Another speedo question..!!

[cuffn]

I am having intermittent problems with the speedo on my '89 Oval dash 2.7 LUX auto. It started a few months ago and basically just stopped working at all for a while then would kick in every now and again. It then started working again and has been fine for a couple of months, but last night I left work and the needle went back to 0 and stayed there all the way home. My wife took the car out in the evening and informed me when she got back that it was working again and it has been fine so far today. Are these cable driven (from the gearbox) or electronic and does anyone have any idea what might be causing the issue. Cheers. Nathan.

 

[Guest]

No they are not cable driven.
They work by electricity and magic. Well a magnet.
You may have a bad connection.
Or the needle is being prevented from moving by either itself fouling or perhaps there is some dirt on the magnet.
Or there could be some fluff in there.
Or you are not moving at the time[]

 

[cuffn]

Thanks very much for that. I can assure you I was moving - maybe not quite as fast as an S2 or Turbo, but I was moving - just not sure how fast!! []
I suppose I will have to tackle a dash removal now to get in and have a look -should be fun. Cheers.

 

[Guest]

The eary cars had a cable driven speedo driven off the front wheel but in later they are electronic from a pickup off the transaxle.

So, as flamingeye noted the problem could be in the dash cluster but it could also be in the transaxle or the wiring run/terminals from the transaxle to dash.

If I were to start tracking this problem down I would start with the terminals on the transaxle as they are exposed to the elements and may be loose or corroded giving you this intermittent failure.

 

[cuffn]

Thanks for that - I will check that end first and try to give it a clean up.

 

[Fen]

I would too, as it's much easier to get to and it was the problem when my cab was exactly as you describe; intermittent speedo not working getting progressively more frequent.