Bouncy Speedometer

[wood_e]

Heres an interesting one....

I was driving along the highway today and between 60 and about 80 mph my speedometer would bounce oddly. Say I was going 70, it would bounce to 75, then back, then bounce again.

I wasn't going over any bumps or any odd terrain.

Any ideas?

 

[Machspeed]

How fast does it bounce? My bounces but only at lower speeds. We tried swapping the speed sensors, but that didnt work so i think its the cable.

 

[wood_e]

It is somewhat fast. I'll try to get some video of it. Is there an easy way to check the cable?

 

[DHMag]

without buying anything but time and a littl labor, i know the cure for this...but no one is willing to listen.

 

[SonicRiot]

kinked, creased, old, stretchy speedo cable.

If it is just kinked, unkink it, but it will never be perfect. Mine does it a low speeds, but not enough to bother me to the point of trying to fix it.

 

[wood_e]

DHMag:
without buying anything but time and a littl labor, i know the cure for this...but no one is willing to listen.

I have 3 weeks off... I can put a lil' labor in. Please enlighten me

 

[HopefulSHO]

I'm all ears as well - mine does this when its really cold. Been noisy for awhile as well.

 

[Machspeed]

DHMag:
without buying anything but time and a littl labor, i know the cure for this...but no one is willing to listen.

I am...

 

[Lurch]

I too would be willing to listen, mine does it around 65mph in hot weather, and in sub 25-degree weather sometimes the speedo shows double the speed I am going until the engine warms, freaked me out the first time it happened!

 

[BeatDaSHO]

So basically Lurch, you can do 0-60 in 3 seconds. Not too shabby. haha.

Greg

 

[Revere sho]

when i had my 89 sho, my speedo bounced for like a month and then it snapped. if that helps u any cool but on an experienced guess i think its ure speedo cable about to snap

 

[wood_e]

Well now it makes a sound when it bounces. Like little gears grinding a bit. When I'm gonig about 70 is bounces between 90 and 120mph...

Any tohughts?

 

[DHMag]

ok..heres the long awaited remedy for the bouncy speedo needle.

remove the instrument cluster and speedo cable from the car. open up the speedo in the cluster. the bearings it rides on are needle bearings...small suckers. a little bit of lint and they howl at ya. clean them off with a short burst of carb cleaner. using a liquid lubricant, not aerosol powered lubricant, **** with one drop of oil. for this, i used trombone slide oil. very slick stuff (used it on my skateboard bearings too, hence the scar on the back of my head). this should take care of the squeal from the speedo cluster. if you let it run dry too long, the bearings are toast, replacement speedo is desired.

for the cable.....get ready...

remove from vehicle. on a WET grinder, grind down about 1/8" of each end. you might want to grind less. *note* i prefer a wet grinder to maintain low heat buildup. once each end is ground to desired amount, deburr it. relube the cable in the housing.....i used LPS lubricant. install in vehicle.

my dad and i did this on our Rangers, took care of the bounce, and made it quiet again. only diff was my dad took 1/16" off each end, i took off about 3/16" and almost made it too short. so 3/32" to 1/8" would be good. too short is bad.....specially for these cars...obsolete parts and all....

 

[wood_e]

Well I fixed my bouncy speedometer. First off I tried to lubricate the cable. That alieviated some of the bounce, but it was still pretty bad. I bought a used gauge cluster and installed that. No more bounce. The speedometer cable isn't the only cause to the bounce as the gauge itself probably needs attention too.

Just my expirence...

 

[1995mtxsho]

Resurrection of an old thread!!!!

I too have the bouncy/noisy speedometer, I am almost certain it is not the cable. My problem is this; I would like to keep the original cluster or at least be able to set any new cluster to the original’s mileage!

Any further ideas of how I can remedy this would be appreciated!!!
Please Help! As it is getting much worse over time.

 

[pj'l_master]

I too have the bouncy/noisy speedometer, I am almost certain it is not the cable. My problem is this; I would like to keep the original cluster or at least be able to set any new cluster to the original’s mileage! I attached a video for those who want to SEE the problem.

Any further ideas of how I can remedy this would be appreciated!!!
Please Help! As it is getting much worse over time.

The video shows me at just over 2000RPM in 5th grear and I couldnt have been going any faster than 60MPH, and as the video shows the needle was all over the gauge.

Video.

mine was doing the same thing for a while but not nearly as bad...and you need gas man...lol ur dummy light is on

 

[1995mtxsho]

Did yours ever have a noise coming from the cluster? Its hard to hear in the clip but its there... a hissing, high pitched noise.

 

[1995mtxsho]

Well I swapped clusters in mine just recently and it went well, i even got to keep my original mileage. PM me if anyone needs some info on swapping theirs.

I too have the bouncy/noisy speedometer, I am almost certain it is not the cable. My problem is this; I would like to keep the original cluster or at least be able to set any new cluster to the original’s mileage! I attached a video for those who want to SEE the problem.

Any further ideas of how I can remedy this would be appreciated!!!
Please Help! As it is getting much worse over time.

The video shows me at just over 2000RPM in 5th grear and I couldnt have been going any faster than 60MPH, and as the video shows the needle was all over the gauge.

Video.

 

[40BelowSummer]

My new SHO does it too. Good excuse to go for the glow gauges. How loud is the noise?