Morris Minor Owners Club

The 'charm' of my wildly occilating speedo is beginning to fade slightly and I am thinking of oiling/greasing the cable.
Is it easier to undo the cable at the gearbox and then pull the inner cable out to lubricate, pushing it back in and 'wiggling' to engage back in the speedo, than pulling out the speedo itself (and all those wires/bulbs) and doing it from that end?
Is oil or grease better?
Any useful tips/advise would be appreciated..........

I am not sure about the lubrication - although mine had grease around it . From experience however you would Need to undo both Ends. The inner cable seemed to be pullable from the speedo end but less so from the gearbox.

If you do not want to go the Trouble in removing the speedo ( I had also to remove the glove box/ tray linng ) you can disconnect from the gearbox first and just try. If it works - fine. If not, you are no worse off.

Do not lubricate / grease the " whole " length of the cable , leave the top end by the speedo clean and dry. If the oil / grease
gets into the speedo itself you're likely to clog it all up.

Tip No 2 tie a bit of string to the end of the cable before you start to take it out and leave it in situ when you detach the cable. When you want to put it back , tie the ( right ) end to the string and pull back through the route you extracted it by.

With the battery disconnected you can release the speed with two screws 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock through cut outs , left and right. See workshop manual. Don't take the screws out , just enough to " release the grip " unless of course you want extra unnecessary work.
Bob

[quote="mogbob"]
Tip No 2 tie a bit of string to the end of the cable before you start to take it out and leave it in situ when you detach the cable. When you want to put it back , tie the ( right ) end to the string and pull back through the route you extracted it by.

Don't quite understand this Bob. Are you referring to attaching string to the outer cable or the inner cable? I'm guessing outer.

From what you both say, I'm thinking disconnect from the gearbox, leaving it attached to the speedo, then pull the cable from under the car into the engine bay where it can be held in more or less a straight line from where it emerges from the bulkhead to pull out (most of) the inner cable to grease it. That way if I don't grease the last inches from the speedo end, I won't have the problem of grease getting into the speedo itself. It can then (hopefully) be more easy to wiggle the inner cable shaft back into the speedo before bending the whole cable back under the car and into the gearbox again. That make sense? Thanks.

If you use oil it can wind it's way up the cable into the back of the clock , so grease only .

Yes ...the outer cable. You can try leaving the speedo end in situ although my personal preference would be taking it out completely for a full examination for kinks / damage.
I understand your desire to go for the half way house though.
Do take time making sure that relocation of the speedo end is " positive ". Note the exact length of the inner cable exposed at the gearbox end ( on removal ) so that you can ascertain , on reassembly , that the speedo end is fully " home ". Light finger pressure trying to rotate the inner cable , meeting resistance, would be another indicator that the inner had located correctly.

Bob

In my experience if the speedo needle is jumping about the speedo cable is due for replacement.

Many thanks for all your replies. I shall have a look at it some time but its not urgent - I've recently spent a lot of time grovelling under the car doing servicing tasks and need a break from dirt, grease and oil!

If and when I get round to it, if greasing doesn't work then a new cable it is, as Phil suggests.

Cheers,
Pete

Just wondering (out loud) if a spray tin of graphite dry lubricant would work for a realatively undamaged cable ? I used this on a starter bendix and it worked great. I should imagine it wouldn't creep up the cable to get into the speedo.

Ok to update on this.........it is possible to pull the innner cable out from the speedometer end, but not the gearbox end, as there is a plastic 'plug' at the speedo end which won't go through the outer cable. Therefore its a speedo out job at minimum!