well I was trying to lube my speedo cable a bit as it likes to make noise when it is cold so I went around it the TOTAL wrong way... I pulled my cluster out adn tried to spray some lube into the cable. well the little blue plastic piece that drives the actual guage was in the way. Ha easy fix right? I just grabbed it with my trusty Needle Nose pliers and gently pulled to see if I could get it to move about 1/16th an inch. well it did, with not much resistance. I tried to spray the lube in, but it wasnt really going in. So I said to heck with it Ill just put every thing back together and deal with the noise... Well that was my intention...

See now that little blue plastic thingy WONT PUSH BACK IN!! So basically I cant puthe the cluster back in since the cable wont lock back into the guage. Any one ever been this stoopid and messed this up? Other than buying a new cable that is.

 

Sounds like your cable may have came out at the tranny, I would unscrew the cable at the tranny and try to pull it back in.

 

ha ha. well I just lost my friggin temper with it. I called my local Dealership and they quoted me 68.99 plus tax for it, plus it had to be special orderd and take a week to get here. I laughed and hung up. Called AutoZone and they had it in stock. but they had two different lengths, one cost 10.99 the other was 12.99, and both were in stock!. I went out to the car and started messing with it and thought Hell even if I destroy this one I can just go to the Zone and buy Both the ones they had and then figure out what one I needed... So I grabbed that little blue thing adn yanked it all the way out. turns out it just needed cleaned and it slid right back in! so now I am just waiting for my kid to get off the bus, (should be in about 5 mins) and ill take it out for a drive to see if it works. If not Im running to the Zone to buy both the ones they have there adn then Ill pull it out of the tranny.

On a side note, the part of the cable that I pulled out from the back of the cluster was only about 81 inches long... wasn't broken or anything. Just looks like it mates to a second cable just below the brake booster. can any one confirm this as true?

 

Sounds about right if you have mechanical cruise control.

 

well just got back from beating on my car a bit.... Speedo works fine, and the noise that it normally makes is now gone.

 

 

Yeah almost all of these cars have a 2 piece speedo cable, even with electronic cruise control. I tried to undo mine once at the junction under the brake booster. Yeah right! Probably have to soak it in penetrating oil for a week to get it to loosen up at that junction. Older cars with a cruise control transducer on the fender well used a 2 piece cable. Why our cars do, I have no idea.