Whining speedometer on a cold morning

[JFratzke]

Hi guys- Cold weather has arrived in the Pacific Northwest in a big way and my 87 LE is complaining a little bit. This morning as I accelerated on the way to work the speedometer started whining VERY loudly within the dash and began to act crazy. I wanted to stop and figure it out but I had to get to work so I kept going and eventually the whining stopped and the needle quit working entirely. So something likely gave out, probably within the dash.

Has anybody else had this happen?

-Justin

[JFratzke]

So I guess speedometer trouble in extreme cold is fairly normal.......Still, with as much noise as it made, I was sure something had broken. I took it all apart tonight and moved the needle back to zero mph (it was straight down). I examined the back and unsnapped the connection, checked it out, and then resnapped it in. I drove it before I put it back together-the gauge is back to working perfectly. Just to be sure I did check the bottom end of the cable where it goes into the adapter and then into the transmission. Everything there looked fine as well.

Weird. I am not going to complain. It was just so friggin loud. Like a turbo going bad on a diesel. And then the abrupt stop. Moral of this story---when it's -2 outside, let your van warm up for longer than five minutes.

[Burntboot]

JF - It is a common fault.
I have had that issue in many older cars including both the van and T4, I don't know the exact cause but have found that removing and cleaning the cable then greasing it lightly with a quality grease (that won't freeze) seems to help the situation.

[AD2101]

Coming in to this thread 10 years later but what's the best lubricant to use on these cables? I've been searching other forums (namely bobistheoilguy) and there appears to have been a civil war there in the past between white lithium grease and dry graphite camps.

After my speedo needle yeeted itself a year ago on a cold morning I sprayed the business end of it with white lithium grease. It worked until the other night when it did it again on a mild Arizona evening.

This time, I'm going to fully remove the cable, clean it, and re-grease it, so long as I can figure out what the best lubricant for these is!

[89van]

AD, I am combing thru my '89 FSM to see if there's any mention of the speedo cable grease so I will edit this with an update when I do find it.

[Burntboot]

Given your location just about any grease will do the job, just confirm the working temperatures are compatible with your climate's temperature swings.
Synthetic wheel bearing grease, was always my go to
YMMV
BB

[AD2101]

Thanks for the replies guys! The FSM didn't mention much about the speedo cable aside from "replace speedometer cable." I had purchased some dry graphite lube but, after pulling the cable there appeared to be some kind of grease on it so I opted against using it.

I ended up cleaning up the cable (which was totally fine) in isopropyl alcohol and, while it was drying, cleaned up the white lithium grease that had become dry and gummy and shot some Teflon lubricant down the speedo hole at the gauge side until it started to come out the transmission end. I liberally coated the cable with the same Teflon lubricant and ran it back in. Everything is working as it should so far so I'm going to consider it settled for the time being. I'll report back if this fails but this seemed like the best option.

Tldr: B'laster multi-purpose lubricant with Teflon was what I used for this specific issue.

[89van]

Yea, couldn't find anything for greasing it, but lithium grease should be a good call, i know it's used on some ball joints (atleast for my Pickup) so that should be a safe bet!