Some Help From The Community Experts

[Mike]

Hello everyone,

 

I'm new to this community as of a few hours ago, and to owning an 02 as of a few months ago. I've already been blessed with so many in-depth articles on here that really saved my ass (and sanity) when troubleshooting issues, so thanks to so many great contributors.  I'm having speedometer issues, and I have spent the past few hours looking through old posts but nothing seems fitting. My speedometer seems to be well calibrated on speed (km/h as I'm in Canada), but never drops below 60km/h. It sits at 60 as it's starting point. Older posts talk a lot about a jumpy gauge, but nothing specific to why it wouldn't return to zero. 

 

Any input on this would be amazing. Fixable at home, needs to be sent out, or is she ready to be replaced? 

 

Cheers 

[esty]

is it possible that someone removed the needle and put back on at 60?

 

[Son of Marty]

To add to Esty's answer, maybe the speedo face is not flat and it's causing the needle to hang up. I'm real sure your going to have to pull the speedo to figure it out.

[ray_]

Also possible the needle is a little bent and touching the face.

[Mike]

Thanks for these answers so far.  I followed a breakdown article off of 02restoration website, and pulled my speedo today.  Went through steps to tap shaft back in place as it had moved forward in the hopes that this might solve something, but no. The needle moves freely (no hang-ups) and will even go to zero if I turn the speedo shaft manually (or the needle itself), but springs right back up to 60. 

[Son of Marty]

Point Esty, be sure to check  and or replace all the bulbs while your in there.

[Mike]

Thanks for the suggestion. Will most likely update all the bulbs while I have the cluster apart! 

 

Etsy, I didn't even think of that. I was a bit reluctant to start man-handling the speedometer. Can the needle simply be pulled off the face and put back on at desired speed location??

['76mintgrün'02]

If the needle was set to zero at the sixty point, wouldn't it read seventy, when doing ten?

 

 

 

[esty]

some can...someone with more knowledge may know if yours can be...personally i have removed several from several speedos but it's been some time ago and don't recall what year speedo's they were

 

i'd suggest taking the speedo back out and look at how the needle is attached to the hub of the shaft...the ones i removed were just glued on and came off without any fight

 

[Son of Marty]

4 minutes ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

If the needle was set to zero at the sixty point, wouldn't it read seventy, when doing ten?

 

 

 

Great point, does the needle start to move when the car does or does it kinda need to wind up awhile before moving.

[Mike]

Excellent, I appreciate everyones input so far. Great stuff. Yes '76MintGrun, basically 70km/h is 10 and so on. Thats how I've been driving her for now anyway. Not a huge deal, but I like things working like a swiss clock, so if I can fix it I'll be all that much happier:) 

[ray_]

Master Tinker's answer needs to be addressed, but it it very do-able to pull the needle directly off and re-orient it. Takes a bit of courage though, and finesse. I haven't broken one yet...

 

Which model Ford Mustang are we addressing, Mike?

 

;-)

[Mike]

1 minute ago, ray_ said:

Master Tinker's answer needs to be addressed, but it it very do-able to pull the needle directly off and re-orient it. Takes a bit of courage though, and finesse. I haven't broken one yet...

 

Which model Ford Mustang are we addressing, Mike?

 

?

Sweet Ray I'll give that a go! Thanks. It's off a '75 (and thankfully not a mustang  ) 

[JerryC]

21 minutes ago, Mike said:

Thanks for the suggestion. Will most likely update all the bulbs while I have the cluster apart! 

 

Etsy, I didn't even think of that. I was a bit reluctant to start man-handling the speedometer. Can the needle simply be pulled off the face and put back on at desired speed location??

Answer is, "It depends". If you're comfortable with tinkering with high precision mechanisms (think jewelry music box parts, disassembling a cell phone camera, etc. for the right parts size range and precision level), you can fix some things in there yourself. If not, send it to a speedo shop.

Here's a diagram illustrating how it works. The speedo cable connects to the input shaft which spins the magnet setting up the eddy currents, etc. The magnet creates drag on the cup, and the shaft rotation is opposed by the spring. The faster the magnet spins, the farther the needle rotates while winding up the spring. The spring is tiny, it looks like a watch spring.

Edited September 7, 2020 by JerryC

[ray_]

If you elect to pull the needle, use a tool that will apply force uniformly and pry the needle straight up. I used a small cocktail fork

 

Put a credit card or something else expendable between the tool and the face of the speedo.

 

It takes a lot of force to extricate the needle. 

 

I re-oriented a recent needle by leaving the shaft at equilibrium and orienting the needle at about 5:00 on the face, and then carefully lifting it over the peg.

 

YMMV.  

 

As stated if you are not comfortable with this, send it out. 

 

Cheers,