Speedometer Chirp

[fallguy]

Ok fellas, here's an annoying one for you. My speedometer has started to chirp...and wow is that not cool! it has to be going above 15mph to do it...i think cooler weather helps make it worse too, though im not totally sure about that.

I took the dash apart and bought high temp grease and greased the end of the speedo cable and packed the hole the speedo cable fits into on the back of the speedo. It was better for all of 5 seconds.

Is this common? Should i be servicing it in another way to stop this noise? or is it shot and i need a new one from LMC? should i be shooting it up with some sort of sylicone based lube spray?

HELP!

 

[Chaz]

Mine does the same thing,,,,but its prob worse than yours,,,the needle bounces all over,,,,I thought it was cuz I got 488 gears and they prob didnt put the correct speedo cable gear to compensate,,,,,I havent taken it out yet but im thinkn im just gonna pull the cable out cuz im sick of hearing it,,,,who needs a speedometer anyway,,,,

 

[FRANKENTRUCK]

When my motorcycle speedo started doing that I sprayed cable lube on the cylinder where the cable attaches. I filled it with the spray so that it seeped down into it. After several hours of soaking, I reinstalled it... quiet as a mouse!

 

[crazy4offroad]

Yeah usually it ends up being the speedometer. If your needle don't bounce it could also be a bearing in your trans if standard trans. One way to eliminate the trans is unhook the speedo cable at the trans and drive it and see if it still makes the noise. I replaced my speedo recently, you could put a screwdriver in the back where the cable goes and tell the old one was pretty hard to spin.

 

[bucket]

Everything I've ever had with a cable speedo has made some amount of noise and bounce on cold days in the winter. It goes away after a few miles but on really cold days it might take as much as 20 or 30 miles. I just consider it normal.

 

[john55]

my speedo started bouncing and makes kind of a grinding noise ?

 

[HotRodPC]

I've heard graphite powder is good speedo and cable lube.

 

[oopsman_09]

mine used to bounce all over the place and was noisy as hell. took the cable off, pulled it apart, cleaned cable and housing really well, blew housing out with air and let everything dry for a while. Then I slowly reinserted the cable into the housing while pouring a bunch of graphite into it to lube it up. re-installed and is nice and quiet and stable unless its really cold. worked great. They usually bounce because there is a sticky spot in the cable. Oh and brake cleaner and steel wool/sos pads work the best to clean with. I thought about using the cable and a small piece of rag to aid in cleaning the housing. kinda like a gun cleaning kit. Hope that helps.