Speedometer problems

[wander2039]

The speedometer on my aspire is on the fritz. Normally it would bounce around between 45-50 mph. Now it sometimes read 20mph faster and other times I can hear the gears making racket in the dash, but no bounce like before. Will some grease fix this problem or is it just shot? I used some lithuim grease on my festiva's once but it only helped for a couple weeks. Advice anyone??

 

[Johnson994]

Disconnect the speedo cable at the speedo head and squirt some light oil on the cable. ATF for example. Wiggle the cable so the oil penetrates down. Repeat the oiling process several times to make sure the cable is lubed well. Then reconnect cable.

 

[H2GURU]

Eric Smith.
Powdered graphite is the prefered lube for speedometer cables.

 

[kenw]

Graphite that comes in a liquid suspension is a lot easier to work with. When the liquid dries out (it will) the graphic stays behind and does well for years.

I have some, it's in a small bottle called "speedometer cable lubricant". seriously.

 

[wander2039]

I was wondering if they had such product. It seems at one time I heard white grease would work, but thats been along time ago. I'm pretty sure it's not in the cable but the graphite should work for the internal gears also, but i'll lube the cable at the same time to be sure. Funny thing is now it only does it in the moring, the same as my idle problem... defianetly not a morning car. Thanks for the tips.

 

[punisher]

We actually had a "speedometer cable lube kit" at our old shop. It had a myriad of adapters to force grease into the cable. The speedometer lube I have used has been a teflon grease.

 

[wander2039]

Got around to looking at it today. The only graphite product that Advanced Auto had was a spray can of "lock lubricant with graphite". The cable is in two sections so I soaked it at the junction and where the cable meets the cluster, I also soaked the connector on the cluster, I repeated the process about 3 times. I took a quick run around the block and no jumping at any speed, it jumped around 25mph enroute to the parts store.... so time will tell. The plus is that the can was big enough all my locks got a good dose.

 

[GMGuy]

I have no idea about price, but you can purchase "Speedometer Cable Lube" at a Ford parts counter.

Alex.