Speedometer needle works/doesn't work...
 

While driving to town the other day in my '87 the speedometer needle suddenly dropped to zero. All of the other analog displays were working fine (with the exception of the odometer but that has been like that for a about a year). Anyways, it would work, not work, repeat from that day (last week) forward. What to me is kinda weird is that if I reset the trip odometer, the needle starts working again!

Any suggestions? While ignorance can be bliss, I've decided that this is not the case here! ;)

Thanks everyone.

PCB contacts, both fingers and screw contacts. Have you gone through them and cleaned it?

My experience with the same issue was a problem with the connector located in the spare tire well. This connector contains the connection for the wheel sensor that provides the signal to the speedometer.

Mine has done that and moving the pod up and down to find the sweet spot has temp. fixed the issue. I need to take the whole thing off and see what is going on back there.

Yep. Your singular symptom tells me that the screw that compresses the contact of the flexible circuit board is backed out. I had the same trouble with my tach. In fact, I found several screws backed out. It's quite a job to remove and reinstall the pod.

I did start using the tach inlieu of the speedo for awhile.

I found 2800rpms in 5th was about 70 or so, I think.

I do not want any more speeding tickets.

Hi Leo,

I have, as yet, not done that. I presume that means detaching the POD?

Thanks as ever.

Roger

I will start here (as soon as Saturday makes its presence felt)! Many thanks for what I hope will be the 'correct' solution.

Roger

It sure does. Not as hard as those make it sound. You'll be a pro once you do it once.

I tried that...lol...! Sadly, only turning the trip button had any effect. BTW, it's kinda trippy raising and lowering the POD while driving!!!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/lol2.gif

My money is on the pod. You need to pull it anyway so you can verify and clean everything.

Roger that! And thanks for the helpful tip.

Looks like I will be starting here then... :eek:

I think the reason I had so many backed-out screws is because the PO had a shop replace the light bulbs in the pod, which required opening the pod up and working with the PCB. I guess the tech "forgot" to drive the screws back in. I also think that shop saw the PO coming. He paid a grand for that job.

Maleficio,

Thanks for the 'reminder'! This is the perfect opportunity to improve the lighting. I'm glad that I have read all of the posts suggesting ways to improve things in that department. And given the alternative--paying a grand--I think I can afford to splurge on the bulbs... ;)
Looks like I'm gonna be busy..!

Have fun. Take photos as you go to help with reassembly.

Hey, I am having the same problem with my speedo and tach and I found this old post. Any luck with any of the proposed solutions? I will clean the connectors in the wheel well first (easy) and see if that helps, but would like to know if taking out the pod was the solution before I go into that. I've taken out the cluster in my '79 and even custom fit an 87 cluster in it's place, but now my '84 is cutting out randomly...everything else stays working but the speedo and tach individually cut in and out and no honking the horn, pressing the odo reset, moving the pod up and down...etc...seem to work.

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance

I have an extra cluster out of an 88 auto with 58k miles on it I'd love to get rid of if it comes down to that for you

thanks Pete, I will keep that in mind if I can't find a solution. Mine carfaxes out at 122k and I have 127k on it now and would like to keep actual miles...although if it's been doing this all 127k...it probably has 227k on it..lol

Appreciate the offer and if all else fails, I'll give it a try.