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Last night, my girlfriend and I towed my 1974 Super Beetle to my hometown to store at my grandmothers place. Over the last couple of months, at highway speeds, I've noticed a noise that sounds like crinkling plastic.
After towing the car and putting it away, I got back into the van, fired it up, and the speedometer is not working and the noise is now gone. I've been researching different lengths of Speedometer cable; as well as other issues. The van in question is a 1989 Ford Clubwagon XLT 351w c6. I keep finding a few questions that need answered first. How do I tell if my van came from the factory with cruise control? It has the buttons on the wheel, but they don't work. Which cable will work? And has anyone experienced this odd noise before?
Sadly not every question asked has an immediate answer.
My best guess is the noise before failure was the speedo drive cable about to fail, operation was intermittent and inconsistent I'm guessing. Since the noise has stopped and the speedo doesn't register at all more than likely the drive cable failed completely.
Disconnect the transmission end of that cable and try turning the squarish drive element to see if it spins freely or causes the speedo needle to move. If it does move the problem could be the drive gears of the transmission.
If it spins freely and the speedo needle doesn't move most likely the cable has failed completely. Replacing it would be necessary but that alone doesn't guarantee the speedo too isn't having problems.
If it had cruise, it would have two cables. One from the transmission to a box, then another from the box to the speedo. My guess is that the lube in the cable ran dry and the dry cable inside the sleeve was the noise just before the cable broke. You can't spin the cable by hand fast enough to register on the speedometer. You'd need to use a drill.
Sadly not every question asked has an immediate answer.
My best guess is the noise before failure was the speedo drive cable about to fail, operation was intermittent and inconsistent I'm guessing. Since the noise has stopped and the speedo doesn't register at all more than likely the drive cable failed completely.
Disconnect the transmission end of that cable and try turning the squarish drive element to see if it spins freely or causes the speedo needle to move. If it does move the problem could be the drive gears of the transmission.
If it spins freely and the speedo needle doesn't move most likely the cable has failed completely. Replacing it would be necessary but that alone doesn't guarantee the speedo too isn't having problems.
HTH
It actually never fluctuated before failure. It would bump up and down a bit, but I attributed that to it being an older vehicle. From what you're saying though, the speedometer cable is driven off of the transmission. Will this be easily accessible while removing the doghouse?
Originally Posted by baddad457
If it had cruise, it would have two cables. One from the transmission to a box, then another from the box to the speedo. My guess is that the lube in the cable ran dry and the dry cable inside the sleeve was the noise just before the cable broke. You can't spin the cable by hand fast enough to register on the speedometer. You'd need to use a drill.
The speedo cable plugs into the driver's side of the transmission tailshaft housing. You can access it under the vehicle. As old as yours is I'm pretty sure it'll have two cables as I mentioned before. The transmission end is retained via a clip bolted into the tailhousing, the other end should be under the hood I think
I've heard the noise before in my 85 bronco. Terrible sound of grinding. Then the needle popped of the speedo. I replaced it all with a GPS speedometer, so I can't help with diagnosis.
