Hey
My parents are getting on my case about my speedo not reading correctly, its like 10-15 mph off. Also, like this morning when its cold, the speedo cable like pops out and makes a horrible grinding sound and reads 85mph when im doin 25-30 mph, but returns to "normal" when driving it in the afternoon. I was wondering if i was to buy a 145 mph guage, would my mph readings still be 10-15mph off? also, my tach is wayyyyy off! idle reads 4000 rpm but reacts to increased rpm's and readlines when only going a real 1500 rpm's. It also twitches a lil when i have the indicators on. Every other meter reads fine, just the speedo and tach that is off. Is this an electrical problem with the dash itself or is it something that is messed up with the sending info for the tach and the speedo cable? any help would be awesome and appreciated.
also is it hard to remove and put back in?
thanks

 

The tachs are swappable and nothing needs to be changed. Speedos are swappable as long as you change an electric speedo with an electric one or a mechanical one with a mechanical one.

 

I have one for sale if you want the 145. it is from an 87. LMK

 

that would work if seymourless's car is a camaro, not a firebird. Sounds like its a camaro though(speedo cable).

 

jstoltz. I need a 145 for my camaro. Is it the whole cluster. Is it mechanical. If so I would like to get it. Maybe we can work something out on the pulleys and brackets you asked me about.

 

Below.

JamesC

 

More info about your car and year would be beneficial.

If you have an 82-89 Camaro, the speedo is cable driven, 90-92 electric. The 'Birds (someone correct me if I'm wrong) are electric 86-92. If your car is a Camaro, you may simply need to lubricate the speedo cable. If lack of lube is the culprit, swapping one speedo head for another will make no difference.

If you pop the cluster, you might consider the 'fix' in the following link:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/faq-...-fix-pics.html

JamesC

 

These speedos are junk ive determined. Cable wont stop making noise once i hit 50 mph...i dont understand its just a lost cause. Speedo is always bouncy and the needle doesnt go all the way to 0 itll sit on 5-10 mph. Cable is less then 7 months old and ive tried lubing it with about 3 different types of oil about 5 different time and still it starts buzzing once i hit 50mph.

 

Could be that the speedo head is wacked. I don't know what you've tried, but this seems to work. Pull the cable and flush the cable housing with brake fluid until the fluid looks clean, then clean the cable with a lint-free rag and lube with Syl-Glyde (from Napa), a lube, at least in part, designed for speedo cables.

JamesC

 

I am running 3.73's in back and mine hasn't been accurate since. Every now and than I'll "calibrate" by having a buddy in another car with a cell phone driving in front of me and holler back how fast we are actually going. Works quite well.

 

hey thanks for all the help guys.
mine is a 86 camaro, its just that the speedo is 10-15mph off and i would like it to be accurate if there is a way. Also, having a tach that works would be nice also.so are you saying that lubricating the speedo cable with oil will make it read accurately or simply stop it from popping and buzzing in the cold? also for the tach, can that itself be replaced and not the whole guage cluster, and is that hard and expensive?

 

Lubing the cable should eliminate both noise and your accuracy problem if the cable is the culprit. I'd start there. The tach is plug and play (IIRC, three screws and pull). Twenty minutes work at best with the cluster in place. I purchased a 5500 red line tach for $15 at an area yard. I have my old 5000 red line, which functioned as it should when removed. Should you be interested in it, please PM me.

JamesC

 

one thing I noticed no one asked is do you have stock rims and gears in yours? if either is a drastic enough change since this is a cable driven speedo the gear may need changed. like the problem with the 3.73 in the earlier post. did the car start of as a 2.73 car? gear would need changed. I am no expert by any means but this is my

 

from what i believe the rear end is stock, and so are the rims and most everything else. I got the tranny completely rebuilt but did not affect the reading of the mph at all, still as bad as it was. Im just a lil skeptical that just simply lubing the speedo cable will fix the reading error from being off 10-15mph. Also, the needle moves about 5mph up and down when driving also.

 

I suggested lubing because of the noise, especially when cold--remember the lubrication that's in the cable housing could be 20+ years old and has been exceedingly well used. Consider how many revolutions the cable has endured in that time. A dried or gummed housing is not a recipe for the best performance. That said, there are other possibilities: drive and/or driven gear problems (while lubing the cable, you could pop the driven gear out and inspect both it and the drive gear as well as you can for worn or chipped teeth. The driven gear's sleeve can be a prospective problem as well if it has ovaled at the gear end). If those all appear to be in good shape and the cable has been relubed, the speedo itself must be the culprit if the reading is still off. Good luck.

JamesC