Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi team, was driving home the other day and heard a knock and speedo died. the speedo cable has snapped at the gearbox end. any idea what might of caused it?
cheers Ben

Old age?? These things happen, often an early warning sign is a wobbly needle! New cable is cheap enough, put a smear of grease on it first to show it you care!

IT WAS ONLY ABOUT 4 MONTHS OLD. CHANGED IT COS HAD A NIDDLE WOBBLE. IS THERE ANYTHING IN GEAR BOX THAT CAN GO WRONG?

The outer cable sheath may be worn/kinked and causing the problem. Or did you fit a complete new cable last time ?

a fitted a new cable and sheath with a thin smear of grease last time. i tried putting the old one back on this afternoon and that snapped strait away.

Sounds like the drive gear has siezed in the gearbox...

In which case - the gear would not be turning at all, and would therefore put no strain on the cable. The problem must lie in the speedo - which must be seized up solid. Try it with a (reverse running) electric drill - although I would gently try by hand with a small screwdriver first!

Well I thought that first but the speedo head drive is so weak that the cable spinning would sheer the gears. Agree, somethings locking up / binding / siezed but I guess both ends need looking at.....

ok, will try the speedo. how do you get it out of the dash?

Theoretically you poke a philips screwdriver through the hole in the side of the gloveboxes, slacken the screws and wiggle the speedo head out.
Practically you remove the gloveboxes so that you can find the screws then slacken them and give the speedo a shove from behind.

Two little holes - one each side in the glovebox liners - cross head scewdriver in through the holes and loosen (don't undo!) the fixing screws holding the speedo - then pull the speedo forward. Try pulling anyway - most speedos will have been out at least once by now and the screws may be loose enough. How were you replacing the speedo cable if you didn't take the speedo out earlier ??

i just took one of the liners out. if speedos broken are they expensive to replace? its a gold ish one from a 64 saloon if that helps

Ignore- computer running unbeleivably slow!!

Secondhand speedos are cheap! Hardly worth repairing an old one.

bmcecosse wrote:Secondhand speedos are cheap! Hardly worth repairing an old one.

Depends where you are, and how much you want to keep the gold face. I chose to repair mine as I am skint, and don't like throwing anything away!

It was exceedingly easy to strip, clean, and re-grease.
There is a website/pdf document which explains clearly how to do it, very informative!
www.dur.ac.uk/p.d.kuhlmann/speedo.pdf

Oh yes - if you can DIY it, always a good idea. But to 'pay' to have one repaired is going to COST!

i used speedycables to recalibrate my speedo a few years ago
http://www.speedycables.co.uk/

they charge from 55 + Vat it obviously depends how / what the damage is to your speedo what the final bill will be. So as bmce says cheaper to do it your self if you can.

There's a Gold face one on ebay - £5 when I spotted it yesterday! I didn't save the link, so you can do your own searching!

right i've taken speedo out and it was abit seized. given it a bit of wd40 and a spin with a drill. it does move now but still stiff. should it be alittle stiff any way? also if cann't get it moving sweetly does that mean its dead or is there a way of fixing it easly?

There shouldn't be any noticeable stiffness.
If you put a matchstick or similar can you turn it? That's how loose it should be.
You could try something with more lubricating properties than WD40, sewing machine oil or similar.
Make a note of the TPM figure and keep your eyes open for another one at a rally or ask here because it sounds like yours is toast.