82 SC Speedo quit

[davidbir]

My first failure on my recently aquired 82 SC--the speedometer quit while driving this afternoon. I know they are electronic, any tips on probable causes-is this common?

[snbush67]

The small plastic gear inside could have broken or there is a fault in your electrical system it could be in your ignition. When you are driving wiggle the key around while it is inside the ignition (this shouldn't be sexual in nature) and watch your speedo to see if the needle moves.

sometimes this condition occurs after some inventive electrical engineering, followed by the smell of burnt rubber and the tell tale Smokey haze, followed by the electrical genius immediate unhooking of the power source and then undoing the hazard and thinking he got everything back to right, until at one time as he is cruising at well over the legal posted speed limit he looks to confirm that his speedometer needle is somewhere in the 100's only to find no visible needle, for a flash moment as he realizes there is no effen way his car will go the 150 + needed to bury the needle he then realizes that his speedo is whacko, actually worse then whacko...it's dead. After tearing apart his speedo he realizes that the 27 cent. little plastic wheel that he paid 30 dollars for has all ready been replaced, he then recalls the fateful smoke induced experience as previously described above, and realizes that may have caused the faulty speedo.


So a little wiggling in the ignition temporally fixes my speedo until my electrical taped wire comes unraveled I will live with the burnt wire and the wiggling , at which time I will fix it correctly.

So, you have to ask yourself one question......have you smelled any smoke lately or have you recently zoindonkled (made that up, because it sounds German) with something electrical?

Actually that is two questions....

[snbush67]

Oh.....and if your answer is no then it is probably the little plastic wheel, that cost 30 dollars and is made out of some super Kevlar carbon reinforced bullet proof uranium kyptonight dilithium (sorry for SP Trekkie's) nylon material.

Good luck,
Shane

[snbush67]

Oh and I like your qoute.

...and yes, the little odometer wheel commonly breaks after its 25th birthday, sometimes sooner.

[Giantman]

Could it not also be the sending unit attached to the gearbox and/or its lenght of wire running up to the speedo?

[davidbir]

Originally Posted by snbush67

The small plastic gear inside could have broken or there is a fault in your electrical system it could be in your ignition. When you are driving wiggle the key around while it is inside the ignition (this shouldn't be sexual in nature) and watch your speedo to see if the needle moves.

sometimes this condition occurs after some inventive electrical engineering, followed by the smell of burnt rubber and the tell tale Smokey haze, followed by the electrical genius immediate unhooking of the power source and then undoing the hazard and thinking he got everything back to right, until at one time as he is cruising at well over the legal posted speed limit he looks to confirm that his speedometer needle is somewhere in the 100's only to find no visible needle, for a flash moment as he realizes there is no effen way his car will go the 150 + needed to bury the needle he then realizes that his speedo is whacko, actually worse then whacko...it's dead. After tearing apart his speedo he realizes that the 27 cent. little plastic wheel that he paid 30 dollars for has all ready been replaced, he then recalls the fateful smoke induced experience as previously described above, and realizes that may have caused the faulty speedo.


So a little wiggling in the ignition temporally fixes my speedo until my electrical taped wire comes unraveled I will live with the burnt wire and the wiggling , at which time I will fix it correctly.

So, you have to ask yourself one question......have you smelled any smoke lately or have you recently zoindonkled (made that up, because it sounds German) with something electrical?

Actually that is two questions....

Well, I did frig with the hazard light switch shortly before this occurred. And I did smell smoke as I was driving over the Siskiyou Summit (4200ft) in pouring rain and entered dense fog-being new to Porsche I felt the urgent need to be able to see out but lacking a handbook I simply pushed, pulled, turned, levered and wiggled every thing in sight until something cleared the windshield. I seem to recall smelling smoke or it may have been something more organic....
I will not attempt any sexual play, fore or otherwise with the ignition switch but will try gentle coaxing. As regards zoindonkling, I prefer to leave that to the experts
Glad you like the quote, it is attributed to Douglas Bader (Reach for the Sky etc)