83 320i Optimistic Speedo (archive)

I just got an '83 320, black as night, and a real basket case. I reset the trip odometer and after that, neither the odometer nor the trip odometer would work. Then, they started working again. Then they stopped. Once, I made it to 19.3 miles, another time 4 miles then 61 then18. Worse than that, and apparently unrelated, is that the speedometer shows a much higher speed than what I'm travelling at. When I test drove the car, I thought, "Wow - what acceleration." Then, with cars passing me on the Long Island Expressway left and right when I thought I was doing 55, I became suspicious, and a friend tailed me in her car while reporting her speed via cell phone. It seems the speedo adds 20-30 mph to the correct speed. Exciting, but obviously something to be fixed.

I had a similar problem in a 74 Chevy once, and although I'm a terrific mechanic on these types of things, I could never get it right on that car. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I replace the speedo, try to repair it, or develop a table to paste to the dashboard - "Speedo Shows vs. Real Speed" Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Art

http://www.europadisk.com

Follow Ups:

Re: 83 320i Optimistic Speedo Chris 01:49 10/14/2000 (0)

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