1990 Acura speedometer cable experience

ASSISTANCE Interior
1

I did the speedometer thing and have posted my experience below.

I have some lingering questions for those of you more knowledgeable about some things, and would appreciate your advice and opinions.

  1. How do you properly reattach the metal clip on the transmission end of the speedometer cable? I see how it fits around the inside of the rubber covering, but I do not understand how it hold the cabling or the cover in place. Oddly, even though it is just sitting there now around the cable and doing nothing, the cable stays in place all by itself. That can’t be right, can it?

  2. I think I have some massive old grease caking at the guage cluster end of the cable. When I re-insert the cable from the transmission end, it slides in fine and easy except at the very end, where it must be pushed extra hard to pop out at guage cluster end. However, I can’t get any of the gook out merely by brushing it with the speed cable, the speed cable remain dry. The dried grease must be too old and resilent at this point to come out easily.

My speed cable is working much better after this greasing exercise, but there still is some small vibration in the speedometer needle at low speeds (no noises however). I think the sticky caking I left behind is the cause of this. Should I try sticking a nail, screwdriver, fine metal brush, or something else to get that messy stuff out? Can I wash it out somehow? Or should I consider just changing the cable altogether (I don’t particularly look forward to try to get a new cable through that rubber stopper in the firewall)?

Thanks for your reply.
CP

Re-posted from my reply in TEG Tips Archive:

Following the advice I gathered in this forum, I decided to try lubricating my speedometer cable to fix the needle vibrations and noises. I took out the instrument guage cluster even though I read that was unnecessary because I had a light bulb to change there too. That was a worthwhile exercise in the end for me also for fixing the speedometer cable.

Here is what my experience removing the instrument cluster and lubing the speedometer cable was like on a 1990 Acura Integra LS.

  1. You cannot pull out the inner cable from inside the car. The end of the cable that goes into the transmission (tranny) has a special ending head/adapter on it to go into the transmission. You must pull it out from the transmission’s end, even if you took out the guage cluster (this is at least true for my car, 1990 Acura Integra). Unless you are going to change the cable, opening the guage cluster will be a waste of time unless you are going to scrape out some of the old caked grease from that end (which I forgot to do and may have to do soon).

  2. You can and should disconnect the speedometer cable from the transmission to adjust the slack behind the guage cluster to get it out safely. You can push the cable into the firewall to increase the slack. You can also pull the instrument cluster out some while still attached to the speedometer to get the slack, but be careful because it is a plastic clip that holds the cable into the guage cluster and you don’t want to break that! Last, later when you want to put the guage cluster back in, you won’t be able to do so if you’ve added too much slack from taking it out, so you may need to pull the cable out from under the hood to reduce the slack.

  3. The speedometer cable has a release tab to get it out of the guage cluster. You have to push down on the lever and pull the cable out at the same time. Pulling may be easier accomplished by pulling the guage cluster out towards you while the release tab is downward engaged. Make sure you get the cable away from the port on the cluster after you get it out, or it might accidental re-lock in while you are trying to disconnect the other wires (which have more slack) to get the cluster out of the dash. That, BTW, also is a possible technique to get it reconnected later. To re-install, the cable clip lever simply snaps back in.

  4. Remove the some of the wiring dash mounts on the left bottom side of the guage cluster so you move it into a better angle to get your hands in behind it on the right to disconnect the speed cable. You might damage these wires accidentally otherwise.

  5. When removing guage cluster, take off the speedometer cable first, then the other wiring. When reinstalling, connect the other wiring first, and re-connect the speedometer cable last.

  6. Do not try to take out the fan control to get better access to behind the guage cluster to remove the speed cable. It can’t be done without a lot of other unnecessary work. Do not try to open the fan control switch to make it easier than documented to get the fan controls out, re-assemblying it was another extra job I shouldn’t have been doing.

  7. On my car, most of the old grease built up and collected against the guage cluster. The rest of the cabling seemed to be dry. As it dries out, it must somehow migrate to that end (perhaps by design through grooving?). That’s why the quick & easy way documented here may not work and getting into the cabling from the cluster’s end may be necessary.

  8. On my car (with an automatic transmission and cruise control), there were 4 electrical plugs (two green, two grey) going into the guage cluster. The speedometer cable is best reached using your right hand going into the right side. One of the electrical plugs is also best reached from the right side. The other three are best reached from the left side with the left hand.

I think that explains about everything tricky there is about it.
CP

2

As far as the tranny end of the cable goes, there is a groove in it that the retaining pin locks into. To properly lock the cable in place, push it in until you can slide the lock pin across smoothly. The flatter side of the pin will go into the groove in the cable. Make sure you test it by pulling firmly up on the cable to see if it pops out.

Hope that helps.

The sppedo cable on these Teggy’s makes me :sad: :sad: :sad:

3

grove

The groove you speak about, is it on the cable end, the rubber cover, or the transmission port, or several of these?

The only groove I recall seeing, if the clip were put through it, would prevent the cable from going fully into the transmission. How does it lock the cable into the transmission?

4

so I know how to pull it out and everything but when I was putting it back in the cable is sticking out farther than the housing so it wont go in properly. How do I get the housing to go down more so it’s flush with the cable? (the actual cable is sticking out farther than the housing so it wont go in on the trans side). I hope this forum is still open.

5

What housing??

6

Yes what housing?

Did you install back the clip so the cable won’t come out.

7

i have a simliar problem has well. but now my cable broke inside the cluster. has anyone experience this.

8

I really wish someone would answer this properly, I have searched for days and still haven’t found a thing. There is a clip, a boot, and the cable. On the tranny side where the cable goes in there is only one slit so which way does the clip go? Or does the clip go in the boot first? Someone has to of done this before???

9

I guess I’m confused as to what the question is. Maybe I’m not thinking about it right but as far as I remember there’s only one way the clip can be installed.

  • Make sure the boot is installed on the cable and pushed out of the way
  • Slip the end of the cable into the VSS, make sure it’s fully inserted
  • Slide the c-cip around the VSS so that half of the clip snaps into the slot in the VSS
  • Slide the boot down the cable so that it covers the clip and top of VSS

The clip fits around the VSS but has part which fits into a groove on the VSS. There’s also a groove all the way around the cable. The clip locks the cable in place. Here are a couple of bad photos that I found with a very quick google image search:

Here you can see the slot in the VSS and the groove in the cable (super shitty pic, but you can sorta see how they line up)

Correct installation:

Another pic of how the clip fits into the slit in the VSS. The clip is loose in this pic because there’s no cable inside to keep the spring tension.

Oh, and looks like the thread that those first pics are from actually has more pics showing the slot in the VSS and the groove in the cable… http://crx.honda-perf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10411

10

Thats exactly what I wanted to see, you would think there is only one way but it wasnt such a snug fit. I think the boot helps it stay secure. But thats exactly what I wanted, thanks!!

11

Yeah, it’s definitely not a snug fit, and likely partly due to old parts which are worn and/or not as springy as normal. The boot should keep the clip from coming out by itself.

12

I bought a brand new cable and just installed everything the exact way i took it off and had no issues.the annoying sound went away too !!