Sticking speedometer (around 70mph or so)

[Syonyk]

I've seen reference to this in a few scattered threads, but never found a fix.

 

My car was apparently driven by someone who *never* sped in it - the speedometer starts sticking at 70mph and doesn't do much past that. It will sometimes bounce up a bit faster, and it works properly below that, but... it's useless on the highway. I have to drive by the tach (which isn't a huge problem, but it's still a bit annoying when the needle sticks at 80-85 for 50 miles and I know I'm only doing 75 at the time).

 

Is there a good fix for this? I'm planning to pull the dash apart & just clean it/wind it up and down a bunch of times, unless someone has a really good idea.

 

-=Russ=-

[Subi81]

Mine does a similar thing (it just gets really slow to respond around 70) I think you have the right idea. Just put a little grease or oil on the main bearing or bushing and you should be good to go. Since it is such a pain in the butt to take out the dash I would test it out with an electric drill before it is mounted back in the car. just to make sure it doesn't stick. Good luck

[LPGsuperchargedBrumby]

my speedometer has just started doing a similar thing in the last couple of days.

 

it raises up really slowly and gos down at the same rate which mean when i pull to a halt its still reading 30kmh or so

im going to pull the dash and try some graffit powder inside to see if that helps

[torxxx]

My car did the same thing.. 68 mph it would stick until the car hit 80 or so and then it would work fine, til I slowed down then it would stick again at 68 and not move until I slowed down past 40 mph.. All I would do was hit the clear plastic cover a few times iwth my finger tips and it would pop the speedo loose and it would work again.

 

Fix in the long run (after oil pressure gauge and fuel gauge quit workin) was replaced the instrument cluster with another one that was with in 4000 miles of the odometer reading (which through rough redneck math is what my odom desrepency was after 5 years of it sticking like that)

[LPGsuperchargedBrumby]

well i just got round to pulling the instrument cluster out and removing the speedo to try see what the problem is..and i think i found the problem, it seems the bush that holds the bit that the drive cable goes into has worn (if i pushed it foward and moved the needle with my finger the needle would stay where i had pushed it to untill i released the pressure on the socket that drive cable fits into) and was allowing the rear(cable side) of the magnetic drive to interfere with the front(needle side) of the mag' drive, in turn pushing it into its bush at the front causeing it to be too hard for the magnetic drive to turn (and in my case too hard for the return spring to return)

 

The FIX

with the speedo out of the instrument panel i removed the tripmeter and pulled off the needle and removed the plate with all the numbers.

On my speedo the front bush is adjustable(via a bloody fiddly little nut) i loosened the locking nut and screwed the bush out about 2 turns of its reeeally fine thread.

 

put it all back together to test it and it works like a swiss....speedo...

[Subi81]

Thanks I didn't know there was an adjustment nut on there. Have to check that out next time I pull the dash. You are probably right graphite pouder would probably work better than oil or grease. THanks