles?

You can now see why, when your odometer “rolls over” a large number of digits (say from 19,999 to 20,000 miles), the “2” at the far left side of the display may not line up perfectly with the rest of the digits. A tiny amount of gear lash in the white helper gears prevents perfect alignment of all the digits.

How does the gears on an odometer work?

This odometer uses a series of three worm gears to achieve its 1690:1 gear reduction. The input shaft drives the first worm, which drives a gear. Each full revolution of the worm only turns the gear one tooth.

How many times does an odometer have to spin?

­The odometer we took apart for this article (pictured above) has a 1690:1 gear reduction! That means the input shaft of this odometer has to spin 1,690 times before the odometer will register 1 mile. Odometers like this are being replaced by digital odometers that provide more features and cost less, but they aren’t nearly as cool.

Can a speedometer work if the odometer doesn’t work?

It would depend on the specific model and options (possibly things such as stability control) on your vehicle but generally speaking most odometers will still track mileage even if the speedometer doesn’t work.

What should I do if my speedometer is broken?

If indicated speed on speedometer increases with increasing vehicle speed, replace speedometer. If indicated speed does not increase, go to step 8). 6. Remove, check, and install fuses No. 8 and 17. If fuses are okay, go to next step. Replace fuses and repair shorted wires, if necessary.

Why does my speedometer bounce all the time?

My trucks speedometer works smoothly up to 33 mph but then will start bouncing (more aggressively at higher speeds) from random points. I’ve read up and found that it’s often a VSS issue but my trucks cruise control works and will turn on just fine, but causes my speeds to change rapidly with the speedo bounce.

How does the speedometer work in a car?

Each make and model can use a different combination of inputs to record mileage and display speed when they are computerized, as all modern cars are. Primarily, the wheel speed sensors from the ABS system are used along with a vehicle speed sensor. Some cars also have a transmission output shaft speed sensor.