legacycentral bbs

I've got my '933 ss with A/T. I spent some time searching but couldn't find the answer and I've got to get someone to the doctor's and have a limited time to fix my ss.

The tranny end of the speedometer cable was removed (that piece that screws into the tranny housing needs to be replaced). But I was wondering, should I be able to pull out the cable or is it supposed to be attached somehow to the instrument cluster. I know the housing is attached, but I'm just wondering about the inner cable itself.

Thanks for the help!

The cable isn't connected to anything, I've pulled mine out and clean it with WD-40 and fed it back in. Just the housing is clipped to the speedometer.

Great! Thank you!

OK, rather than start a new thread, I'm going to continue with this one to ask more questions about my speedometer cable. I tried searching numerous different ways but I couldn't find a pic posted by Mike on his base adapter (the piece that connects the cable into the tranny housing) that I think is the same as mine. His base adapter looked like mine and the part I ordered from Subaru looks almost the same as the original base adapter but I believe is different enough that I cannot use it. I wanted to run it by you guys in case I'm missing something and/or if I can make the new base adapter work.

In another thread I asked how to get the cable out from the base adapter. The answer was basically to pull and jiggle it till it comes out. Other threads have indicated the same thing. On my cable, I had to pull the speedometer cable out from its sheathing, or, in other words, pull it out from the instrument panel end. The base adapter then could easily slip over the entire length of the cable and out from the instrument cluster end of the cable. The end of the speedometer cable that goes into the tranny seems to have a metal sleeve with a lip on it secured to the cable. That is why I couldn't just pull the cable out of the base adapter. And it is also the reason why the cable will not go through the new base adapter that I bought from Subaru because that metal sleeve with the lip on it will not fit through the opening inside the new base adapter.

Here are a couple of pics:





So, I now have several questions:
1--Is that metal sleeve on the end of the speedometer cable actually supposed to come off the cable?
2--If that metal sleeve on the cable is not supposed to be come off, that means I need a different base adapter than the one I purchased, correct?
3--Also, after thinking about it, it seems that the original one is still good working condition because when I insert the little end piece into the speedometer cable, it fits perfectly and turns the cable and the base adapter housing is used to secure that piece and the cable together. So then, if the original base adapter is still in proper working condition, does that mean the speedometer gear(s) inside the tranny is broken or stripped, which means I'll have to disassemble the tranny to fix it or get another tranny?

Any help or input is much appreciated! Thanks!

EDIT: Can someone help me post larger pics? It's rather difficult to see details clearly when the pics are so small.

Well, it seems like I've got answers to my own questions. After I started the thread, I called the Suby dealer where I got the part from. I don't know if this has been posted before, but according to their catalog (as he calls it), the base adapter for years '90-'94 w/ auto trannies are the same, and another base adapter for the '90-'94 manual trannies are the same.

There was a metal sleeve stuck in the original base adapter, and while I couldn't get it out, the service technician was able to do so. That metal sleeve fit over the speedometer cable and its purpose is to hold it in place in the base adapter. Then, the speedometer cable could be fitted (a little finger and hand muscle is needed) into the base adapter without having to slide the base adapter onto the cable from the instrument panel end.

If all of this information has been covered in other threads, I apologize for the repeat information. On the other hand, at least it serves as a confirmation.

Yup....you figured it out. The cable sheathing was stuck in the base piece.

Also, I edited your post so the pictures were bigger. the reason they were small was because they were from the mobile site.

Thanks for enlarging the pics, Josh. I tried going to the Photobucket site but it always got redirected to the mobile site. I didn't have time to figure it out.

If by sheathing you are referring to the metal piece that is stuck in the base adapter, yes, it was REALLY stuck. (I always thought the sheathing was what the speedometer cable is inside of from the firewall to the base adapter.)

Yeah that metal casing was what I was talking about.

OK, gotcha!

In case anyone was wondering, the new base piece looks longer than the original piece because part of the original piece had broken off inside the tranny housing. A screwdriver was used to pop out the piece. Then, some light scraping with the screwdriver to clean up something black (grommet or whatever) and compressed air (can for computer keyboard) and the tranny housing was ready for the new base adapter.