Troubleshooting a speedo cable

[Wayne]

Disconnect the cable at the transmission. Chuck the cable end into a drill.
Best to use a variable speed reversing drill on slow speed until you figure
out which way to turn it. Now turn the cable with the drill.

But, if you're sure the cable is broken, just get another one. They are
cheap, and easy to install as long as you have a way to jack up the car.

What are the symptoms? Seems if the cable was completely broken, speedo
would read zero all the time.

- Wayne
Julie <jock...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:8e89n7$6d9$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net...
> X-No-Archive: YES
>
> Broken part du jour is my speedo cable. Obviously there is
> something wrong somewhere between the transmission and
> my speedometer. Trouble is, it only reads above zero when
> the car is moving (that is, when it is working ...), so how do
> you figure out what is broken where? I'd like to do this myself
> since the problem from last week (needing a new power
> steering pump and control valve ...) is going to cost $$$'s ...
>
> -- Julie.
>
>

[Wayne]

>
> Is there cable enough that I can look at the speedo and run
> the drill all by myself, or is this one of those "have assistant
> look at speedo" jobs?

On my cars I could do this by myself, though there would be a little
contortion involved.

> Well, there's not just the one cable -- the car has cruise
> control. So it's two cables and a transducer thingy in the
> middle (under the washer bottle ...).

Didn't think of that. No such gadgetry on mine. I've heard those
transducers are expensive.

- Wayne

[STofanel]

99% of the time, a broken speedometer cable can be attributted to a faulty
transducer. These units sell for about $100

ST