I was driving home tonight when, about five miles from my house, my speedometer needle skipped around a bit and then went to zero. The odometer and trip odometer ceased function as well. All of the other gauges are working fine, and the backlighting still works as well. About two minutes from my house, the car started beeping every two seconds or so, until I put it in reverse parking it at my house. I drive an '88 S4 NA 5-speed with 68k.

 

there a cable coming from the trans dat goes in too the speedometer just check to c dat it is plug in into the trans or the speedometer sometime the cable comes loose

 

Speedo cable was my first guess. Would that affect the odometer as well?

 

Yes, my cable is currently broken as well and both the speedo and odometer don't work.

 

Can it be replaced without dropping the tranny?

 

Yes

 

Sorry for all of the questions...about how long should it take for someone who's never done it before?

 

That I can't answer exactly considering I've yet to fix mine. If your replacing the whole cable unscrewing it from the tranny should be easy enough but getting it unhooked from the back of the instrument cluster may require you to remove the cluster. I think some people have said you can unhook the cable without removing the cluster. Check to see if the end that goes to the tranny is loose before you buy/replace the whole cable.

 

its a tight fit but its possible to change it without dropping the tranny just get under ur car carefully and check it shud just b this cable sticking out of the trans it shud b in the middle of the trans http://www.cochran-racing.com/FSM/s4...ANSMISSION.pdf look at the diagram

 

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll go check it out in a little bit. if the trans side is good then I'll just go ahead and start working on the dash.

 

It is not a tight fit, not even close, it is RIGHT THERE sticking out saying "hello i'm your spedometer cable, fix me". Really, if you miss it you must be legally blind.

Best case scenario, it came loose and you will find it dangling near the tranny.

 

Holy Frigg!
drop the trans because the speedometer cable fell off.?..Hello?
someone needs to go back to school.
OP..Listen to JJ,,he has ya covered on this one.
Look on the left side of the transmission,under the car.
if the cable is dangling,then screw it back in.Try that out First.
If the cable is On the Trans,then Ya,go ahead and check the gauge cluster inside the car.

 

When mine came off it was banging off the bottom of the car and the road. Was quite loud. If this happens there's a good chance it migh be damaged.

 

Advance Auto Parts has them for $19.99. drive your car up on some ramps or jack stands in the front and about 0:30-1:00 of time. If you've ever pulled your instrument cluster out before it shouldn't take you as long to figure out.

I just replaced mine a few weeks ago. I broke the replacement within 10 miles, exchanged it, and it is still working fine.

Just be sure not to get it in a bind when you install the new one, it's longer than oem so take care not to kink it.

Cut the firewall boot with a pair of dykes and use wire ties to secure it back together around the new cable.

 

I wasn't sure how far up the side of the tranny case it went, ***.

 

[QUOTE=Cam VanDerHorst;10245091]I wasn't sure how far up the side of the tranny case it went, ***.[/QUOTE

 

Anyways, it's fixed now. I appreciate everyone's help.