[sxrpGT]

I drove my mom's 91 LX today because she told me her speedometer was messed up. Well it is horribly messed up. I was cruisin around 75 and the speedo needle was pegged past 140!!!! i could also hear the speedo cable/gear behind the gauge cluster making a nasty sounding noise. it sounded like it was metel spinning on metal. I am assuming that means that the speedo cable isnt actually driving the speedometer correctly and it is stripping itself out .

I have already removed the gauge cluster twice and checked the speedo cable to make sure it was in the recepticle and it was tightly seated as I expected it to be.

I pulled over to see if it would reset it self and it dropped to 0 while i was still rolling about 20 mph. When I took off the it kept bouncing between 35 and 80 and would never settle down. So i have no clue what is happening. Anyone have some ideas?


Drew

 

[LqDFx]

Mine did the same thing... right before the cable snapped! I replaced the cable and the problem went away. Ofcourse then my VSS went bad not too long after words!

 

[Bogart]

I had that happen on my wife's SHO.

I understand that those speedometers are driven magnetically. The rotor shouldn't be making any contact with the stator. When it does make contact you get that grinding noise and the bouncy behavior.

I solved it by disconnecting the speedo cable and pulling on the cable itself inside the jacket. Seems that popped it back into place and it's been fine since.

Lubricating it wouldn't be a bad idea while you've got it open.

 

[sxrpGT]

I bought a new speedo cable on the way home from work. I figured if it is 13 years old it was probably on its way out a while back. I just bought a new one, no big deal hopefully this will fix it, if not well, guess she will just have to enjoy the Escort for a while.

Drew

 

[meangreen92]

If the cable doesn't fix it, pull the speedometer head out of the gauge cluster, and give the cable chuck a spin with your fingers. You'll be able to see what's happening. If it's not too bad, you can bend the (rotor?) cable driven arms so that they don't contact the (stator?) disk which moves the needle.

 

[sxrpGT]

Well the cable did not fix it. My dad drove the cable with a cordles drill dowmn at the tranny and the speedo worked. However when he put it back into the tranny the speedometer just stuck a 0 when he was going 55 mph down the road. :eyebulge: So now I am back a square one. I will check the cluster tonight, if that doesnt fix it what else could be the problem??

Drew

 

[speedytang]

You said the speedometer worked when using the drill so maybe it is the gear in the transmission. Do all the teeth look good on the gear and then put your finger in the transmission hole and make sure the main shaft gear is not moving back and forth if so then the clip that holds it might have broken.

 

[sxrpGT]

It isnt the tranny. I took the guage cluster out and removed the entire speedo assembly. After doing so I tried to spin the speedo manually ( where the cable hooks up to.) and it was barelly moving. I did the same with my spare gauge and it was going up to 20 mph with the same force. So i think the magnet may be bad


Drew

 

[Cannondale]

Well the cable did not fix it. My dad drove the cable with a cordles drill dowmn at the tranny and the speedo worked. However when he put it back into the tranny the speedometer just stuck a 0 when he was going 55 mph down the road. :eyebulge: So now I am back a square one. I will check the cluster tonight, if that doesnt fix it what else could be the problem??

Drew

Remove the cable asssemble from the trans.it is held in by a 10 mm capscrew and pull it out looking at the plastic drive,usually the cable will wear out the square hole in the drive.Replace that and you will be golden,I have made many of these cables for all types of applications.I am having trouble with my 96 I just bought and I guess I will get under thae car tomorrow. Good luck