Speedo cable

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 7:47 pm

Anyone have any experience replacing a speedo cable? My speedo shakes at a constant speed, and although it's not detrimental to the car's function, it really pisses me off!

I know that it connects to the right side of the tranny, any other tips?

Better yet, is the cable really the problem?

HomeSlice · Post by **HomeSlice** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 9:45 pm

i have done it many times and honestly man i woudlint mess with it. it might be in the gauge itself. how bad is the shake? i got it only from 20 to 30 which aint bad. it dont bother me. but if you wanna do it, it is on the ride side of the tranny loosen up the plastic cover then the other side goes thru the fire wall to the cluster. hope that helped....james

entirelyturbo · Post by **entirelyturbo** » Sat Dec 21, 2002 9:52 pm

That's exactly what mine is doing... I probably shouldn't worry about it, since I was "worrying" about my IAC valve and look what I did there (Strange Idle post

)

But, just for good measure, is it pretty much a take-the-old-one-out, put-the-new-one-in procedure?

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Mon Dec 23, 2002 7:57 pm

I replaced my speedo because of a noise. It was a speed dependant noise that wasnt always present.

Not to hard, biggest pain is removing the instrament cluster.

IggDawg · Post by **IggDawg** » Mon Dec 23, 2002 8:45 pm

My speedo is slow and sticky. It doesn't like to move unless the speed change is like 3-5 mph. Also, when it IS moving, it's pretty slow. any way to" clean it or something?

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Mon Dec 23, 2002 9:22 pm

Does the triptometer still function normally?

IggDawg · Post by **IggDawg** » Mon Dec 23, 2002 11:15 pm

ciper wrote:Does the triptometer still function normally?

assuming you're asking me

... My word choice was bad. by "slow" I meant "moves across the gauge face at a slow speed." so it accurately represents my speed but not my acceleration. And accordingly, the tripometer functions properly.

-IggDawg

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Tue Dec 24, 2002 12:11 am

My suggestion is to get a used cluster and remove the speedo section from it. Roll the odometer to match what you have now.

The part that is malfunctioning in yours is not fixable. Its a weird little sealed copper plate thing.

Imagine the Torque convertor in an auto transmission, similar to that.

petridish38 · Post by **petridish38** » Fri Jan 03, 2003 6:42 am

Mine wobbles at 20-30 too....guess its just a thing with these cars.....doesn't bother me and i still love the car! I've had to replace the one that connects to the tranny...there are two different cables that connect together....not too hard to replace....u shouldn't have to remove the instrument panel...u should be able to reach it from below...it's a tight squeeze, but i think its better than removing the whole instrument panel! This is how we did it in my friend's 88 GL-10 Turbo.

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 10:33 pm

Iggdawg: Get this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 2400191298

IggDawg · Post by **IggDawg** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 10:45 pm

hmm.... can't argue with the price

.

Thanks for lookin out.

-IggDawg

boostjunkie · Post by **boostjunkie** » Wed Jan 15, 2003 10:52 pm

My speedo is slow and sticky. It doesn't like to move unless the speed change is like 3-5 mph. Also, when it IS moving, it's pretty slow. any way to" clean it or something?

Mine does somewhat of the same thing. It'll move fine till 70-ish, but from 70-ish on to 90 it moves really slow and then shoots up to 90. It's fine afterwards . . .

. . . not that I've gone that fast to tell

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 11:05 pm

Hi petridish38,
I have a 1994 RHD (right hand drive) Subaru Legacy-L station wagon and perhaps you could help me out on this speedo issue.
You have mentioned in your reply that there are two different cables that connect together. Could you elaborate as to how you fixed the speedo problem?

I have replaced a speedo cable assembly (not the cable) that goes to the right side of transmission, but my speedometer still doesn't work. I took the instrument panel off and sort of simulated what speedometer shaft would do with my variable speed drill (in reverse rotation). My speedometer responded to the rpm of my electric drill. I thought that speedometer was more high tech than that, but anyway...

At this point, I am not sure if one of the two cables you mentioned is broken or my speedometer shaft itself is mal-functioning.

Any sure way to check if the cable or the speedometer shaft is OK?
Finally, what controls the odometer? My odometer has also stopped rolling about 3 months ago.

Any advices would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 12:05 am

You might be able to pull the speedo cable off the tranny and put a drill on the end. Have a friend watch the speedo to if it moves. If it does then the gear in the tranny that turns the cable must be broken.

the odometer is controlled by gears inside the speedo assembly.

MK

petridish38 · Post by **petridish38** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 2:49 am

when my speedo stopped working, i unscrewed the plastic retainer from the transmission and disconnected the shorter of the two cables and turned one end of it and noticed that the other end didn't turn.
most likely, one of your two cables are broken and need to be replaced. I would do what mk750 suggested and unscrew the cable from the tranny and turn it with a drill to see if the speedo responds.

just be careful when screwing the plastic threaded part back in....for some reason, i had a real easy time getting the plastic threads to strip (now if i could just do that with girls

)

i doubt its anything more serious than a broken cable.....

good luck!

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:22 am

I have not yet explored the area under the plastic retainer and the speedo cable that I pulled seemed to be one solid piece (with a square head on each end) connecting the speedometer unit and the speedo cable connector that screws onto the right side of transaxle.

Are you saying that there is another shorter cable inside the transmission and under the plastic retainer you mentioned? There was something with a hex slot under the speedo cable connector and was this the plastic retainer you were talking about?

Finally, if it was the broken cable, where did you get the cable from?
Does any of your on-line Subaru part dealers carry the cable? I usually shop my Subaru parts from the http://www.1stsubaruparts.com/. They have a decent price with very nice customer support folks. The best one I have found so far! If you have anything better, let me know!

Thanks again for your advices and I really appreciated that very much!

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Fri Oct 10, 2003 9:40 am

Couldn't tell from the post.. but 1stsubaruparts carries it, just search for 'speedometer cable'

So far they have had the best prices that i can find.

MK

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Tue Oct 14, 2003 5:26 am

craziest thing happened to me on friday.

I've been messing with my gauge cluster quite a bit, and the clip that holds the speedo cable onto the cluster got pulled out, so the cable didnt connect to the speedometer. Uh oh. Well, I had a college interview in Seattle(approx 80 miles from my house) that morning, and had no other car to drive, so just stayed with the flow of traffic, and made it up there alright. After the interview(I got in) I'm heading east over Lake Washington for lunch with Art, and I look down... WHOA! 60mph. I'm not going to question it too much, but anyone know how this happened?

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 8:12 am

Dash goblins!

The area in the dash is pretty tight, could it have found its way back into the speedo?

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Speedo cable

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