Square Rod

speedometer not working along with mileage and trip?

I have a 1989 gmc suburban and the speedometer is not working i unhooked it from the trans and it is just a square rod. What else could be the problem. Every once and a while the speed needle will jump around when im going about 65mph but reads 35 and jumps around + and – 10 mph. Any help would be great.
When i take the cable out of the trans i can turn it real easy.

Been there done that. Be prepared to replace both the square cable, and the sheath it turns in. You don’t know whether the square cable has gotten bent, or whether the sheath has gotten frayed. Either one will cause this.

Now here’s the trick: If you have cruise control, there will be TWO cables and TWO sheaths. Don’t mix them up. One from the tranny to cruise, and the other from cruise to speedo. On a Suburban these are pretty easy to get to. The ends unhook very easily. The upper one probably goes through a gasket in the firewall.

Once you pull them off and have them in your hands, you might be able to quickly figure out the problem. One of them may bind.

They may also require lubrication, and after 20 years I certainly would expect them to. I’ve never figured out which lubricant is correct for them, a GOOD auto parts might have some idea… otherwise I would use Red Line synthetic bearing grease, same stuff you use in front wheel bearings on a RWD car.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CPAEJA?ie=UTF8&tag=wolfharper-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000CPAEJA

Synthetic last longer, and you don’t want to ever do this job again.

You’d have to pull the square cable out of the sheath to lube it. Wipe it down (don’t get fibers snagged on it), and try to wipe out the interior of the sheath to get rid of the old failing grease. Then grease the hell out of it.

Now a caution – there may be nothing wrong with the speedo cables (square cable and sheath). It may actually be a failing speedometer. Generally those are not rebuilt (though you might ask among the Suburban collector community) – those are replaced. That means the mileage on the replacement will be wrong (unless you are very lucky at the pick-n-pull; I have been! The speedo cable turns 1000 revolutions per mile, so you can add a few hundred miles with an electric drill, if you’re both smart and patient.)

If the indicated odometer mileage is not accurate, you must note that fact to anyone who asks the odometer mileage. That is especially so when you sell it. That is why speedometers are sealed; to prevent scamming swindlers from tampering with the odometers to increase the value of cars.

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