[Guest]

My speedometer was fine till last weekend...all of sudden it reads high, then higher, then spins almost all the way to almost zero and sticks (round 140 mph GT cluster). I pulled the cable out from the head end and lubed it, same thing again. Tried to pull the cable out of the trans end, it's in there with some kind of blue sealant, and wouldn't budge, at least not without a harder pull than I was willng to risk. So, do I replace the cable and gear, or does this sound like a speedo head problem? Sorry for the dumb question, I'm a first class doofus mechanic. Thanks for the help.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like a bad cable. If the cable housing appears to be in good shape with no kinks you can buy a universal type inner cable to make the repair. You remove the inner cable from he casing as you did to lube it, cut the new one to the same length, slip it back into the casing and you should be set

 

[Guest]

Well, I thought so too....but I pulled the inner cable all the way out, and it looks fine. When I replaced it, I twisted it gently until it seemed to 'seat' in the housing at the tranny. Does that still sound like a bad cable? Could there be a problem at the tranny end? Wish I had a local VMF'er who could come help in exchange for a few beers!

 

[Guest]

The look is deceiving, the spirel wears. try a new inner cable. It does sound like a classic bad cable

 

[geegee]

If the cable is bad but not broken (frayed or binding) then the usual symptom is "ticking" or bouncing. When the speedo itself is bad, the needle could peg out or bounce off the highest speed reading. Can you be more descriptive about what you see?

 

[johnpro]

I agree with geegee. Sounds lik a bad speedometer. If it were the cable, it shouldn't "stick" at 140mph, it will just "bounce" as the cable catches. How/when does it "unstick" from the 140mph?

 

[Guest]

ok, lemme try this again. If I reseat the cable, it starts at zero...then jumps to 40, 80, 120 and 140 mph before sticking just south of zero. Sometimes putting it in reverse will bring it back to zero, but then it starts again. If it's the speedo head, how is that fixed? Odometer seems fine.

 

[johnpro]

It still sounds like the Speedometer. If it were the cable, it'd go back to 0 as soon as the cable stopped spinning.

I've never taken apart a speedometer, so I can't really give any advice on fixing it other than to either just open her up and take a look, or replace it with another.