Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Speedometer going crazy

I know that I have read this somewhere before but I can't seem to find the thread. The other day I went for a ride and while in second gear I looked at my speedometer and I was doing 80 mph. Pulling over and let it come to zero I started up again and the same thing happened. I pulled over again and this time it started to read correctly. The next day when I went for a ride it happened again but this time only once. Who out there was effected my this problem and what was the fix? Do I try to oil the cable? Is a new cable in my future and if so anyone know of where to obtain one other than the dealer?
Dennis

Dennis
Mine is doing exactly the same thing.
About 1000kms ago it was doing it and I took the black housing on the back of the speedo apart and greased the two gears in there. It had been fine up until yesterday when it went loopy and showing all wierd speeds.
Some people on here have said it's the speedo gone bad I might be up for a new one, ouch that's gunna hurt.

Thank you Stewart I will try that in the next few days. Hopefully it will correct the issue.
Dennis

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Is a new cable in my future and if so anyone know of where to obtain one other than the dealer?

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Hey Dennis, I may be able to answer one of your questions. My cable broke at about 24k kms, no warning except a little excess cable noise for a couple days. Kinda sounded dry, ya know? So I wasn't too surprised. But any way, a new Triumph cable was $60, so I went to the local jobber, (NAPA), and bought a universal kit, (like you would use on an old Chevy).On the bike one end is like the old Chevy and one end is "special". You drill the old cable out of the "special" end, cut the cable to length, stuff it in and crimp! $8.00 !! Make sure you grease the conduit well as its going back in.
Good luck.
Gerry.

I like that!

Do you remember which end you ahd to drill?

Gerry R

Today I greased the two gears in the housing at the back of the speedo. While I had the cable off I sprayed some WD 40 down the cable. When I went for a ride it did the same thing. It appears to be ticking off the miles correctly just the MPH is crazy. Guess my next question is how do you know if its the cable or if its the speedometer bad? At the prices Triumph charges for parts it could become quite costly. Any input would be appreciated.
Dennis

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Do you remember which end you ahd to drill?

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If you ever take this apart it will become very aparent. Only one end has an adaptor on it, the other is a standard square drive.

Dennis....... The problem has to be in the head. The drive is strictly a pure mechanical cable drive. Nothing to go wrong, except breakage! From what I remember of the old mechanical heads, they reley a lot on inertia/ centrifugal force, stuff like that. They need to be clean and dry. If some crap, or too much lube or a bug, got in there and closed up the air gap it needs, it would read too high.

Good luck, Gerry.

Yep, Had the very same problem with my 02 america..I was on the other side of australia on the east coast and took it into the dealer for 12,000 km service and it did it when the dealer went for a test ride, It then became a very interesting little saga....Start up the bike and ride for approx 100km stop , stretch the legs etc , restart and the needle would wind off the dial, tap the housing and it would settle back to the correct reading, this continued to happen until i got home 7,000kms later plus another 2,oookms waiting for the replacement speedo (warranty.no probs)Triumph guy from aust head office said it was the only one that they replaced up until last xmas when we last spoke ?????? the problem was definitely inside the unit not the cable. we never touched my cable and the new speedo is still fine with 11,000kms on it and the new owner is happy with the bike ....maybe triumph will come to the party seeing as though its happened before, heck it doesn,t cost them anything, they send it back to the manufacturer who then gives them a credit for it. hope this helps, cheers, Tadpole..(now own a mulberry red speedy 07)

gotta love these boards. I put a new K-70 tire on front and had to alter the front strut for another 1/2" of clearance to put my clipped front fender back on. I am sure I kinked and broke the speedo cable tightening the axle and rotating the speedo hub. Dumba$$. Anyway , read this thread and thought I better go check out these universal cables. 5.99 and about 10 minutes and I am back 100%.
Thanks,
Vic

I just encountered the same problem with my 02 America today. Speedo was working great until I got into some freezing rain and snow going over the Rockies today. Speedo started to peg out to 80-100-120 when I was only going 60 MPH. Even after I dried out later it still would still do it intermitantly. Here is the rub....If I reach up and touch it while it is pegging out it will immediatly settle down and fix itself. So it is either a grounding issue or a vibration issue. Will isolate it in the next few days and post my results. Gave me flashbacks to the old Lucas...Prince of Darkness days...

LUCAS is NOT the Prince of darkness. those mags ran 50 years before they quit. The charging system on the 60s bikes works great too never wears out , doesn't need a battery to run. Now the zenor diode was a bad idea but does work and is easily replaced. The electrical downfall was the wiring , over complicated and poor connections. I wire them myself and they out live the engine.

Greese and Water Displacement oil (WD40) are the wrong lublirants. They attract dirt and change lubrication properties with temp changes. Speedo cables typically use a dry lube like graphite powder. I think you may have forced the issue on the new speedo cable!

Enjoy present day technology, GO GPS, error free with all them thar foreign objects a flyin around up in the sky ta trak ya.... hehehehehe, just kiddin.... In all seriousness dry lube is the only way to go. Had the same problem, dry lubed and my problems went away....

My speedo now has the symptom.

A few hundred miles ago I was getting a ticking sound from the front end that I tracked down to the speedometer. I took the cable loose from the back of the unit and put a small amount of lube in the gears, which made the ticking go away.

But just yesterday I pulled out of a gas station doing a mere 80 MPH.

I’m curious to open it up again and hopefully remove the grease and replace it with graphite.

Gerry

I also have the problem with my Speedo on my 2002 winds right round to the stop, can stay like that for any amount of time than all of a sudden it'll read poperly again but if I stop at traffic lights or somewhere it'll wind up to the stop again and the procedure starts all over again