FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Hello Everybody and happy Easter,
Took the ute to the shops yesterday to give it a run and on the way back a strange noise a bit like gears not meshing started I thought is it in gear properly? It was, and then I noticed the speedo needle fluctuating wildly from 0 to 100 so I thought the speedo cable drive is partially stripped ( have only taken them out from gearbox end when doing clutches and the like years ago) so question is what do you think ?  I thought maybe it could be a gear in the actual speedo gauge as well ? Haven’t looked at it yet but thought I would consult the “experts”on a diagnosis. ( and also best place To get whatever parts I need)
Cheers Peter

Sounds like the cable to me snoop


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This is a common occurrence.  First try lubricating the cable.  There is a previous post in the technical board called “Speedo question” posted in November 2009 that gives more detail on what to do.  I can’t copy the link to it, but someone else may be able to do so.

My speedo has done this on and off for years but never broken or stopped working.

Cheers
David

I think your speedo is about to seize up.  It would be a good idea to lubricate the speedometer.  Take it out of the dash, and with your fingers, turn the bronze fitting where the cable goes in.  It should feel perfectly smooth to rotate, without any sign of binding.  If it's at all stiff to rotate, you'll need to oil the shaft.  If you're brave -

The chrome surround is crimped onto the body.  With a small screwdriver, lift the folded-over bits up and gently pry the surround and front glass from the speedo.  Undo the two screws at the back of the housing and lift the mechanism out. At the base of the threaded section where the cable goes on, you'll see a small (~3 mm) welch plug.  Gently ease the plug out with a scribe or O-ring removing tool.  Behind the plug is a felt wick.  With tweezers, remove the wick.

Now the fun starts.  Spray a little WD-40 down the hole and rotate the shaft where the cable goes in.  If you're lucky, it will respond immediately to lubrication.  If you're unlucky, it'll take hours or days.  Patience.  Wipe away the excess WD.  When the shaft turns without any hint of binding, put a drop or two of sewing machine oil down the hole.  Soak the felt in WD-40 or turps or kero and squeeze it out to get rid of all the congealed gunk.  Squeeze the solvent out of the wick with a rag, then oil it and put it back in the hole.  Follow the wick with the plug.  Reassemble the speedo (you don't need to fold the crimps on the surround over) and re-install.

Rob

Good to hear from you Peter ..some fun with doing what Rob suggests ,maybe also remove the cable from its casing and give good clean out,apply a little grease and re install ..FYI and for Rob ,the oil bath air cleaner I got from you Rob I am modifying to take a Ryco A92 paper element filter ,will post some images when its done ..cheers Vern .

Hi Guys
Thank you so much for all the replies today. I have taken Robs advice and taken the speedo Out of the dash. The little brass part at the back of the speedo turned fairly evenly but I thought it needed more force than Robs description .
I had forgotten that I had a rare spares replacement speedo cable which I installed today  ( Put some sewing machine oil inside the sheaf as well) so tonight I will disassemble speedo a bit more and lubricate following Robs instructions.
Hey Vern you must be getting very close have you got some more pics of the car  you can post? Look forward to pics of air cleaner conversion.
Thanks again this is a fantastic forum
Peter
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Peter,

One thing I forgot to add is that the odometer numeral wheels can stick.  With clean fingers, wobble each wheel back and forth (in the rolling direction).  There should be about a millimetre of free travel.

It's the thousands and ten-thousands numeral wheels which are prone to seizing up.  I broke my FX's odometer just after I got it on the road when 39999.9 went to 40000.0.  And my FC's speedo wavers a lot when the ten-thousands change.  Yes, I need to pull it out, help it over the change by hand, and then lubricate it well.

But you're safe.  You have another 7500 miles or so to go before the 10000 thing happens.

Rob

I had same thing happen to my speedo and as suggested, it was the speedo "head" running dry. That is the actual drive where the cable goes in. I ran WD40 into it, several applications, then light oil. I worked it in by driving the speedo with my electric drill. The speedo head revolves anti-clock wise so put your drill in reverse. When i could rotate the drive by hand freely. i put it back in the car and now it works just fine. I didn't have to dismantle the speedo. Cheers, Fraze

Pete ..Yes car is in final stages ,its home here but no front guards or bonnet,Steve promises to get to those this week ,I am not going to workshop where he is with this bloody virus thing as my family wont have it as I am over 70 and have had heart issues..real bugger ..he also told me last week he wants to do some lead wiping on a couple of places on guards,apparently where the head light rims fit on front ,pity I will miss that ,I will ask him to take images .The latest images are on my thread on Cars Under Restoration on here ..Will put up images of Air Cleaner ..stay well Vern

Thanks for the extra tip Fraze ! Funnily enough I woke up in the middle of the night with the same thought using the drill. I probably spent two hours last night working in Wd 40 and turning it by hand I can get to about 25 mph but will give the drill a go tonight. It took a while to get the little brass whelsh plug out needed a magnifying glass took out old wick which had gone hard at the shaft end soaked in wd 40 dried out and it’s nice and soft again ready for some sewing machine oil. There was a lot of black gunk that came out of the wick housing as I worked in the wd guess it was the old lubricant but it feels a lot better now.
Will look at your picks Vern bummer you can’t watch the lead wiping process would be fascinating.
Thanks again all for your help.

Once you’ve got the speedo opened up, it’s pretty easy to reset the odometer to zero. I did this on one of my cars which was a ground up resto as the original speedo reading meant nothing.
Take out the little brass clips that hold the odometer shaft in place and then slide out the odometer in one unit.
You will find that the wheels just slide off the shaft. Don’t take them all the way off, just slide them up and reset there position then slide them down again.
In my experience it gave the car that “brand new” feel and you celebrate things like the first 1000 miles etc

Ken

My experience resetting the speedo, you can tell afterwards that it has been done, as the digits never quite line up horizontally afterwards.


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Never had that problem

2Brite speedo set back to zeros in the 90s

No harm no foul :P

What numbers are showing on your speedo now Nunzio ???  ;D

I stopped watching mine going around and around...  it was making me dizzy  ::)

 8) 8) 8)

High Guys !! Put it back together last night and just taken it for a test run this arvo to the shops again. 
Happy to report speedo is all good ! thank you again for all your input, if it happens again I should get it done a lot quicker.
Hey Vern the pics look sweet.
Cheers Peter

Maybe I should get onto mine as well.  Then that would lead to working out why the dash light doesn't work, would lead to replacing the sieve that is the windscreen rubber that keeps out no rain at all, would lead to there is some rust that needs looking at there, would lead to maybe touch up the paint, would lead to there is more rust there to sort out first, would lead to I'm doing a whole resto because the speedo was making a noise and whirring about in the cold weather.  No - that could never happen, could it?

I'll just go back into denial and put up with a dodgy speedo.

Cheers
David

Funny you mention the dash light!! My high beam light indicator has never worked if you look at the speedo picture I put up the small cylinder that projects forward has a little red lens cap which I accidentally knocked off ,I looked down the tube and I could see minute insects skeletons inside and on the other side the tube had a mud plug completely blocking the bulb end must have been a mud wasp lair. I cleaned it out put the bulbs back in when reassembling speedo and guess what the high beam red indicator works. So maybe just maybe it might be worth checking !!!

Hey pete ..The lead wiping did not happen , the air cleaner conversion pics are in members cars under resto  ..cheers Vern .