Speedometer needle acting strange

[theadventureneverends]

Saturday evening I noticed my spedo needle bouncing in huge swings very erratically and then stopped and started working correctly. Within a mile of being back on pavement. I had just finished driving a few miles on the beach and had disengaged the rear locker and turned up the rear heater fan as well as the front when I noticed it. No aggressive driving, wet sand, in the rain. 1991 manual 1.8T. Worked fine after that for the evening, next day and 200 mile drive home.

Spent about 40 minutes hosing underside with hot hose water the first day back at home. Went for a few mile drive after rinsing and noticed the spedo needle not working at all it was at O mph regardless off speed. I watched it for 2 miles and verified my odometer and trip counter were working. I gave the left side of the dash covering a little whack and needle immediately went to correct speed and stayed working.

What's going on?

[termuehlen]

Some of this description may sound familiar to your current speedometer woes:

http://www.van-cafe.com/rebuilt-2wd-speedometer
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1988 Westfalia automatic Subaru OBD1
1986 syncro tintop wbx

[theadventureneverends]

Thank you Termuehlen! Definitely sounds like some of my issues. Mine is a Syncro and it llooks like VC is offering fixing 2wd units. I am confident that I can fix the issue if it is something VC can do in house ( it seems so strange to me to be talking Van Cafe because my brain is telling me Santa Cruz and the folks I have correspondence with over the years but now RMW who I have had nothing but greatness as well).

I am hoping this is a fairly simple problem with a few hours of work and some time on the bench?

Thank you!

[termuehlen]

I missed that you have a syncro. There are three possible origins of your problem. The syncro transaxle speedometer drive gear, the speedometer cable or the speedometer. Since your speedometer does work some times and is not consistently erratic, I am putting my money on the speedometer itself.

If you are taking this project on yourself, read tencentlife's description of how your speedo works here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=225434&highlight=speedometer+gear

It is an excellent starting point for working on your speedo.
_________________
1988 Westfalia automatic Subaru OBD1
1986 syncro tintop wbx

[theadventureneverends]

Thank you for that link I did not know one already existed! Lots of good information there and even some of which is going on with mine.