Broken speedometer

[TrevS]

Hi all

Well after 3 months ownership I finally have my first issue with my series 1 etype. The speedometer decided to stop working today. It's been flickering quite a bit since I've had the car and speed it seemed to be showing 10mph under the speed I was actually travelling

Well today nothing the needle has stopped moving completely but the miles on the gauge are still registering correctly. Also about halfway into my drive the needle started to move slowly up to about 40 and then would stick there.

All very odd, anyone got any ideas if this is a common/easy thing to fix and is it likely to be the gauge or cable etc?

Any help appreciated

Trevor

[JagWaugh]

Trevor,

That the trip works, but not the speed indicates that the problem is internal to the speedo.

Have a look at

http://obswww.unige.ch/~wildif/cars/doc ... repair.pdf

If you are ok with working on small precision bits they aren't all that difficult to tear down and check/rebuild. Having an organ donor or a small lathe to make parts might be needed, sometimes it is just a matter of cleaning and reassembly. Calibration is fiddly, but still doable.

Andrew

[Stuart Exelby]

Hi Trevor - I had a number of minor issues with my speedometer - but like Andrew says, if the odometer is working, it isn't likely to be the cable or the drive at the gearbox end. I used John Ostick to repair mine (and a tacho from my Mk 2 at the same time) and I have to say he was very efficient. I didn't fancy pulling mine apart - and his service was tremendous - it was delivered back to me fully working in less than a working week.

http://www.jdo1.com/index.html

See also Richfield Speedograph - I haven't used them but others will have done.

http://www.speedograph-richfield.com/index.html

Best of luck with it!

Stuart

[mark10337]

I had similar problems. A light strip down as per the Smith-Jaeger repair link posted by Andrew, and some light greasing (also on the cable sleave) fixed the issue.

[V12 Epyte]

I have also used John Ostick to repair the speedo on my Series 3 which had stopped working. Repaired and returned within 4 days, very pleased.

[Gfhug]

Trevor, it was explained to me by Speedograph Richfield, that the hairspring on the pointer can become weak or gummed up and not indicate properly. If the odometer agrees within a few percent with a satnav measured distance then the speedo is all correct for your car. If not then you may need to follow their recalibration procedure.
Happy with the job they recently did for me.
Bouncing pointer can be down to the speedo needing cleaning/overhaul, the cable not spinning freely (replace, sometimes advised to go for a longer cable) or the angle drive not spinning freely (again replace, but make sure it's the right one). So if yours still bounces after overhaul you may need to do other work. I had to replace my angle drive as the cause of the bouncing pointer.

Geoff

[TrevS]

Hi all

So finally got round to tying to fix the speedo. I've removed the dash top for better access and removed the speedometer cable from the back of the gauge. I am thinking that checking the speedo cable first would make sense to eliminate that as a possible cause for the issue but not sure how easy it is to remove the bottom of the cable from the transmission. Is it something that I would need to get the car on a ramp to do and is there an easy way to test if the cable is working?

Trev

[JagWaugh]

Trev,

No need to disconnect the speedo cable at the transmission, just jack both rear wheels off the ground and get the wheels turning - you will be able to see if the cable turns or not at the speedo end.

Andrew

[TrevS]

Right speedo cable is not the issue. Drove the car to the end of the road with the speedo cable detached from the gauge and it span fine. Therefore must be a gauge issue. I'll remove it tomorrow and get it sent off for a service

Thanks for the help so far

Trev