i was driving down the freeway when i noticed that my speedometer just dropped. i didnt think to much about it cause i knew it was just the cable for it. well about 1 minute later my car started to beep, none of the lights came on, it beeped. that started to worry me so i decided to get off the freeway and take the side roads. when i went to make the turn to get off i noticed that the steering was very hard, almost as if i didnt have any power steering. My question is first what caused the cable to break, second why did it beep, and third and most important why is the steering effected.


please help me

thanks

 

The car has speed sensitive power steering. No speedo - the power steering doesn't know what it's supposed to do. Probably broke from old age. Fix it and the steering will probably work fine again.

 

ok thanks

 

how hard is it to change

 

if its anything like my '80 Race car, it's cake to install it onto the transmission at least, but doing the ENTIRE cable might be a little different.. probably going to involve a little time.

 

Having JUST done this in my 89 TII, I can say with certainty that it's cake to replace the whole thing, which you'll probably have to do. I installed a cable pulled off of an 86 parts car, and it dropped right in, so don't worry about interoperability, as long as it's from a second-gen.

Note: Make sure you keep track of these screws! They're all different, and if you lose any, or use any in the wrong places, your dash will rattle worse than it did before!

1) Disconnect the speedo cable from the transmission. The cable runs along the driver's side frame rail, and connects to the tranny about 8" from the driveshaft (IIRC). It's not too hard to find. You should be able to twist if off by hand.

2) Drop the tilt steering wheel to its lowest position

3) Using a 4-6" stubby no 2 phillips head, unscrew the three screws above the gauge "viewing window. Unscrew any other screws you see under the piece. You're removing the part that houses the turn signal switch, cruise, wiper switch, etc., not the whole dash.

4) Gently pull that piece and disconnect the three or four (if you have cruise) electrical connectors. Remove and store.

5) There are four screws holding the gauge area into the dash. Take them out

6) Gently pull the gauge assembly about 4" out of the dash. Unless you want to disconnect the wiring in the back, that's as much room as you're going to get. There are three connectors, and the speedo cable is the "one that doesn't belong". You'll know. Disconnect it (yeah, it's a pain).

7) Look under the steering wheel and find the speedo cable. It's about the only cable that runs straight back to the firewall - it's pretty conspicuous (sic). At the firewall, unclip the little plastic piece that holds it in place, and push it through the firewall, to the outside. You should have a nice hole now.

8) Leaving the old cable in place as a guide, run the new cable to the places where it should go. Assembly is the reverse of removal.

It took me about 30 mins to pull one out of a parts car and install it in mine, on the first time. It's cake. Get dirty, and good luck!

Brandon

Edit: wrote diff when I meant driveshaft

 

thanks that helps alot

im gonna goto autoshop and do it now

 

nice write up Brandon



let us know how it works out or if you have any trouble.