FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Not strictly FC related ( apologies ) I am after advice on an original speedo in a 48 chev.  Would speedo cable failure
be caused by the speedo if the speedo turns by hand ok, and seemed to work fairly smoothly?

I have done two second hand cables in the past, I now have a new one and am not sure whether to risk it or pull
out the speedo and send it away to be checked out.

Hi,

if you turn the speedo by hand and the needle moves, it means the speedo should be OK.. did you inspect your old cables to see where they broke?

Also try lubing the cables to make sure they arent sticky. A sticky cable would normally cause your needle to "bounce" and would cause your cable to die prematurely.

I lube my cables using "tri flow" bicycle cable lube (it is very thin and light weight) also run your cable with no kinks or sharp bends.

Cheers

Ed

An old instrument repairer told me to check the speedo drive mechanism in the gear box if the cable is OK and the speedo turns by hand. He said it was a common cause of speedo failure.

He suggested disconnecting the cable from speedo under the dash, bring it out so you can see it, and go for a drive, if the inner cable is not turning, (and not broken) there's your problem.

Thanks for the advice , will give it a try.

Image of the 48 attached.

(http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu126/coolfcwagon/48atrodstockshow.jpg)

Beautiful..

Absolute magic :o :o :'( :'(

Turned out the speedo had seized after all, I was assuming based on the last cable breaking that the speedo was ok.

Apprehensively I pulled the speedo apart to find the gears that drive the odometer were worn causing it to jam. Managed to scrounge
goods bits from another speedo from a 53 Chev ( also same as FC other than odometer being black numbers on white background ).

Once I'd dug out the broken cable out of the gearbox drive all was good.