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Speedometer needle bouncing under 20 mph??

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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 02:29 PM
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Default Speedometer needle bouncing under 20 mph??

Question, hope you guys can help...

My speedometer started bouncing pretty bad at speeds under 20 mhp. Has anyone experienced this before? Quick fix or not?
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 02:40 PM
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Originally Posted by MrCT
Question, hope you guys can help...

My speedometer started bouncing pretty bad at speeds under 20 mhp. Has anyone experienced this before? Quick fix or not?

It's not too hard.

Stop off at a parts store and get some speedo cable powder lubricant of some kind. It comes in a small tube and it's just a powder that can be 'squirted'.

You can fairly easily reach up under the driver's dash, and unclip the speed cable. Pull it down to where you can work on it.

You can pull the cable out of the sheath very easily. Once it's out, spray a bit of the powder lubricant in the end of the cable sheath, and start feeding the cable back in. Every so often, pull it in and out, add some powder, and go in further. Just try to distribute the powder so the entire cable has some on. Just don't go nuts with it.

Then, slide the cable all the way in, making sure it seats like it was before. Remember there in an end at the transmission and that end has to slip back into the driven gear.

Once the cable is back in the sheath, reach up, clip it back to the speedo, and go for a test drive. If it works, have a cold beer.
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 03:13 PM
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I ahve had good success with the grease lube device you cna get from the Corvette houses. You disconnect the trans side, put the fitting in and it allows you to use a grease gun to lube the cable.
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 04:23 PM
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While we are on the topic, how much work is it to get a speedometer calibrated? Mine shows like 75 MPH when traffic is really at 60-65. Then after a while the needle just gives up and drops to zero. I think it's because the rear end was changed to a 4.11.
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 04:33 PM
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Originally Posted by MrCT
Question, hope you guys can help...

My speedometer started bouncing pretty bad at speeds under 20 mhp. Has anyone experienced this before? Quick fix or not?
Does your car have cruise control?

What happens is that the tranducer starts to ware out, and it put increased pressure on the lower cable until it eventually breaks. This is what happened to my '79, and I just put in one singe cable, since my cruise control didn't work anyway.
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 07:38 PM
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Originally Posted by blk79nj
Does your car have cruise control?

What happens is that the tranducer starts to ware out, and it put increased pressure on the lower cable until it eventually breaks. This is what happened to my '79, and I just put in one singe cable, since my cruise control didn't work anyway.

If your cruise is hooked up It is most likely the transducer. It is available at local parts store "Cardone is the rebuilder"
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 07:58 PM
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Originally Posted by blk79nj
Does your car have cruise control?

What happens is that the tranducer starts to ware out, and it put increased pressure on the lower cable until it eventually breaks. This is what happened to my '79, and I just put in one singe cable, since my cruise control didn't work anyway.
I have a 79, L-82 and I did the same thing. I bought a speedometer cable for a non cruise control car and ran it direct to the speedometer. Then removed all the unsightly stuff from the engine. Works great.
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Old Aug 8, 2008 | 08:10 PM
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ttt
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Old Aug 10, 2008 | 07:43 AM
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Thanks for the info guys, I will try to lubricate the cable this week and let you know how it works.
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