ah my speedometer does not work! could it be a loose connection

 

Only if you recently took out the instrument cluster and did not insert the connector properly. Or took the transmission out and did not put the cable back in properly at the trans.
Otherwise your cable broke or the gear in the housing broke.

 

Yea my 80 came loose every now and then.

 

could have just fallen out? also my illumination is gone but that could be just a fuse could that do anything to the speedometer

 

Just a coincidence. Check your fuses for the light problem.
The only way it could fall out is if it was not put in correctly at one point. They snap in place and have the locking plastic tabs. I have never had one just come loose at the instrument cluster. But if you had removed it one time they are sometimes a pain to get back in fully.

 

ok thanks yeah it just quite and i have not done anything to it. if its broken i got another that i was gonna sell of a gls se will it work?

 

I had my 85's speedo break on me, it was the actual gauge that broke. Started making a ticking noise on hard accel then would barely work. Haven t ever really had a speedo in any of my 7's, been driving by rpms for a few yrs now.

 

Fortuneatly the 1st gen M/T cables are all the same.

Before you pull the cable verify that it is indeed still attached to the back of the cluster. If it is then get the car up in the air and Assuming that the cable is still attached to the trans. Remove it from the trans and attach a drill to the cable and see if the speedo works. If it does then the problem is with the gear in the tailshaft housing.

 

ok ill do that thanks

 

yeah, the cables do break internally from time to time. sometimes, the threaded part of the cable carrier will unthread from the trans and the cable itself will slide out. you can also pull the cluster and check behind it to make sure the cable is still plugged into the cluster.
as for the lighting problem, first check to see that your dimmer switch is turned up. next if it is, pull and test the dimmer. you can also bypass the dimmer by jumping a couple of the connections at the dimmer plug. you wont have a dimmer, you'll just have the gauges at full brightness.

 

it was lose thank god because i got the title from a differnent state and im taking it to get inspected and they are crazy here

 

hey i dont mean to threadjack but i didnt want to start a new thread. i had a few small questions. let me first say that my speedometer doesnt operate anymore after i took off my dash to replace it which involved unscrewing my gauge cluster and moving it around a little. it seems possible that the speedo cable connection got out of place so i wanted to check it.

my question is can i take out the gauge cluster with the steering wheel and dash in place? how would i do this step by step to check my speedo cable?

thanks a lot in advance!

 

You can take out the gauge cluster without removing the steering wheel. However, I have noticed it is MUCH easier if you remove the steering wheel. It is a 21mm nut that holds it on. Unhook your battery so you arent honking your horn taking it off and putting it all back together though.

 

I shall revive this thread with a question.

How does the cable attach to the guages. I went to check to see what was wrong at the trans, tried the drill trick and no avail.

Found there was no tension or any resistance on the cable so pulled and out of the sheath it came. The end was square but isnt it supposed to be held to the guages somehow?

 

the cable plugs into the speedomeer by use of a metal coupler that hugs the speedometer's cylinder and it is secured by a plastic clip that seats into the cylinder with a small tab. the plastic clip is floating in the metal coupler. the coupler should be zinc coated and the plastic part should be white. i can see if i can get a pic if need be.

 

So if the cable popped out of that does that mean my clip is fubar?

am i able to "plug" it back in, or do i need a new clip or a new cable assembly?

Just trying to understand everything before i rip my guages/dash apart

 

I have the same problem my speeddo dont work either and the plastic clip is broken however im guessing the gauge is also busted cause the needle moves and stays at whatever I move it to unless of course its suppose to do that if the cable is un connected

 

The cable has square tips on both ends. Each end inserts into a square socket, that's how it's driven/turned. The sheath is afixed to the tranny with a 10 mm headed bolt. At the cluster, it's held in place by the white plastic clip as mentioned above. The clip works similiar to using 1/2 of a clothes pin, which has a tab/tit that drops into a groove on the speedo head.

 

hmm, thats what i was thinking. that bodes ill.

Thanks for the info guys