Speedometer Bouncing Around
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
Posts: 43
Likes: 6
Speedometer Bouncing Around
It's bad on my '88 E350. It smooths out above 55 or so. But below that the needle just bounces A LOT.
So I pulled the speedo cable out and cleaned and lubed it using the Ford recommended lube (it comes out blue). Can't remember the name but it's Motorcraft brand. I didn't heavily coat the cable though. Instead just a light coat. And I didn't put any lube 4 inches before the speedometer cable head (where it goes into the speedometer itself to avoid the lube getting splashed into my gauge. I pushed the cable back into the cable housing and it went it nice and smooth. The first 5 miles was fine and I thought I had solved the bouncing. The bouncing almost completely gone at lower speeds, super smooth above 35 mph. But much to my disappointment after 15 miles of driving the speedo needle started to bounce more at low speeds again just like before! WTF!
How much lube should I have used? What did I do wrong? Should I just replace the cable?
So I pulled the speedo cable out and cleaned and lubed it using the Ford recommended lube (it comes out blue). Can't remember the name but it's Motorcraft brand. I didn't heavily coat the cable though. Instead just a light coat. And I didn't put any lube 4 inches before the speedometer cable head (where it goes into the speedometer itself to avoid the lube getting splashed into my gauge. I pushed the cable back into the cable housing and it went it nice and smooth. The first 5 miles was fine and I thought I had solved the bouncing. The bouncing almost completely gone at lower speeds, super smooth above 35 mph. But much to my disappointment after 15 miles of driving the speedo needle started to bounce more at low speeds again just like before! WTF!
How much lube should I have used? What did I do wrong? Should I just replace the cable?
Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 10,401
Likes: 2,607
From: Near Salt Lake City
Most of the time it's the housing that needs to be replaced
Replace both if you can
We used polyethylene grease at the dealer, came in spray cans
You took the cable completely out of the housing, right?
Then you lube it and the hole in the housing end as you reinsert the cable
You can use lithium grease as well
If the cable is not kinked, the bounce will be solved with a new housing has been my experience
Replace both if you can
We used polyethylene grease at the dealer, came in spray cans
You took the cable completely out of the housing, right?
Then you lube it and the hole in the housing end as you reinsert the cable
You can use lithium grease as well
If the cable is not kinked, the bounce will be solved with a new housing has been my experience
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
Posts: 43
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I was afraid of that. I'm just not feeling like going down that route of replacing the whole housing, routing it back to transmission....
Time to go shopping for a new cable and housing.
Yes I took the whole cable out.
Time to go shopping for a new cable and housing.Yes I took the whole cable out.
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
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Ordered the whole cable and housing. 95 inches. I ordered the Transmitter too. What the hell may as well replace it all.
Any suggestions before I tackle it? I'm thinking the cable housing will go in from the instrument panel and just follow along the path of the old one. Shouldn't have any gotcha moments on the cable routing right?
Any suggestions before I tackle it? I'm thinking the cable housing will go in from the instrument panel and just follow along the path of the old one. Shouldn't have any gotcha moments on the cable routing right?
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
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Why didn't I think of that! Ok will do. Thank you!
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
Posts: 43
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Well guess what? I attempted to replace my speedometer cable. It all came apart very easily. Unfortunately, the Auto Zone brand speedometer cable did NOT fit the van. Unbelievable! All that time and effort only to get to near the end and one part doesn't fit right. I ended up re-installing the OEM speedometer cable and just lubing the crap out of it using the Motorcraft lubing compound, and carefully refitting a new transmitter. Viola! fixed the speedometer dancing! Did all this at night to make the road trip schedule the next day. Wrenching on your own vehicle sure does build character!
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Yeah that's one of those "everything was going fine until it wasn't" moments
Glad you got it working in the end though! Nothing worse than being that deep into a job and finding a part doesn't even fit.
Glad you got it working in the end though! Nothing worse than being that deep into a job and finding a part doesn't even fit.
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
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The accuracy of cataloging these aftermarket parts is sometimes not accurate. It's partially my fault for going with the cheaper brand. I should have seen the bullet end was too big. I did eventually found the correct one (OEM part). Of course this is after I fixed the old one! LOL!
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5th Wheeling
Joined: Apr 2026
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No. I needed to use A LOT of the Motorcraft lube on the old cable.
What I did discover was the cable needed to insert into the transmitter just enough to engage the end of the cable without forcing in too far into the Transmitter. If it's too tight, the speedo would bounce. I did eventually replace the 38 year old Transmitter with a new one from Autozone, Duralast brand. It was an exact fit thank God. Now my speedometer is as smooth as ever!
There is an alternate solution to this cable driven speedo. JEGs sells an electronic retrofit for $400 that uses GPS and an electric motor that drives a very short cable. However, it doesn't have a connection to the Van's Cruise Control.
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What I did discover was the cable needed to insert into the transmitter just enough to engage the end of the cable without forcing in too far into the Transmitter. If it's too tight, the speedo would bounce. I did eventually replace the 38 year old Transmitter with a new one from Autozone, Duralast brand. It was an exact fit thank God. Now my speedometer is as smooth as ever!
There is an alternate solution to this cable driven speedo. JEGs sells an electronic retrofit for $400 that uses GPS and an electric motor that drives a very short cable. However, it doesn't have a connection to the Van's Cruise Control.
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