Will lube fix the speedometer??

[ericsmith32]

My aspire speedometer used to just bounce around the 50 mark... now it has gone crazy. A couple times in read 20mph over what I was going and the others it was dead on but I can the gears a whirring in the dash. Will some white grease help it or is a new cluster in order??
I replaced my festiva's when it did the same but I got a chance to upgrade instead of reparing it. I'm going to pick-a-part tomorrow and if they have one with a tach i'll grab it but not likely... until then any suggestions?

[studdyhalllooser]

dont think there is any fixing it if it is indeed the tach. the lube will only help if the problem is in the speedo cable and then again it may not help if it is that bad. new/new to you cluster is in your future

[darkdan]

It's either the cable needs to be lubed.

Or the little VSS gear (where the cable attaches at the transmission) has sheared.

[ericsmith32]

I'm almost certain that it's not at the transmission. I just changed the tranny fluid a couple weeks ago but the speedo has been having problems since I bought it. I'm going to try liquid graphite on the internals of the speedo and cable, any left i'll use on the door locks.

[ericsmith32]

Got around to looking at it today. The only graphite product that Advanced Auto had was a spray can of "lock lubricant with graphite". The cable is in two sections so I soaked it at the junction and where the cable meets the cluster, I also soaked the connector on the cluster, I repeated the process about 3 times. I took a quick run around the block and no jumping at any speed, it jumped around 25mph enroute to the parts store.... so time will tell. The plus is that the can was big enough all my locks got a good dose before winter.

[gomer]

"Lock Ease" (graphite suspended in a base that evaporates off) works great for anything that can't be lubed with oil or grease ... I've fixed camera's with it before ...

[Epixstar]

i spayed some penetrating oil in mine and it went from not working at all to working perfect

[gdawgs]

A strange thing happens to mine when it gets really cold, say when the temp drops below -15 to -20°F. The speedometer reads quite a bit faster than what I'm actually going. Like in town when I'm going at what feels like about 25, the speedo shows maybe 40-45. On the highway at what feels like around 55, speedo reads 75-80. After it warms up for 10-15 minutes, it goes back to normal. I'll have to try the penetrating oil and see if that helps.