RE: [Chrysler300] 300G Noisy Speedometer

["'John Grady' jkg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300]" <Chrysler300-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just a quick comment on this; been in them a lot, but 300 is far better deal to work on than matador/polara type in the 1960 Dodges ! Very long needle scrapes in a very close slot, unless perfect ; drives you crazy. 

...when it sticks it is often either the needle is dragging on the number face, touching somewhere , due to someone accidentally touching it, usually while picking it up,(you forget and grab it)  resulting in slight bend, it runs eccentric then, ---or the little wire that lights up the pointer has broken off and catches the needle, or hair spring . Does your needle not light , or only intermittently? ..a clue. Binding in the head is usually the odometer number set or the gears turning it, or friction in that multi step gear drive .., if magnet not scraping the aluminum cup. The original lube,  a low quality grease dries out , turns almost solid like a rock . When a drag is present in the head, the spring action of the cable driving it winds up and then snaps the spinning magnet quickly free, fast, causing the needle to jump up erratically and a lot of noise ; usually getting 10 W oil into the bearing helps all this even without taking it out-- squirt in on back using a small squeeze bottle. Into where cable goes and into side oiler  thing, That cap unscrews / comes off. Sometime it takes 3-4 apps into that hole, suddenly it frees up. . When out , I spin it with a battery drill by putting a large wood splinter, like two large toothpicks glued together  into the drill , with it face down or face vertical with oil hole up. Toothpicks  go into the square hole and running back and forth with oil. Generally getting small amount oil inside at other end of bearing does not hurt anything, it is all metal. And the bearing in there, right there ,  gets  tight, it is all that holds magnets spinning inside. ; talking it more apart does not get you much farther, as the spinning part is factory pressed together, trying to take apart invariably bends the aluminum cup   ; I know there are graphite based lubes for cable , but I have had best luck with 10 weight oil , using squeeze bottle into cable end too. I think it mobilizes graphite already in there, without drying up like speedo lubes seem to  . Just my opinion, works for me. I hang it up vertically with coat hanger wire over a pail and squirt a lot in till it drips out other end , keep it up like that for a week; 10W synthetic is best as it does not thicken when cold,; I do that with e brake cables and trans shifter too. Wipe off outside. 

The big problem that is very hard to solve is if the bearing wears or the aluminum cup inside driving the needle gets bent by messing with it such that he magnets scrape it. This is really hard to get right again, and if it wobbles side to side on the input thing, due to radial bearing wear your speedo may be done for. Maybe the pros can fix that, but better to find another ; the 150 ones are rare, and the others are different rate hair springs or magnets so cannot be used. Do not try to adjust it by moving the lever on hair spring obviously for that. nothing but trouble happens; I believe though , that calibration is  1000 RPM is 60 mph. Maddening thing, very fragile and easy to break it, which I did several times when I first tried. Then I figured out it is usually just dried out lube behind the problems. Better success now. Or send it off. 

Maybe this helps.....My Dart did this jumping and noise badly, lubed it, has to have 300k miles all runs well. Now...

Getting it out not that bad, FSM tells how. Slow and easy...

-----Original Message-----
From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 'David Schwandt' finsruskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300]
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2018 9:20 AM
To: 'Dan Akol'; 'Noel Hastalis'
Cc: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; 'mark love'
Subject: RE: [Chrysler300] 300G Noisy Speedometer

I believe there is an oil wick on the rear of the cluster.

This may be addressed in the service manual.

I have the opposite problem w/my F speedo.

 

It’s quiet but sticks at around 60 MPH and I have to get it up to about 85MPH (not a problem Heh Heh!!) for it to jump up to moving again, then it sticks at 60 MPH again on the way down.

 

Good luck removing it, it’s a real PITA, that’s why mine still sticks.

 

Dave Schwandt

 

From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Dan Akol danakolaia@xxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300]
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2018 11:10 PM
To: Noel Hastalis
Cc: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; mark love
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] 300G Noisy Speedometer

 






I disconnected the speedo cable and eliminated the noise so i think it’s the speedometer making the noise. I’ll try lubing the speedo but if it doesn’t resolve the problem, I’d appreciate any tips or instructions for removing the cluster, Thanks!

 

On Sun, Nov 11, 2018 at 8:32 PM Noel Hastalis <cpaviper@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Dan, 

I assume your speedo needle started bouncing also? Same thing happened in my F starting at last Fall’s Lynchburg Meet. It would screech with the car cold, and quiet down after a few minutes driving. Long story short, my speedo cable snapped in December. Installed a new cable in March and isolated the problem to my speedo head. All the folks I’ve spoken with say it’s no fun pulling the dome - my mechanic will be doing it in the next few weeks, and will send to Jeff Carter for rebuild. 

We tried soaking and replacing the lubricating wick at the dome, connected the cable, and the speedo needle was still erratic. Then we connected the dash end of the cable to a cable drive tach, and the tach needle operated smoothly - so isolated the issue to my speedo head.

Noel Hastalis

F coupe

 

Sent from my iPhone


On Nov 11, 2018, at 8:05 PM, mark love marklove@xxxxxx [Chrysler300] <Chrysler300-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

  

Hi Dan;

>From my experience, you need to isolate whether it is in the gauge or the cable.  Can you ‘feel’ the noise on the face of the gauge with your finger as you’re driving?  Or can you hear it up close (your passenger in your lap)?  Sounds like the cable and it’s the easier to diagnose.  Unscrew it at one end (at the tranny or behind the gauge cluster, not sure of your year) and see if the noise goes away when you drive it.  That will diagnose it.  I have taken the speedo cable out, pulled out the inner cable, irrigated the housing in a solvent bath, cleaned the cable (look at the ends and see if they’re worn so badly you should replace the cable and housing regardless) and re- oil it (I used sewing machine oil).  That’s what i did.  As with any diet advice, ‘your results may vary'.  M.





On Nov 11, 2018, at 6:07 PM, Dan Akol danakolaia@xxxxxxxxx [Chrysler300] <Chrysler300-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

 

 

Hi All - My speedometer started making a loud, blood curdling noise today (it still worked though). Can anyone give me some advice on how to remove the cluster? Also, would shooting some lubricant in the cable hole help? Thanks!

 

 










[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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Posted by: "David Schwandt" <finsruskw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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Posted by: "John Grady" <jkg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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