My '96 Accord's odometer is sticking when it rounds up to the next 100 (i.e. going from 117499 to 117500). I have to give a good smack to the top of the dash to dislodge it. The speedo works fine.

My question is: Would spraying some kind of lube into the odometer mechanism help or hurt it? What would cause this sticking? I was thinking that a small shot of WD-40 in the gears might help, but I don't know.

:confused: Never tried it...... maybe silicone spray would be less likely to get gummed up.....

You gotcha yourself a interesting problem there though.....

Originally posted by Walt43
My question is: Would spraying some kind of lube into the odometer mechanism help or hurt it? What would cause this sticking? I was thinking that a small shot of WD-40 in the gears might help, but I don't know.

If you try to lube up the odometer mechanism, just be careful. There is often a security mechanism built into odometer that lets a person know of potential odometer tampering. For example, if finger oil gets on the number rollers, some will discolor to an off-white. As another example, sometimes odometer numbers are put on the rollers as a powder which is retained on the roller by static electricity. This powder can be easily smeared if touched.

I don't really know why the odometer mechanism is sticking though. Sorry I can't offer more help.

Well, I went ahead and ripped the dash apart last week to get at the odometer. I sprayed it down with WD-40, and after 500 miles it hasn't been sticking at all. One of the worst spots was going from 499 to 500, and that was smooth. There was no damage of any sort to the numbers, so I was happy about that.

Now I need to tackle the cat converter problem.

Thanks for the input!!