Cleaning your hole

[Admiral coFF33]

Hey guys,

Im having troubles with my MZ11 soarer dash, its the oldschool digi type, cable drivin.

Ive searched and read a lot about the problem im having but the threads ive read the poster never came back and informed us what fixed it , or even if it had been fixed...

So im posting this to ask, does anyone know with cable drivin speedos, if you can clean out the "hole" on the back of the dash that the cable "plugs" into ....

Mine has a fair amount of yellowish/grey/black grease slopping round the hole and seems like it should be cleaned.

Also, the speedo will work only occasionally, and when it is , it jumps around a fair bit like when im going 50KPH , i get 45, 48 , 52, 47 , 45, then 50 for a little bit,

Then sometimes it just stops

Ive taken the speedo cable out of its "casing?" its in excellent condition with no kinks and no misshapedness ? .... and cleaned it up with some degreeazer and then added a thin amount of HTB grease to it to help it spin smooth in its casing, but i seem to think the hole in the dash is the issue here.

Any ideas if i need to use INOX ? or WD40 ? or electrical cleaner spray in teh hole? can i damage anything by doing this ?

Cheers

coFF

[CrUZida]

Its pretty common for cable driven digital dashes to jump around.
Every car I've ever had has done it, all have done it at different speeds too.
Its one of the main reasons why I put a UZZ30 dash in my Z10, to get rid of the speedo cable.

As for the gunk, every one I've seen has had a fair amount of gunk in there, but without seeing a pic of yours its hard to say if you have more than usual.
I see no reason why it can't be cleaned though, as long as some grease remains in there.

[Kedderz]

Could it be slipping? Some graphite powder may make it grip enough to get a clean reading.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

As Peewee said, they all jump around. If you've already got the cable out of the sheath and greased it, you've pretty much done everything right. I'd be very surprised if the grease was causing any problems in the hole. It turns around which in turn produces the pulses the dash is looking for. So long as it's turning freely, I can't see the grease making it stop altogether. That sounds like a dodgy connection.

[Admiral coFF33]

dodgy connection ?

[CrUZida]

Where you plug the speedo cable into the back of the dash.
It can be a fair prick to get to seat properly.

Also look at the elbow fitting on the gearbox, its pretty common for these to fail.

[Admiral coFF33]

yeah ive already reaplaced the elbow thing, it was well farked from when stomps had it.

and the cable has been on and off the back of the dash a few times and i know it seats ok. ill double check that though

[allencr]

its in excellent condition with no kinks and no misshapedness ?

It will show as 1 or more shiny & worn smooth spots, not very likely a kink/bend.
Many 'jumping' speedO needles are cured with a little cleaning & fresh lube.
Clean it out using the cable. Oil it & a few drops down the housing, then, put it down the housing while giving it a little spin with your fingers until it bottoms out. Spin it some more when withdrawing it & then wipe it off & repeat. Repeat until the cable comes back clean.
An angle drive is very fragile & expensive & failure prone.

[Admiral coFF33]

Hi Guys ,
back again .

So since my last adventure ive replaced the elbow. and speedo cable
ive also replaced the drive gear in the gearbox with a 11 /32 to fix speedo being "out" etc.

Anyway

After MUCH research on celica supra, here and TSRM i still cannot figure out how to get my speedo working fine.


So far my investigation is :

Speedo Drivegear working
Speedo Elbow Working
Speedo cable perfect

My digital Z11 dash is from 1981 and only 81/82 z1x dash'es will fit, as i have an 84' at home and all the plugs are different on the rear of it.

Anyway.

If i remove the drivers side lower dash garnish so i can reach up behind the dash to feel the speedo cable housing, its definatly plugged in, and the "clip" is in great condition that keeps it held on the back of the dash.
ive removed it a fair few times and with the car running, slowly drivin forward and backward with my finger on the inner cable and i can feel it moving just fine. (btw this has NEVER been an issue) so i would assume that its rotating the female side of the speedo connection on the back of the dash just fine.

So that leaves me with the result of it being a DASH issue.


Has anyone read a thread on someone taking apart and cleaning or fixing the speedo drive connection on the back of a MA61/MZ11 dash ?
OR,

has anyone read if the speedo female connection on the dash, is connected to the plastic PCB board or wires or something on the back of the dash that i could possibly test ?


help.

[allencr]

, its the oldschool digi type, cable drivin.

Digital? Is this an electrical display/LED or a mechanical dial/indicator that moves?