Tach cluster...

[muleskinner]

Pulled a tach cluster from an LX in the JY last week. The one pictured with the power mirrors.

I put it in Blue the 92' L today and tested it. It all works except the MPH needle jumps ..... & jumps fast, the faster you go!!
I put everything back in he way it was, as so I think I did. The only thing different I had to do is move the cable coming out from the center to right of center. Otherwise the cable would not reach the tranny.
I guess my question is, why is the mph needle jumping??

[SiliconSoul]

If you search the threads people talk about the jumping speedometer issue. It seems to be caused by a bad gear in the speedometer. It can be made better by doing two things:

1) Cleaning the speedometer cable and using something like graphite powder to make sure it spins freely. (DON'T use something like white lithium grease as it will apparently make it sticky?)

2) Some claim a little drop of very light oil, like sewing machine oil, on the back of the gear in the cluster will help to quite it down.

BTW - Nice Find!

[muleskinner]

Thanks. I'll try those.

I have searched and its like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

[zoom zoom]

Absolutely has nothing to do with the speedo cable or the gear, think about it, did the old one jump?

The speedo gear mechanism in the cluster is the problem, i've been through 3 jumpy needle clusters and gave up and deal with it. Next time i have the cluster out ill be dropping some lube inside the back of the cluster, the hole the cable plugs into, and try to lube that up. Who knows if itll work or not and i cant recommend a type of lube. Ive heard lithium grease..? The originak tach didnt jump in the festy. Ive had this same exact problem with half a dozen or more aspire clusters and until you find a good speedo mechanism you can change cables and gears and trannies all you want, it wont help.

[muleskinner]

Absolutely has nothing to do with the speedo cable or the gear, think about it, did the old one jump?

The speedo gear mechanism in the cluster is the problem, i've been through 3 jumpy needle clusters and gave up and deal with it. Next time i have the cluster out ill be dropping some lube inside the back of the cluster, the hole the cable plugs into, and try to lube that up. Who knows if itll work or not and i cant recommend a type of lube. Ive heard lithium grease..? The originak tach didnt jump in the festy. Ive had this same exact problem with half a dozen or more aspire clusters and until you find a good speedo mechanism you can change cables and gears and trannies all you want, it wont help.

I think your right, there was no problem with the original. Now the tach cluster I got out of a junked LX, which has been sitting for years with no windshield, has the problem with the needle jumping.

I'm going to try what you said and lube the hole where the cable plugs in. Now, what to lube it with?? Hmmm?

Also all the lights contacts will have to be cleaned too, because when I first turned the lights on there where no lights in the cluster then about half started slowly coming on.

[TominMO]

I use grease to pack it because it's so thick.

[zoom zoom]

Gotta love the Ohio crustations! Good luck with that cluster, keep me posted on how it works out!

[TorqueEffect]

I used wheel bearing grease on my cable.

[SiliconSoul]

Absolutely has nothing to do with the speedo cable or the gear, think about it, did the old one jump?

The speedo gear mechanism in the cluster is the problem, i've been through 3 jumpy needle clusters and gave up and deal with it. Next time i have the cluster out ill be dropping some lube inside the back of the cluster, the hole the cable plugs into, and try to lube that up. Who knows if itll work or not and i cant recommend a type of lube. Ive heard lithium grease..? The originak tach didnt jump in the festy. Ive had this same exact problem with half a dozen or more aspire clusters and until you find a good speedo mechanism you can change cables and gears and trannies all you want, it wont help.

Sorry if I wasn't clear - I did mean the gear in the back of the cluster, not the gear in the transmission.

Found the thread I grabbed my info from : http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...edometer+noise

[Larry Hampton]

I think it may have to do with rerouting the short cable. It may be putting it into a bit of a bind.

[muleskinner]

I think it may have to do with rerouting the short cable. It may be putting it into a bit of a bind.

I had to reroute mine. The standard cluster had the cable going in the middle. The tach cluster is right of center. I had to back out the cable from the center hole support to the right of it so now there is no bend in the cable.

[TorqueEffect]

I think it may have to do with rerouting the short cable. It may be putting it into a bit of a bind.

Didn't seem to effect mine at all, but I had mine already greased up.

[muleskinner]

Tested the cluster mph cable with a drill. Needle runs nice and smooth. It must be the cable itself. maybe it was the way I put it back in or when I moved the cable off center so there wouldn't be any bind?

G-dine is cleaning the bulbs contacts (13 of them). and I'll put it back in and give it another test in the car.

[muleskinner]

There must be some resistance in the speedometer cluster. It runs smooth hooked up to a drill, but when I hook it to the cable the needle bounces .... Not as bad as the first time I put it in though! I think I will run it on my electric drill and bury the needle over 85 mph for a bit & lube it with oil/pb blaster. I'll let you know how it goes............

[muleskinner]

Ok, figured out the problem. I went back to the JY to get the cable out of the car I got the tach cluster from. installed it and works perfectly!! The cable is stretched to the max because its 2" shorter for some reason, but it works.
Looking at the other cable, it looks like I may have bent the cable, inside the tube, a bit. That happened when I was moving the cable off center from it's center position. So the bent cable was causing the bounce on the mph needle.