Speedometer noise

R

Robby Van Arsdale

New Member
Nobody here nor C90Club seems to be having my problem, but I have to imagine it's because I'm ignorant and they're not.

New Speedo cable and housing from CMSNL.com. Now speedo squawks like an injured duck. Low speeds are accurate, but recently I broke 35mph for the first time and the needle floated away to infinity and isn't as well calibrated anymore. The odometer is still accurate.

Shop manual says part of the cable is supposed to be lubricated, not at the top where it fits into the dash. Why would it need this straight from the manufacturer? And: Others say never lubricate.

It might not be lubrication. Any other ideas? Thanks.
 
My guess is that your speedometer has failed internally - probably not a cable problem. Places like North Hollywood Speedometer in southern California can repair / rebuild these but you won't like the price. I recently requested a quote from them to repair the original speedometer that died a loud screeching death on a '59 Chevy Apache truck - $425.00. That's halfway towards replacing the entire instrument panel cluster with a fully modern electronic Dakota Digital HDX cluster.

Simply replace it with a used cluster for way less money unless this particular speedometer and mileage is important to you.

Rick
 
pull the cable out of the casing and put something like chassie lube on it and try that before buying a new speedometer, i had one making noise on my old CB750 and thats what i did to it. the noise went away
 
Ok. I'll try the lube before I replace the whole speedo.

I have some light machine oil I think will work. I am just frustrated that it didn't come prepared from the factory.
 
Back to update the situation:

Light machine oil worked for a time. Maybe 200 miles. Then, in hot dry weather, the noise came back as though it were trying to kill me. Worse than ever. Screaming. I just stripped the speedo cable out of the cable housing and drove home without it.

Cleaned and re-lubricated with graphite. After a few miles, the noise came back. Not enough graphite? Pulled out the drill to rotate the cable in the housing while spraying and put so much graphite spray down into the housing that it started to drip out the lower end onto my drill.

100 miles later, the noise is back. Not as bad as before (yet).

Speedo needle dances when it's screaming. Nothing physical helps. Reseating the cable on either end? No. Wiggling the cable and housing? No. Speeding up? It cuts out sometimes at constant speed and comes back. Slowing down? Sure, below 1mph it doesn't scream.

I wish I knew what were happening.
 
The screaming noise usually is the cable and you're correct to lubricate it with graphite .

If the new speedo is a new old stock one it's possible the oilite bushing it dry, remove and invert the speedo, spin the square drive piece as you dribble a little bit of synthetic light machine oil in between the outer stationary part and the turning part, it takes a while for a few drops to work in, DO NOT leave the speedo inverted as in time oil droplets / mist will get on the glass inside and pi$$ you off something fierce .

Let us know how it goes please .

Speedo cables were originally lubricated with graphite grease but many modern cables the center part cannot be removed for proper cleaning and lubrication .
 
-Nate said:
The screaming noise usually is the cable and you're correct to lubricate it with graphite .
Click to expand...
Thank you for the validation—I looked everywhere and there were too many suggestions. I didn't want to use PFAS. Graphite seemed like a good dry solution and my light machine oil wasn't a good solution.
-Nate said:
If the new speedo is a new old stock one it's possible the oilite bushing it dry, remove and invert the speedo, spin the square drive piece as you dribble a little bit of synthetic light machine oil in between the outer stationary part and the turning part, it takes a while for a few drops to work in, DO NOT leave the speedo inverted as in time oil droplets / mist will get on the glass inside and pi$$ you off something fierce .
Click to expand...
You are saying that the speedo unit needs oiling too. I can do that. I haven't tried it yet because of the exact reason you mention; I really don't want to ruin the speedo unit. (It's original but the mileage is probably off by a factor of 10X at least. The last owner let his speedo cable snap and spin pointlessly.
-Nate said:
Let us know how it goes please .

Speedo cables were originally lubricated with graphite grease but many modern cables the center part cannot be removed for proper cleaning and lubrication .
Click to expand...

Mine is from CMSNL and has a removable cable, happily for my chances.
 
If you can withdraw the cable's center, do so and clean it using aerosol brake cleaner until no more red / black dirt comes out the far end .

Graphite grease is best, not the dry powdered Graphite but use whatcha got .

Yes, the speedo will need a few drops of oil when inverted and you're turning it, I use a "tweaker" typ tiny flat bladed screw driver .
 
Update:
A second coating of graphite didn't solve the problem. Graphite grease didn't solve the problem. Hot weather didn't solve the problem.

It was four drops of machine oil into the back end of the speedo unit that have stopped the squeal—for seventy miles, at least. I'll report back if anything changes. I think I had two squeals, one in the cable and fixed by graphite and the other in the speedo caused when I overzealously cleaned it with carb cleaner after I worried that I got some grease into the fitting.


Thank you, all
 
Back
Top