Re: [Chrysler300] billz speed o meter

["mgoodknight@xxxxxxxx" <mgoodknight@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bill,
Well, there are plenty of solutions being offered for you speedometer woes, and legitimately most of them center around the cable as the culprit.  There is; however, another problem potential that I've not yet seen reference to.  I'm going to describe specifically my experience with my '65 Barracuda (same instruments as your '65 Valiant).
I've owned the car since new in fall of '64 and as it approached the 100k mile mark the speedometer began to bounce.  After determining that it had no cable problem I removed the instrument cluster to access the speedometer head and serviced it (cleaned and lubed).  The problem did not go away.  Another inspection, more thoroughly done, revealed a mechanical problem in the speedometer head.  The pointer needle is attached to one end of a small diameter axle which also has a metal drum at its other end.  This system is spring loaded very lightly to the zero position.  Inside that durm is a bar magnet that is rotated by the speedometer cable.  Also with the bar magnet is a thin steel bar formed over the outside rim of the drum and rotates with the magnet.  The problem I discovered is that bushing and/or the axle for the pointer has become worn enough to allow physical contact between the magnet bar (outer piece) and the drum.  Though the contact is slight and intermittent it's enough to send the pointer into a wild oscillation.  I believe a correct solution is to recondition the pointer axle and bushing, but I chose a different route.  I simply bent the bar slightly away from the drum to give a little more clearance.   That was more than 35 years ago and it still works fine today with the odometer now indicating 35,000 plus 200,000 miles.  You might say that the accuracy of the speedometer was disturbed!  Yes, it was changed, but since it was giving a false indication before, I was not very concerned about that.  Now that I also have a gps I've evaluated the accuracy of the speedometer and it is nearly exact  at 60mph.
I'm imagining that the your 300's speedometers are made similarly so you have something else now to look for.   I have several instrument sets for the Valiant and at least 3 of the speedometers have the same problem.
Lots o' luck
Marshall Goodknight      c300, '65 Barracuda, '81 Imperial, '79 300, lots of junk

---------- Original Message ----------
From: Bill Leahy <bleahy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: NANCY TERRY <nterry2@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Chrysler 300 group <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Chrysler300] billz speed o meter
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:22:21 -0700

  
i have 2 chrysler 300's and a 65 valiant / not one of the speed o meters work.

i have busted 5 in my 57 C alone.

i think i am the jinx of speed o meters.

but i do have a gps and that gadget is just marvelous in any car i drive.

yahooooooo, billllllll
On Jul 17, 2011, at 6:47 PM, NANCY TERRY wrote:

> Bill,
> Had to laugh (not over your problem) because my first car, a 49 Plymouth convertible, did this. It bounced and bounced until one day, it didn't bounce. It just kept going. It looked like an airplane propeller.
> So really hope you get good answers and tackle the problem as you may not feel like laughing about it if it repeats my incident.
> Nancy Terry
> 



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