Anyone have any idea what this is? I am redoing my brakes' hydraulic system and I found this thing just resting against the power booster before I even started. I don't think it's part of the brake system, so I didn't post it to the brake board, but does anyone have any idea what this is in the attached file? I do have closer pictures if it helps...but I thought it might be best to post the picture than includes the most.

 

Looks like a broken speedometer cable. A closer picture would be good.

 

The spedometer works...but is very very bouncy. As requested:

 

That's definitely what used to be a speedo cable. Maybe someone replaced it and just left the broken bits in place? Did your car have cruise control at one time?

 

Yep, it has cruise...I don't know if it works though. I had the car for a three days and then the front-rear brake line blew. The car is my girlfriends car that she grew up with. Her parents drove is from Ohio to FL (where we live now). Talk about having good luck. I'll have to ask her dad what he did.

Just curious, why the question about cruise control? The cruise is the factory cruise control (not aftermarket)...and if it matters its a 1988 - v6.

 

With cruise control there would have been two cables. One from the transmission to the cruise control unit and one from there to the speedometer. I was thinking maybe someone got a little creative with the cables.

 

Go to dealer
Ask to see illustrated picture of the speedo assembly & cables for your year vehicle.
Ask for print out and parts listing print out, too
Buy counter guy a soda.
Figure out what ya need.
Bouncy speedo cause lots of problems ya'd never figure it would.
Lock up of tranny convertor is one!
And that leads to car overheating along with tranny over heating which equals early failure.
All caused by bad speedo cables.
There's a speedo sensors that tells the tranny for lock up time. IF not locking correctly, it "hunts" and......
And also make sure ya get a good picture of the cruise control.
Do all the brake hoses, now, including the rear brake hose.
Makes a world of difference in braking performance. Millions times safer. In end, a cheap upgrade of brake performance.
When I did my 1985 brake hoses, I also replaced the rear wheel brake cylinders, rear brake shoes, too. It's a good thing your hose failed. Shows ya how weak, at that point, is the original 1988 stuff. And it is.

 

FYI Not all of the cruise controls are like this. The 2 cable setup is on carb engines, non computer control cars. My '87 doesn't have two cables. On mine the cruise control module uses the VSS signal from the gauge cluster.

More likely someone replaced the speedo cable and just didn't take the old one out.

edit: I just recently replaced my brake hoses, they were still the original hoses. They were no longer flexible, cracking and pieces coming off the outside. I can just imagine how much rubber was coming off the inside of the hoses!

 

Yep...it's a FI car engine...not carb. Spoke with the gf's father and he said it was replaced and he just didn't take the old one out.

That sounds like a lot of work to do...it's only an 88...and a rather rusty one at that (originally an OH car). The car does overheat until you throw on the heater. We replaced the thermo, however, we haven't been able to test it since the brake line blew...the old one was definitely bad (tested it in water and it didn't move)...so between that and a good coolant flush I hope that fixes the problem. If I remember (again, I only had it on the road for two days), the spedo bounces "steadily" on accelleration, but once I keep the pedal steady at a constant rate of speed, it stops bouncing.

Dang, I can't wait until fall...it's just too dang hot to work on a car in a garage in this type of weather in FL.

 

Okay guys...need some help. I've been giving my girl a tune-up. The bouncing spedo had stopped...but then I replaced the plug wires and it's back. It bounces around the actual speed by about +/- 5mph. There is also some clicking behind the cluster behind the spedo.

Any ideas of what to check? I doubt I have bad parts since it was working prior to the wire change. The car runs fine...but I'm just concerned if it will cause any problems in the future.

 

well, your camaro has a mechanically driven speedo, sounds to me like that cable is not in all the way. i would pull your cluster and see if you can screw it down the rest of the way. right now not only are you getting a bad speed reading you are also not recording your milage correctly.

also, it is good that you know and trust the seller of the car. becasue these symtoms (broken off cable in car+current cable being loose) would point to odomiter fruade. big time. how long has your girlfriends dad owned the car?

hope this helps.

 

Why do you say the mileage is not being recorded correctly?

They've owned it since 90...and it was in perfect shape back then. The tachometer doesn't work, but the odometer works. I doubt it was odometer fraud...I'm sure it more "damn, its going to be a lot of work to take out that cable." I did the same thing with my front->rear brake line. I wasn't about to take it out since it was rusted to the fuel lines and this thing will never be a show car.

Oh yeah, and I didn't mention it...but the cruise does work and the overheating is gone.

And since the original set of posts, it is now "fiancee"