Munted
24-11-2007, 11:05 PM
How to lubricate a squeaky speedo cable.
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim:
Squeaky speedo cables seem to be a pretty common problem, as the get old they start to squeek/squeal/just generally become noisy. If you do a Google search for it you'll find lots of people have this problem so I figured I write up a how to. I tried to record the noise but my phone didn't pick it up, for me it was a high pitched whine crossed with a rusty bike noise. It probably sounds different in different cars anyway but if it get louder as your speed increases that is a sign that it could be your speedo cable. If you pull the cable out from the transmission and the noise stops, that would probably confirm it. Another reason to replace it is that aside from the annoying sound, it can apparently snap if you leave it squeaking for too long. (http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/showthread.php?t=221610)
If you wanted to just buy and OEM replacement from Honda, they are about $80 according to this OH thread (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1273131&postcount=10) but if you want to just lubricate it yourself, it's not very difficult. These pictures are from an ED9 CRX so it will probably look different on your car if it's not an ED9.
Required:
Wheel bearing grease
Newspaper (so you don't get grease on your workspace and car)
Torch (so you can get the speedo cable back in and possibly to find it)
Cloth (to wipe the old grease off the core and to apply the new grease)
Gloves (the grease has a warning which says that it's not great for you hands. Plus who wants to get covered in grease, we're replacing a cable not stripping!)
Screwdrivers (both phillips and flat head if you need to get to the back of your cluster)
Step One
You're best off doing this when then engine is cold, so it's easier to get the cable back in (see step 4 for more details on this). Ok first thing you need to do is locate your speedo cable, it comes out of the back of your cluster, through the firewall and into the transmission. On the CRX you need to unplug it from the transmission not the cluster, there's a stopper on the transmission end. It's a bit hard to point it out on my CRX because the transmission is quite low in the engine bay. Anyway this picture shows what it looks like when it comes out of the firewall:
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable7.jpg
It's a bit hard too see and my photography skills suck! But it's the circled cable going into the transmission. You might need to find/download a workshop manual to find it. Once it's been located, carefully disconnect it, you might need a torch here as it's pretty dark down there even during daytime. Also take note of where it plugged into, so you don't forget!
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable.jpg
Step Two
Carefully pull the core out, little by little, you probably want to put on some gloves here so you don't get the old grease all over your hands. Also it might be a good idea to lay some newspaper down over the front of your car so the cable and grease don't get all over your paint work. Just be careful when you're pulling the core out not to kink it. I've heard they can fray and/or rust, if you break it while you're pulling it out don't blame me, you've been warned! The picture below shows the end of it, you can see the core which I've pulled out a little.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable2.jpg
After you've put some newspaper down, lay down the core onto the bench you're working. Once you've got the core lying on the bench, wipe of the old grease off with a cloth. Then add some new grease, I chose to use wheel bearing grease which cost me $11 and was my only expense for this project.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable3.jpg
Step Three
I've heard of people using gear oil but to be honest I think that'd be too thin and would just run down the cable. I've also heard of people using white lithium grease but this wheel bearing grease is lithium based, they're both fairly similar I believe. Just make sure you don't use WD-40, silicone or graphite, these may help in the short term but they will end up destroying your cable after a while.
Once you've finished applying an even, thinnish layer of grease all over just carefully push the core back through. It's a good idea to pull the core back out again and check that there's still plenty of grease on the cable and reapply if needed. You may also find that the first time you pull the cable back out all this old black grease comes out with it, if so clean the core again and reapply new grease. Then carefully plug the speedo cable back into the transmission. It can be a bit fiddly putting it back in, even in bright sunlight I had to use a torch. Make sure the cable is fully pushed back into the transmission or your speedo won't work or it'll work for 5 minutes then the cable will pop out!
Note, I had to do redo it a few times; once after a couple of days of driving and again after another week. The reason I had to take out again twice was because it was squeaking again and the speedo was jumping around. The first time I pulled the core out again it was filthy, it looked like the bottom of a school desk, all this black crap that looked like old chewing gum (but not as hard) was stuck to it. The second time there was just a little bit of crud stuck to it.
Step Four (if required)
The first time I took the speedo cable out, the car was warm from driving back from the shops and the speedo cable was quite warm too. When I tried to put it put it back in, it didn't actually feed through all the way. So I actually ended up pulling it through from the cluster side. The second time I did it the engine was cold and I just pushed it through all the way. If you cannot push the core all the way back through either wait till everything has cooled down or if that's no good you'll have to pull it through.
On my CRX I just needed to take off the cluster hood to get to the speedo connector.
http://i20.tinypic.com/zocr49.gif
Then I just unplugged it from the back of the cluster and used some pliers to pull the core through a little more, obviously pushing alone didn't quite get the core through enough. I didn't have to do it the second and third times because I did it when the car was cold. The image below shows the speedo cable connecter that plugs into the cluster.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable6.jpg
That's it, no more noise and you saved yourself around $70 or more if you're charged for labour.
Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!
Aim:
Squeaky speedo cables seem to be a pretty common problem, as the get old they start to squeek/squeal/just generally become noisy. If you do a Google search for it you'll find lots of people have this problem so I figured I write up a how to. I tried to record the noise but my phone didn't pick it up, for me it was a high pitched whine crossed with a rusty bike noise. It probably sounds different in different cars anyway but if it get louder as your speed increases that is a sign that it could be your speedo cable. If you pull the cable out from the transmission and the noise stops, that would probably confirm it. Another reason to replace it is that aside from the annoying sound, it can apparently snap if you leave it squeaking for too long. (http://www.honda-acura.net/forums/showthread.php?t=221610)
If you wanted to just buy and OEM replacement from Honda, they are about $80 according to this OH thread (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1273131&postcount=10) but if you want to just lubricate it yourself, it's not very difficult. These pictures are from an ED9 CRX so it will probably look different on your car if it's not an ED9.
Required:
Wheel bearing grease
Newspaper (so you don't get grease on your workspace and car)
Torch (so you can get the speedo cable back in and possibly to find it)
Cloth (to wipe the old grease off the core and to apply the new grease)
Gloves (the grease has a warning which says that it's not great for you hands. Plus who wants to get covered in grease, we're replacing a cable not stripping!)
Screwdrivers (both phillips and flat head if you need to get to the back of your cluster)
Step One
You're best off doing this when then engine is cold, so it's easier to get the cable back in (see step 4 for more details on this). Ok first thing you need to do is locate your speedo cable, it comes out of the back of your cluster, through the firewall and into the transmission. On the CRX you need to unplug it from the transmission not the cluster, there's a stopper on the transmission end. It's a bit hard to point it out on my CRX because the transmission is quite low in the engine bay. Anyway this picture shows what it looks like when it comes out of the firewall:
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable7.jpg
It's a bit hard too see and my photography skills suck! But it's the circled cable going into the transmission. You might need to find/download a workshop manual to find it. Once it's been located, carefully disconnect it, you might need a torch here as it's pretty dark down there even during daytime. Also take note of where it plugged into, so you don't forget!
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable.jpg
Step Two
Carefully pull the core out, little by little, you probably want to put on some gloves here so you don't get the old grease all over your hands. Also it might be a good idea to lay some newspaper down over the front of your car so the cable and grease don't get all over your paint work. Just be careful when you're pulling the core out not to kink it. I've heard they can fray and/or rust, if you break it while you're pulling it out don't blame me, you've been warned! The picture below shows the end of it, you can see the core which I've pulled out a little.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable2.jpg
After you've put some newspaper down, lay down the core onto the bench you're working. Once you've got the core lying on the bench, wipe of the old grease off with a cloth. Then add some new grease, I chose to use wheel bearing grease which cost me $11 and was my only expense for this project.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable3.jpg
Step Three
I've heard of people using gear oil but to be honest I think that'd be too thin and would just run down the cable. I've also heard of people using white lithium grease but this wheel bearing grease is lithium based, they're both fairly similar I believe. Just make sure you don't use WD-40, silicone or graphite, these may help in the short term but they will end up destroying your cable after a while.
Once you've finished applying an even, thinnish layer of grease all over just carefully push the core back through. It's a good idea to pull the core back out again and check that there's still plenty of grease on the cable and reapply if needed. You may also find that the first time you pull the cable back out all this old black grease comes out with it, if so clean the core again and reapply new grease. Then carefully plug the speedo cable back into the transmission. It can be a bit fiddly putting it back in, even in bright sunlight I had to use a torch. Make sure the cable is fully pushed back into the transmission or your speedo won't work or it'll work for 5 minutes then the cable will pop out!
Note, I had to do redo it a few times; once after a couple of days of driving and again after another week. The reason I had to take out again twice was because it was squeaking again and the speedo was jumping around. The first time I pulled the core out again it was filthy, it looked like the bottom of a school desk, all this black crap that looked like old chewing gum (but not as hard) was stuck to it. The second time there was just a little bit of crud stuck to it.
Step Four (if required)
The first time I took the speedo cable out, the car was warm from driving back from the shops and the speedo cable was quite warm too. When I tried to put it put it back in, it didn't actually feed through all the way. So I actually ended up pulling it through from the cluster side. The second time I did it the engine was cold and I just pushed it through all the way. If you cannot push the core all the way back through either wait till everything has cooled down or if that's no good you'll have to pull it through.
On my CRX I just needed to take off the cluster hood to get to the speedo connector.
http://i20.tinypic.com/zocr49.gif
Then I just unplugged it from the back of the cluster and used some pliers to pull the core through a little more, obviously pushing alone didn't quite get the core through enough. I didn't have to do it the second and third times because I did it when the car was cold. The image below shows the speedo cable connecter that plugs into the cluster.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee2/Munted_honda/speedocable6.jpg
That's it, no more noise and you saved yourself around $70 or more if you're charged for labour.