Speedometer

[JoeKeys2010]

My speedometer work fine until just before I took the car out of service to paint the underside.  It was jumping all over the place.  Today I pulled the cable out and looked at it.  It appeared to be in good shape, lots of graphite on it.  I pulled the cable out of the parts cars in installed it.  When I went on my drive the speedometer worked just fine.  Any ideas on why I had trouble with it before?  I have a spare head (gage) and gear for the transmission

[joefrazer]

A jumping speedo needle is an indication of a binding cable. Removing and reinstalling it may have dislodged the goop causing the problem. Keep an eye on it. It may take a good cleaning of the cable and casing to correct the problem.

[JoeKeys2010]

The cable I pulled out had some excess granite at the end that goes into the speedometer. The cable from the parts car that I installed was not coated as much. I'll keep an eye on it and if it gives me a problem again I'll pull the housing and clean it good.

[84RabbitGTI]

One thing I found that helped my speedo jumping problem was to move the cable around slightly under the dash while it was connected.  There seems to be a "sweet spot" that keeps the cable turning properly.  I haven't quite found it yet, but it is much better than it was.

[JoeKeys2010]

Mine is working now.  I think maybe it had too much graphite in the housing.

[retired wrench]

  You don't usually lube the top 8=10 inches to prevent getting lube in the spedo head

[JoeKeys2010]

That might have been the problem because there was a knot of it right at the speedometer head.