1972 Speedometer Issue

[Glen C.]

Yesterday was nice and I took the car out for lunch. At about the midpoint (10 miles) of the drive I started hearing a whining noise that appeared to come from behind the speedometer and the needled went from smooth movement to larger jumps. Noise disappeared when I came to a stop. I ate lunch and when I headed home I had no noise and the needle moved smoothly. I've never done much with speedometers can anyone recommend where I should start looking for the problem?

Thanks,

Glen

[Domenic T.]

Re: 1972 Speedometer Issue

Glen,
Lube the cable, it's not hard to do, just get the right lube.

DOM

[Mike F.]

Re: 1972 Speedometer Issue

Lubing the cable isn't hard, but getting to it is a pain in the a$$. The cable only comes out one way, from the instrument side.

I just did mine. I had to remove the upper dash panel, which means removing the A-pillar panels, which means removing the upper windshield/visor panel. Removed the screws from the speedo/tach panel, needed to unbolt the steering column bracket, so the coulumn would sag down a bit, so that the speedo/tach panel would pull toward me. I was barely able to get my hand in over the top of the speedo to unclip the cable and remove it.


With the cable disconnected at both the speedo and transmission, I pulled out the cable(the moving part) and used various spray cleaners to let it soak and de-gunk.
With the moving part of the cable removed, I held the instrument end of the cable sheath up and sprayed a can of brake cleaner in it. Eventually when all the gunk coming out at the transmission end was clean, I used my air compressor and blew out the sheath.
With both the sheath and cable clean, I went to NAPA and bought some speedo cable lube.

If you do lube your cable I would suggest a test drive with the dash still apart to see that the speedo is working while being driven. No point in buttoning it all up to find a problem later. While you're at it, you might as well lube the tach cable, it also only comes out from the instrument side.

[Glen C.]

Re: 1972 Speedometer Issue

Thanks everyone. It's a shame that I had the dash pad out two months ago for rewiring. I guess she comes out again.

Thank

Glen