speedo odo woes: beyond the cable

After near 20 years of a bouncing speedometer needle, the odometer started cutting out, intermittently. When the odo was out, the bouncing would be super wild; when the odo worked, the bouncing would just be... normal.

So, after reading all (or a number of) the threads, and w/o too many illusions, I ordered a new cable (pretty cheap). Replaced it. At first, everything seemed good: steady needle + odo. Then the odo went out again, and crazy needle was back. Then the odo started working... you get the picture. The current state is no odo, and it hasn't changed in a while. Crazy needle, plus a kind of regular clicking.

Is it time to pull the speedo and... well, do what? I've seen that on some vintage speedos, one can lube them. But this one? It also appears that pulling the speedo is a pain, partially or wholly because of the odo reset button.

Any advice appreciated!

nick

There are people who specialize in repairing speedometers of the fifties and sixties and seventies. Some of them advertise

in Hemmings. Here in the Dallas area there is a shop who does this. You need to pull the speedo out of the dash and send it out

to be checked and repaired as needed.

Nick-Just curious, where did you source your cable? I need to replace mine. Thx PRL

Pete, if you know the correct length, Zepco in Richardson on Central Expressway northbound between Belt Line Rd. and Arapaho

can make you one. Orange brick building just south of Reliable Chevrolet.

Nick-Just curious, where did you source your cable? I need to replace mine. Thx PRL

nothing fancy: rockauto. It was a little longer than the original (if it _was_ the original), but still installed fine. I measured the difference, it was 7" longer.

n

I suppose I was wondering a) if there weren't one last thing i could do before sending it out; whether it could be done w/o removal; and c) if I do need to remove, any pointers.

I do know of a (kind of) local place, in Palo Alto; and then for mail, it seems that bobsspeedometer.com is liked. But I guess I was hoping it wouldn't come to that...!

n

The speedo reset button is held on with a small allen screw. Take the bezel off, then access to the reset button will be much easier. I can't remember if the speedo itself is screwed to the housing from the front or from the back. Either way, you'll still need to reach up behind the speedometer head to loosen the clip that holds the cable in place.

Ed

The speedo reset button is held on with a small allen screw. Take the bezel off, then access to the reset button will be much easier. I can't remember if the speedo itself is screwed to the housing from the front or from the back. Either way, you'll still need to reach up behind the speedometer head to loosen the clip that holds the cable in place.

whoa, I've never heard of a reset button. Did you mean odo reset, by any chance? If not: what does the button reset actually? I wasn't aware any clip was back there holding the cable--I thought the latter just screwed onto the speedo mechanism. I'm confused--could you elaborate a little, Ed?

I did take the bezel off this afternoon, just to reconnoiter. Looks like the speedo's bolted in from the front.

thanks,

n

Now you've got me curious / confused. I won't be able to check anything until I can get back into the shop and look. I know there's a small hole in the lens of the speedometer. At this point, I'm thinking it's the button for the speed minder. I'll check and see on Monday.

Ed

right, I see that; and I took that off in order to remove the bezel. n

Here is a link that shows you how to check the odometer reset cable.

http://www.chip.com/buick/techtips/speedometer.html

cool to know, thanks for digging that up. Will check it out tomorrow.

rapom: my reset cable was routed through the hole. And the reset thing wasn't the issue, it turns out:

I was able to get the speedo out w/o much trouble. (BTW: i didn't know, but much easier access to the rear through the fuse box hole, including bulb replacement.) on inspection, it was clear that the odometer gears were binding for some reason that's still not clear to me. The "click" I would hear regularly was the sound of the little gears jumping once the bind got too great. I fooled around with it a little, but I can't seem to improve the operation any. I guess I'll be sending it out.

BTW, who would have thought it, but there is a tenths-of-a-mile wheel on the main odo, only it's not visible when mounted. Would be curious if any readers of these words could tell me why this is.

nick

I have the exact same problem you do. My odometer binds up and then makes a loud clicking sound and my speedometer will jump around even more that it did before. All I have to do play with the reset a bit and it will fix it for awhile. I would be interested to know what you find out when you get yours fixed.

OK, well, I retract my last post: after fiddling with the odo gears a little, I did get in unjammed and so far everything is installed and operative.

Rapom: my problem I think was never with the reset button, but I wager when anything jams you get the same click, which comes from the smallest gears jumping. See below. My thinking would be that if you took the thing out you could find out why you're getting the interference from the reset cable mechanism--you might need to lube that cable??

Anyway, this is what I found while doing this:

1) I'd think that for most operations, you get enough access to the cable through the fuse box door. I'd try to do it that way next time, leaving the dash in place. But if you have both off, there's plenty of access. With just the fuse door, I think it might be a bear to tray to uncouple the electrical coupling that comes from the speed minder, however.

2) Contrary to what one post I read said, aside from dash removal, removal of speedo/odo is pretty straightforward, even with the odo reset button. I think one does have to be careful not to touch the paint on the face of the speedo.

3) once I had it out, the odo binding was pretty obvious. it occurred where two pinion gears (if that's the right term) come together. On the photo below, it's the blue arrow.

1964 Riviera Speedometer/odometer w/speed minder.

I'm not sure why it was binding. I ended up loosening the gear shown by the red arrow by removing the pins holding it in place (clear when you're there). You can't remove it w/o removing the other gear (which would require disassembling the halves of the speedo). But that gave me the ability to rotate the blue arrow gear, working it free. I placed a couple of drops of 3-in-1 oil on the points indicated by purple arrows (NOTE: I have no idea if I should have used something else, but that's what I had), then reassembled the red arrow gear. However, there was some play, which was there before, so I removed the pin holding the gear and put a small rubber washer in there to hold it all steady (hopefully this wasn't stupid). Then all worked.

I also took some pictures of the way the odo reset button works, for the heck of it. The first picture is at rest; the second is how things look when you push up on the reset button/cable.

So, that's my adventure. To recap, I had two problems: speedo cable and a stuck odometer gear. The old cable might have worked had I simply relubed it (it was dry) and put it back, but I just replaced it. The odo gear issue was resolved as above.

We'll see how long the odo remains operative. Otherwise, the speedometer seems decent. It's a little floaty, but I imagine that's pretty normal. Nothing like before.

n

Thanks for the write up and the detailed pictures and possible fix. I have most of my dash apart anyway to install a vintage air system but was planning on leaving in the instrument cluster. I will see what I can do through the fuse box door before I try and remove it.

On 12/13/2014 at 1:55 PM, RivNut said:

The speedo reset button is held on with a small allen screw. Take the bezel off, then access to the reset button will be much easier. I can't remember if the speedo itself is screwed to the housing from the front or from the back. Either way, you'll still need to reach up behind the speedometer head to loosen the clip that holds the cable in place.

Ed

Hi Riv, advice please, I have removed the three bolts holding the speedo in place, and unscrewed the cable off the back, but still the speedo won't come out, even though it is loose. ant ideas if i am missing something

15 hours ago, Kevrev said:

Hi Riv, advice please, I have removed the three bolts holding the speedo in place, and unscrewed the cable off the back, but still the speedo won't come out, even though it is loose. ant ideas if i am missing something

It’s been a while since I pulled one. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember the details. Someone will,pitch in.