Jumping Mechanical Speedometer 69T

kkinzli · 09-04-2009, 10:42 AM

I just recently had my speedometer rebuilt by Albuquerque Speedometer. Peter who runs the shop did an excellent job and showed me the speedometer working perfectly on his test bench (No bouncing).

After I installed the speedometer in my car it bounces around all over the place, which it was not doing before. Searching the forum I found that it could possibly be the connection with the cable. I double checked this and it is still bouncing around. Could I have a bad speedo cable?

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Kristoph

BK911 · BK911's Garage

Did you check both ends?

68911USA · 68911USA's Garage

Mine does this from time to time, and I simply disconnect the cable from the back of the speedo and squirt lubricant down the cable, rotate, squirt, rotate, squirt, etc. and then hook it back up. No more jumpy. Using the little red straw-shooter on the lubricant helps keep the mess down, and use gentle pressure. I used a basic white lithium grease type of lubricant, but others might work also. Hope this helps...

BURN-BROS · 09-04-2009, 10:53 AM

Usually this is a symptom of a broken speedo cable.

kkinzli · 09-04-2009, 11:04 AM

Thanks guys! Since it was working before is it possible that it broke while I was removing and then re-installing the speedo? I also found that it might be that I kinked the cable in some way during this process. How difficult is it to replace the cable?

68911USA · 68911USA's Garage

Replacing the cable is a pain, but not overly difficult. Try the lubricant, and also make sure the cable has the most gentle bends in it as possible. I replaced the original speedo cable in mine a few months ago, and it turned out to be the gear drive on the transmission. I bought a replacement speedo cable that is longer than the original (only way it came), which means it has a little extra bend in the front in the luggage compartment than I'd like. Probably why I need to keep lubricating it. You can disconnect it at both ends and check to see if it turns smoothly with a little help from a friend, I'd do that before you went through the whole replacement process. Lots of threads on here about the actual replacement job, which I wish I had bothered to read before I replaced mine! Oh well.