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Wed May 09, 2012 2:25 pm

I did some searching first and couldn’t find anything in the past forms so here goes.

After I stop accelerating and come to a cruising speed (in 3rd or 4th). The needle on my speedometer starts “wobbling” up and down by about 10mph. While I am accelerating it is steady. The thing that has me all spun up is that it is not consistent, sometimes it happens and sometimes it is solid as a rock. Any thoughts on what is going on?

Thanks in advance!

Wed May 09, 2012 3:55 pm

I expect it just needs some TLC. Take it out and lubricate the mechanism with a drop of Teflon spray. That is, spray into a small container, like the cap, and with a toothpick or something take the liquid and put it on the gears inside the speedo mechanism. It will be all happy again.

Wed May 09, 2012 4:13 pm

The problem you describe is often temperature dependent. The old grease in the cable housing and the speedo head dries out and gets hard with age, and cold weather tends to make the problem worse. Pull the cable and lube it with a good cold weather/synthetic grease and work a drop or two of light oil into the speedo head.

Wed May 09, 2012 4:22 pm

That reminds me, what's the size of the clip that goes on the wheel end of the cable? Mine has always been missing and has led to random speedometer dropouts when the cable disengages from the inner hub cap.

Wed May 09, 2012 9:38 pm

Thanks guys!

Are you talking about lubing it up where it screws into the back of the speedo?

Wed May 09, 2012 11:02 pm

a new cable is 30 bucks...might be worth it if your old one is screwy and grabs alot and doesnt roll smoothly.

as for the clip, its like the size of the average large nail head. its a C shape, and has three nubs on the inside of the C and 12, 9 and 6 o clock on C. a cleverly would piece of wire around the cable end may temporarily solve your cable loss issue ratcamper

Thu May 10, 2012 12:00 am

BoyWonder wrote: Thanks guys!

Are you talking about lubing it up where it screws into the back of the speedo?

Pull the cable out of the sheath, wipe it clean and lube it. Yes put a bit of lube on the back of the speedo where the cable screws in.

Thu May 10, 2012 5:04 am

I didn't think you could pull the cable out of the sheath without killing the cable.

Stu.. it is a "E" clip. I have seen some cable ends take a tiny clevis pin too. If you have a cable with a hole in the end you can go either way

Thu May 10, 2012 5:23 am

skills@eurocarsplus wrote: I didn't think you could pull the cable out of the sheath without killing the cable.

Stu.. it is a "E" clip. I have seen some cable ends take a tiny clevis pin too. If you have a cable with a hole in the end you can go either way

My '71 uses a cotter pin or split wire thingy (has a hole not a groove for e-clip)

Thu May 10, 2012 5:51 am

skills@eurocarsplus wrote: I didn't think you could pull the cable out of the sheath without killing the cable.

Stu.. it is a "E" clip. I have seen some cable ends take a tiny clevis pin too. If you have a cable with a hole in the end you can go either way

the entire cable comes in a sheath, and its 30 bucks new. i just bought one after my accident, the crash crushed my working EGR box ( :evil: ) and i ended up replaceing the original two cable setup with a single long cable. come to think of it, my needle was wobbly before, and now it isnt so i guess it solve at least one issue....:lol:

Thu May 10, 2012 6:35 am

I just got a new (used, obviously) speedo: It's in km/h, with a trip odometer, and it read 434,284 km when I got it. Even for km that a lot of mileage. :wink: This one wobbled, where the one I removed did not. Lubricating the speedo itself took care of it, eventually, though it took a couple of hundred km for it to go away entirely.

So my needle wobble was entirely in the speedo mechanism, not in the cable. So, that's why I recommended going after the speedometer itself.

It's a good idea to service the whole system, though. As usual.

I am now recalibrating my concepts of speed and distance into SI, which is interesting.