speedometer

sharky914 · 05-17-2000, 02:02 PM

Hello people,

I will be geting my car inspected after tomorow. I have a litle problem with the speedometer. it doesn't work (again). When I bought the car it didn't work either but I bought new angle drive, new speedo cable and new ground strap and it worked again. Just yesterday it misteriously stoped working for a reason I can't explain. The fuses all seem to be fine and I don't think I have deffective material cause it is all new. Can you guys tell me what could be wrong and what I can do to solve the proble.

Please reply by friday if possible cause I will not pass inspection without it and I am dying to drive the car (LEGALY).

Thanks.

JP Noonan · 05-17-2000, 08:47 PM

I had a '72 speedo that a PO left unhooked for countless years. When I re-attached it with a new cable it broke the cable because the grease inside the speedo had broken down and froze up the gears.

Take the speedo out and rotate the input thingy on the back of it with a small screw driver. There should be some resistance, like winding a watch, but it shouldn't feel like molassass. Even just rotating it by hand (twirl it between your fingers) you should be able to see the pointer move.

Disconnect the cable at the angle drive and rotate the cable (counter clockwise I beleive) with a drill at low RPM while someone watches the speedo. Go slow at first until you figure out which way is the correct direction. If it dosen't work and it is a 70-74 the cable is most likely shot. If it is a 75-76 there are two cables, one goes from the trans into a counter box (every 10,000 miles it lights up the "EGR" light on the dash) under the pass foot board, and one from the box into the gauge. If it does work the angle drive is probably toast. Remove the angle drive and rotate one end and see if the other one rotates.

I posted a few months back on how to convert to a new VDO "Vision" electric speedo. Maybe look into doing that?

Germain · 05-18-2000, 04:46 AM

Try this. Unscrew the 4 screws from the guage cluster. Remove the speedo cable and see if the cable turns. Im guessing you will find a broken cable. If it turns then the speedo is at fault, if it doesn't then its either the angle drive or the cable at the other end. This is how I would approach this problem.

jmcleod · 05-18-2000, 06:26 AM

i have a new twist on this thread. i was driving to a swap meet and my speedo died. i took off the angle drive to find it was stripped. i hooked up the cable to an electric drill and rotated the cable, odometer counted forward. conclusion, angle drive. found a used one at another swap meet (i love swap meets!) installed it, darn! speedo still doesn't work. i suspect a gear inside the end housing of the trans.

sharky914 · 05-19-2000, 04:24 PM

Hello people

Thanks again.
I detached the cable from the speedometer and drove to see if the cable rotated. It didn
Thanks again for your help. I am no where close to be a mechanic so your help was greatly apreciated.

Germain · 05-20-2000, 07:50 AM

Well, not you have something wrong with the angle drive, or the cable broke on the other side. One more test I would do is disconnect the speedo cable from the tranny. Move the car and see if the gear turns. You can move the car by driving it (no recomended), or jacking one rear tire off the ground and spinning that. If your going to spin the tire, use 5th gear, and its alot easier with the spark plugs removed but not nessicary.

Once you can determine if its the angle drive or the cable it should be an easy swap. By easy I mean its rates up there with hooking up a VCR

Let us know if we can be of more help.

Good Luck