Speedo croaked while driving.. :(
02-26-2003, 10:48 AM
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Speedo croaked while driving.. :(
Cruising into work on the freeway and the speedo just drops to zero. Scared the crap out of me.
No sound or anything. Is this common? Cable broke? I'm not sure where to start. Suggestions please! TIA.
No sound or anything. Is this common? Cable broke? I'm not sure where to start. Suggestions please! TIA.
02-26-2003, 02:47 PM
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depends on if it's like my '82 coupe, but...
It's pretty easy if it's the outer cable. They route a cable up from the trans axle to the top of the firewall. There it connects to a "black box". Then there is a short one that goes from the box, thru the firewall and to the speedo. That one is the one I broke last time. The outer one you just disconnect the ends and put in the new one. The upper one you need to pull the instrument cluster loose and disconnect the cable from the back side of the speedo. Then unscrew it from the black box and pull it out.
The way I found to check which one it is, is to jack up the front of the car, disconnect the outer cable from the black box. Then start the car and put it in gear. Let it idle and go out and look at the end of the cable. If it isn't going round-e-round, that's the culprit. If it is, reconnect it. Then you get to yank out the instrument cluster and disconnect the cable from it. Start the car up, blah, blah.
You could also just disconnect both ends of each one and turn one end by hand and see if the other end turns.
I was only able to buy a complete cable assy with it's housing from the dealer, but that was before I discovered so many mail order parts sources. You may also be able to get just a new inner cable without it's housing from a speedo repair shop somewhere.
Remember tho' there is probably a reason it broke. Need to fix that or it'll keep breaking. When my outer cable broke, it was because I was getting water in the black box, and the water was freezing on cold nights. I'd get in the car in the morning, take off and it'd twist off the end of the cable. When the upper cable broke, it was when my odometer jammed up. That was the one that just broke all of a sudden for no apparent reason. The others broke soon as I started moving the car.
The way I found to check which one it is, is to jack up the front of the car, disconnect the outer cable from the black box. Then start the car and put it in gear. Let it idle and go out and look at the end of the cable. If it isn't going round-e-round, that's the culprit. If it is, reconnect it. Then you get to yank out the instrument cluster and disconnect the cable from it. Start the car up, blah, blah.
You could also just disconnect both ends of each one and turn one end by hand and see if the other end turns.
I was only able to buy a complete cable assy with it's housing from the dealer, but that was before I discovered so many mail order parts sources. You may also be able to get just a new inner cable without it's housing from a speedo repair shop somewhere.
Remember tho' there is probably a reason it broke. Need to fix that or it'll keep breaking. When my outer cable broke, it was because I was getting water in the black box, and the water was freezing on cold nights. I'd get in the car in the morning, take off and it'd twist off the end of the cable. When the upper cable broke, it was when my odometer jammed up. That was the one that just broke all of a sudden for no apparent reason. The others broke soon as I started moving the car.
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