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Changing the Speedo cable on a 1986 Maestro 2.0EFi

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  • Changing the Speedo cable on a 1986 Maestro 2.0EFi

    Ever since owning the car since 2016 I’ve had a ‘dancing’ speedometer needle, I had that on my 3 Montegos back in the 1990s so I wasn’t really that worried but guessed one day I’d need to fix it.

    1 week ago whilst driving for about 30 minutes at around 60mph (100kph) the needle went straight up about 120+mph and a screaming noise came from under the bonnet, I pulled over, stopped, then drove off again, the noise had stopped. I did it again a few times with the same results.

    So after a quick ask around, the advice was to change the speedo cable. The original part is DRC9133, long gone and never to be found (it’s a LHD car), the AR EPC says you can use GSD423/ADL2768 instead. Already 2 years ago after some serious searching and I found one on German Ebay and duly purchased it for possible future use.

    I consulted an AR Repair Manual and the Autodata book and it looked fairly straight forward. So this is how I did it.
    1. Disconnect the battery and unscrew the speedo cable attached to the transducer. This is quite tricky, there’s not much space, I used a Ridgid Robogrip to get it loose then after some fiddling about with my fingers unthreaded the burled knob with my hand.
    2. Inside the car now. Unscrew the 2 screws securing the facia plate carefully edge it out and unplug the clock. Then unscrew the 5 screws holding the dash face to the dashboard.
    3. Back under the bonnet now. Remove grommet from body and push the cable a small amount back into the car.
    4. Back in car again. Very carefully pull the dash face towards you, it doesn’t come out completely but just enough to get your hand behind it and pull the cable out of the back of the dash face (you need to squeeze the nylon plug – it’s marked).
    5. I tied some old thin wiring to the end of the cable so that when I pulled the cable out of the car the wire would follow and then I could attach the new cable to it and do the reverse to get the new cable back into the car. Some wiggling is needed to do that.
    6. Connect by pushing in the new cable onto the protruding plastic pipe on back of dash face. Then place the dash face back to where it can be screwed back but do not put screws in just yet.
    7. Out to the car. Slowly and gently pull the cable to the transducer to reconnect it, only in my case to notice that the new cable was shorter than the original. So I had to thread it under the servo vacuum hose and air hose (see photos). Tighten finger tight the burled knob. Replace air hose.
    8. Back to car. Screw dash face tight with the 5 screws, reconnect clock and replace the facia plate and tighten with the 2 small screws (at this stage I replaced the disappeared foam insulation strips, left and right)
    9. Check everything is where is should be and no unused parts lying about once you’re happy everything’s done, replace battery cable and tighten up.

    The next step is to take a test drive, I was curious knowing the difference in cable length and having a different position. I’ve kept the original speedo cable to use as a template if need be. Anyway all was well, goodbye ‘dancing needle’, although the speed shown on the speedometer is the same as before, about 5-6% higher than actual speed.

    In all it took about 2 hours, I suggest if you have to do this job, be patient, work slowly and methodically and check and recheck.

    Good luck
    Attached Files
    Last edited by Soulcharger; 5th January 2021, 08:53.

  • #2
    Glad you got it sorted finally, the process it's that bad, it's the white speedo cable clip the attaches to the rear of the speedo that most have a problem with removing and putting back
    1958 Ford Consul Convertible. I love this car
    1965 Ford Zodiac Executive. Fab cruiser being restored
    1997 Jaguar Xk8 Convertible. Such a fab car
    2004 MGZT cdti. Great workhorse
    2004 MGZT V8. I love this car

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Jeff Turbo View Post
      Glad you got it sorted finally, the process it's that bad, it's the white speedo cable clip the attaches to the rear of the speedo that most have a problem with removing and putting back


      Yes me too, so I waited 5 minutes then studied the white nylon clip, there's a grooved part that if you press that it releases a stud and it slides off, same for putting it back on, as I had the old one still I could test it with that one It was nice feeling driving down the motorway with needle so steady

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      • #4
        Thanks for the pics . A lesson for the future. Compliments of the season

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        • #5
          Bet you're happy all's working properly, in thread number 4 if anyone wants extra pictures etc on removing the display, although Chris has covered it https://maestro.org.uk/forums/forum/...3-dash-removal
          Last edited by Jeff Turbo; 26th December 2020, 10:04.
          1958 Ford Consul Convertible. I love this car
          1965 Ford Zodiac Executive. Fab cruiser being restored
          1997 Jaguar Xk8 Convertible. Such a fab car
          2004 MGZT cdti. Great workhorse
          2004 MGZT V8. I love this car

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Jeff Turbo View Post
            Bet you're happy all's working properly, in thread number 4 if anyone wants extra pictures etc on removing the display, although Chris has covered it https://maestro.org.uk/forums/forum/...3-dash-removal



            Yes I am just back from a 60km sprint, speedo needle steady as a rock, well please. See picture, sold red arrow is where I squeezed and that small button, see red outlined white arrow list up allowing easy withdrawal and replacement of end of cable.
            Attached Files

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            • #7
              Wish I'd found this thread before I attempted my speedo cable change!

              I recently undertook to change the speedo cable on my maestro as the speedo wasn't working at all. I couldn't get the old cable out easily as the connections at each end of the cable were larger than the hole In the bulkhead. I ended up having to cut the white clip to get it out, though I'm now debating whether I needed to change the cable at all

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Cahoon_danny View Post
                Wish I'd found this thread before I attempted my speedo cable change!

                I recently undertook to change the speedo cable on my maestro as the speedo wasn't working at all. I couldn't get the old cable out easily as the connections at each end of the cable were larger than the hole In the bulkhead. I ended up having to cut the white clip to get it out, though I'm now debating whether I needed to change the cable at all
                I'm surprised you needed to cut the cable end the hole is quite big, the rubber grommet is very wide. I had a tough time getting the cable to wiggle through the back of the dash, lots of wiggling and pulling on the wire.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Soulcharger View Post

                  I'm surprised you needed to cut the cable end the hole is quite big, the rubber grommet is very wide. I had a tough time getting the cable to wiggle through the back of the dash, lots of wiggling and pulling on the wire.
                  The hole was pretty much exactly the same size as the end of the cable where it connects to the back of dash, but that of course has the plastic clip on it as well which was much bigger than the hole. I couldn't find a way to remove the clip from the cable without making a cut.

                  It's a sore subject, as I still have yet to sort the whole problem

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