Chris Porter Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Why are my problems never straightforward? - any ideas much appreciated. A while back the speedo stopped working - couldn't immediately discover why but bought a new cable, as suggested the 3" longer than standard one. No joy. Studied the 90 degree drive from the gear box with the engine running and car in gear and it showed signs of intermittently stopping. Purchased a brand new one (not the second hand one offered as a cheaper option). Tested with the back wheels raised and speedo seemed to operate OK. Replaced transmission tunnel carpets seats, etc., etc. (I can't get to any of this from underneath due to siting of twin exhausts) When road testing the car however the speedo is not operating properly in that it only gets to 25ish when the car is probably doing 50. The cable is routed so that it goes through only the gentlest curves and is secured away from exhausts. I've not heard of speedos wearing out before but suppose it must happen. What about the drive from the gearbox end; do these fail sometimes? Anyone had a similar experience? All ideas greatly appreciated. Chris Porter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Kevin Farley Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Why are my problems never straightforward? - any ideas much appreciated. A while back the speedo stopped working - couldn't immediately discover why but bought a new cable, as suggested the 3" longer than standard one. No joy. Studied the 90 degree drive from the gear box with the engine running and car in gear and it showed signs of intermittently stopping. Purchased a brand new one (not the second hand one offered as a cheaper option). Tested with the back wheels raised and speedo seemed to operate OK. Replaced transmission tunnel carpets seats, etc., etc. (I can't get to any of this from underneath due to siting of twin exhausts) When road testing the car however the speedo is not operating properly in that it only gets to 25ish when the car is probably doing 50. The cable is routed so that it goes through only the gentlest curves and is secured away from exhausts. I've not heard of speedos wearing out before but suppose it must happen. What about the drive from the gearbox end; do these fail sometimes? Anyone had a similar experience? Chris I had trouble with my angle drive a few weeks ago. The original one still on the TR male end broke off. I discovered that my replacement drive male end was smaller that the original, therefore it rotated in the spindle drive in the gear box end. The end result was the the spindle was running Ok but wasn't turning the cable. So I got it serviced and replaced the male end with a bigger end which from memory was 3mm But I can check this size if needed - but at the end of the day there are two sizes. There is a chance that your replacement is not being rotated by the gear box spindle regard Kevin All ideas greatly appreciated. Chris Porter Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kiwifrog Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Chris The Jager and Smiths speedo's use a "magnetic drag" type coupling to take the drive from the cable to the needle itself, if the speedo is gunked up then it will read slow or not at all and will have a tendency to snap the drive cable occasionally. If the problem persists take a look at the speedo itself, it it has excessive amounts of oil, grease or other gunky material in it then it will need cleaning/servicing. If you feel game enough to take the speedo apart yourself be very careful as it is easy to lose its calibration and is time consuming to recalibrate without the correct gear. There are also a lot of delicate easily damaged parts inside. Other problems could be the dive cable being faulty or twisted although this generally gives rise to erratic needle movement with the needle going from 10MPH upto 60 then back to 20 and all over the show etc without ever really showing the correct speed Alan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Richard Crawley Posted May 3, 2006 Report Share Posted May 3, 2006 Other problems could be the dive cable being faulty Alan I had a new cable that turned out to be totally useless; the square end on the inner cable was not formed properly & seemed to be undersize. I eventually installed my original inner cable to the brand new outer & it all worked fine. You need to watch new angle drives as well, I also had one that refused to work properly when fitted despite it all looking well off the car. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
robgeev Posted May 4, 2006 Report Share Posted May 4, 2006 My vote would be on the speedo being tatered, speedy cables in Wales do a decent turnaround service, I also recall someone recentl getting their dial fronts and bezeled turned white at the same time. Rob. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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