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Inthe70s · 09-11-2020, 08:29 AM

Hi All- I'm looking for some advice: On Labor day I was driving our '97 Aerbus built on the F53 chassis with 460, 36' with tag axle and the speedometer suddenly stopped working. It also has an electronic digital odometer and shut off at the same time. The rest of the mechanical guages are all working. I've read that it could perhaps be a speedometer sensor but I have no idea of where that could be nor do I know if that is a easy or difficult task. It could be something else as well. Has this happened to any of you folks? If so, what was your plan and how was it resolved? Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thank you and have a great weekend!

Jim_HiTek · 09-11-2020, 10:44 AM

If it's convenient to do so, crawl under the RV and check around the transmission. My '94 had a mechanical speedometer and that picked up a reading from the transmission. My speedometer used to bounce around and I found that the cable clamp was loose down there on the tranni. Normally, there's a plastic gear inside a 1/2-3/4" hole into the tranni's gearing that spins the inner cable of your speedometer cable. They wear out and break sometimes, or as in my case, the clamp screw got loose.

Check for wires down there while you're looking around. You might have hit some road debris that pulled on a wire or something too.

questvent · 11-19-2020, 09:06 AM

I know this comes really late, and hopefully you solved this long ago. But for others finding this thread, I had the same thing happen on our 1997 RexAir with similar specs to yours. I found that it was a fuse, replacing that got my gage cluster working again. However, if we were driving in rain, it would sometimes blow the fuse again. Eventually I noticed that one of the running/turn signal lights, specifically the one on the passenger side over the rear axle, was out. I checked and found that the bulb was good, investigated further and found that the tire had rubbed through the wire harness which was strapped to the frame in the wheel well. I took that apart and repaired it, making sure to route it over the frame instead of below it, and my gage problem has been fixed ever since.
So, long story SHORT (see what I did there), it was my driving/signal shorting to ground when wet that was blowing the fuse, thereby causing my speedometer and other gages to fail.
Hopefully this solves at least one other person's issues.

Inthe70s · 11-20-2020, 08:04 AM

Thank you questvent for the tip. I did check the fuses and they appeared to be good but I have heard that I should replace them anyway to be sure. That would be great if it was a simple fuse issue. If not, it seems like it could be the psom and I have found a place that seems to be very familiar with the Ford RV speedometer/odometer psom issue for 92-97 years. I can ship them my speedometer and they will make the necessary repairs. I probably wont get to removing the cluster until it warms up here in Colorado but I'm hoping we have a few warm days over the holidays and I can get that handled. I'd like to have it repaired and reinstalled by early spring. I will keep everyone posted! Thanks and happy holidays!

Brecklundin · 11-30-2020, 02:58 PM

FYI, there is a single connector to dash in my identically configured '97 w/tag...tilt up the dash I bet the wire worked lose. If it did then all dash lights, speedo, etc go dark.

To tilt dash up there are screw held brackets on each end. Just take them out. I use an old aluminum bat to act as a prop up tool. It a makes working under the dash a breeze.

a couple other connectors might pull loose when you do this so keep and eye on them. it's no biggie to reconnect when ready to drop dash back down. Same goes for tyranny indication wire it might need disconnected to fully raise dash. Again it's an easy thing to take loop off the connection in the steering column then reconnect when done... it is also easy to forget to reconnect then just leave it and guess what gear you are in... heheh

Inthe70s · 12-01-2020, 08:23 AM

Thank you Brecklundin. Now that you mention it, I think that you can tilt the dash up. I compeletely forgot about that. Once the weather warms up here in Colorado, I am going to go out and work on the dash and speedo problem.

Thanks for the tip!!!

Rex_Hall · 04-12-2021, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brecklundin

FYI, there is a single connector to dash in my identically configured '97 w/tag...tilt up the dash I bet the wire worked lose. If it did then all dash lights, speedo, etc go dark.

To tilt dash up there are screw held brackets on each end. Just take them out. I use an old aluminum bat to act as a prop up tool. It a makes working under the dash a breeze.

a couple other connectors might pull loose when you do this so keep and eye on them. it's no biggie to reconnect when ready to drop dash back down. Same goes for tyranny indication wire it might need disconnected to fully raise dash. Again it's an easy thing to take loop off the connection in the steering column then reconnect when done... it is also easy to forget to reconnect then just leave it and guess what gear you are in... heheh

Hello, I recently purchased a 2002 Aerbus and I noticed the hinges on the backside of the instrument panel. I want to take a look under the area of the dash, is it possible to go into a bit more detail as to how I can tilt the dash UP.

Photos would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!