'Freddie Starr ate my hamster'

[B18 GPC]

Not really.. i picked it up from my TONF Thread..

My brain was doing over time last night.. and i was thinking of last bits before , hopefully ella {E958 ARR} hits the road in feb..

i was just wondering , what could cause my speedo to wonder ?

At say 60 , the needle moves on rough roads , between about 55MPH and 65MPH...

I seem to remember , or think its a bearing fault somewhere.. but the brains stopped overtime now. any suggestions ?

TIA , Graham

[Austin-Rover]

I think I managed to unserstand some bits of your post...

If your needle wanders slightly this can be described as normal behavior and is not something to worry about if it just a gentle sway of the needle. Many Maestros and Montegos do this.

Once it becomes more erratic and is accompanied by a whirring or clicking noise it is a sure sign your speedo cable is about to top itself. Buy your self a new one and then prepare yourself for the fun job of fitting it.

I would not worry too much...

[B18 GPC]

Thanks for the "speedy" reply . {i thaught about that for a while , can you tell?} :giveup:

Thanks :)

[G51 NAV]

Yep sounds like the speedo-cable. Barney's was/is doing that same. Rich Smith and Richard Gelder came up one night before Xmas and swapped it for a new one I bought off ebay and it cured it. For a bit. 360 mile return trip to Scotland over Xmas sees me back where I started, with any speed over 60mph being pure guesswork. Ah well :banghead: Hope you have better luck than me :laugh:

[Ricky]

And there was me thinking these sorts of faults were more the reserve of French cars, especially my 405, in which you just assume the speed of it by guessing roughly where the middle of the needle is wobbling, that is if it is going at all.....
"Do you know what speed you were doing back there, sir?"
"Well, officer, I know it was somewhere between 55mph and 85mph, but I couldn't be too specific.....":laugh:

[MGTurbo#261]

:idea: Have you thought about nailing an aftermarket speedo to the dash board (Or Gaffer Tape if your prefer) with some wikkid blue Leds for back lighting :D

[talkingcars]

My last 1600L was the best for that, at motorway speeds it was between 0 and 85, wife refused to drive it.

My guess is that either the speedo head or the cable are "dry". The head may improve with a few drops of 3 in 1, the cable would do better being hung some where and then spending several days dripping a few drops of motor oil in at the top until it comes out at the bottom.

[e692wtt]

Take the 'inner cable' out and 'lubricate' it with a pencil (rub the side of the pencil 'lead' along the 'inner cable') then replace.

Alternatively, oiling the cable is fine - but not the last few inches in case the oil works its way into the speedometer's innards as that's not good... So withdraw the 'inner cable' from the gearbox end to lubricate it - or feed the oil in from the speedo end via a straw already inserted into the speedo cable.

[fatboy.01]

i used to work for a citroen main dealer and we used to put a piece of 3mm long washer jet piping between the cable and speedo to stop the clicking noise might work on a maestro or monty or any thing with cable driven speedo