Technical Speedometer troubles

I got the speedo working in the Olds.
At first it made quite a bit of noise, so I undid the cable and managed to shoot some silicon spray in the speedo head, now it is quiet.
When I'm driving down the road the needle fluctuates up and down by about 20 mph.
It eventually settles down and seems to read fairly accurately, but then it will jump around out of the blue then settle down again.
Any ideas?

 

did you lube the speedometer cable too?

 

Go to an OLD parts store and get a tube of actual speedo cable lube.
(It will be the place n town that still has a machine shop in back.)
Pull cable out of the housing from the speedometer end being carful not to get that crud all over the upholstery and wipe off and relube and reinstall

 

Did you lube the cable really good?

 

You guys are faster at responding than me.

 

yep , three responses all at 10:10 saying lube the cable

 

Hi. Just be sure that you understand that the cablelube is NOT A LIQUID LUBE, it is powdered graphite.

Jimmie

 

Well, once again I've overlooked the obvious! (insert dumb shit smiley here)
I'll pick up some proper lube and see how it goes.

Thanks for the replies fella's.

 

As an alternative if you can't find the graphite, go to a motorcycle shop and get a spray can of cable lube. Designed for clutch/throttle cables, but works well on speedo cables too.

 

Lithium grease will work real good also, that is what I use in my shop.

 

If it's one of the old cable assemblies with the steel outer housing. Take the whole assembly out, coil it up, and put it in some oil overnight. The old assemblies didn't have a teflon liner in them......Or you can do as the other guys have said and keep trying to get the graphite down inside the outer housing......

 

When your done greaseing up the cable, pull the little gear out of the trans and see how bad its chewed up...my 71 did the same thing until i replaced the plastic gear....

 

Gears in the tranny are new, it was part of speedo project to begin with.

 

I'll take the Olds speedo working or not! Just puttin that out there! Ha Ha

 

Do not use graphite, use lithium grease. It sounds like a bad jewel in the magnet if greasing the cable doesn't work I think the speedometer will need to be repaired.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Cleaned and lubed the cable last night.
Drove to work today, way better.
It still has a slight fluctuation, I guess I would too at 65 years old.

Thanks guys.