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Bouncing Speedometer Needle

richie65

New CEG'er
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
23
My 95 contour 4 cy has developed a new symptom - a bouncing speedometer needle on my speedometer guage. Just started today. Seems to be only one of a number of minor things that I've begun to notice about the operation of the car.

This jumping needle is noticeable at very low speeds, starting out about 1/4" up and down bounging, and almost disappears at about 70 mph. Also I've noticed a slight "clicking" sound as the needle jumps.

I don't know why this should occur, and have never seen anything like it before. Can anyone describe how the speedometer registers the speed of the car? Is it done mechanically, or is it accomplished electronically? Why would the spedometer needle of the dash guage bounce/jump as the car moves forward, instead of steadily moving thru the speed range? Any suggestions on how to correct this distracting problem?
 
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its easier to tell just by looking at the trip odometer. If the number furthest to the right (the .1 number) is white/black then its electronic, if its Orange then its cable driven.

simple.

Since the needle almost never bounces on an electronicaly driven gauge cluster Im going to guess you have a cable driven one, and at that matter its very common for this to occur, but it also might mean the cable is worn out.
 
It also may mean that the cable just needs lubrication. To do so, you need to disconnect the cable from the back of the speedo, pull the inner cable out, apply grease liberally to the inner cable (in the old days we used the same stuff they used on drum brake backing plates, white lubriplate) and then reinstall the inner cable and connect back up to the speedo.

When you reinsert the inner cable, you may need to spin it slightly to get the other end to engage the speedo gear.
 
Bouncing Speedometer Cable

Bouncing Speedometer Cable

My bouncing speedometer cable stopped working altogether. And the odometer and trip meter also stopped working. Looked at the trip meter and the tenths digits are orange.

Most obvious thing that indicated what was wrong was when I looked under the hood. I confirmed that there was a cable there, and that it was broken at the 3" white plastic connector of the cable that connected to the speedometer guage cable. Although the internal wire wasn't broken, it was all twisted and bunched up at that location.

Tried to find a replacement cable locally, and was able to order it thru Pep Boys. Had to special order from Pep Boys. Took a month to get. Finally, I received a replacement speedometer cable for my 95 Contour last Thursday.

Spent about two hours Saturday trying to get access to remove the old cable where it connects to the Vehicle Speed Sensor. The design of the car isn't very friendly for the owner to replace, because the access is so difficult and blocked by too many other things. Some of the instructions I've seen say that you use two wrenches to disconnect the cable from the VSS. Well, there isn't even enough room for one wrench, never mind two.

Finally, got the cable disconnected and removed it from the car. When I compared it to the new cable, in addition to the broken off white plastic connector of the cable that connects to the speedometer guage, I realized that the 1" shaft extension of the cable that is inserted into the VSS had been sheared off at the seat. That's why my speedometer doesn't work. Obviously the end of the cable shaft that was sheared off is still in the VSS. Tried to remove the VSS, but I couldn't got to the electrical connector to disconnect the VSS because of the lack of room. Not enough access room for my hand no matter how I tried. Biggest hinderance is the bottom structural beam that crosses right below the location of the VSS almost blocking it.

Anyone have any idea where I can find instructions that tell me how to remove the VSS on the 95 Contour? Seems like it would be a simple job if I only could gain access to it.

Thanks, richie

Speedometer cable-Dash Guage Conn.JPG Speedometer cable-VSS Conn.JPG
 
Bouncing Speedometer Needle

It also may mean that the cable just needs lubrication. To do so, you need to disconnect the cable from the back of the speedo, pull the inner cable out, apply grease liberally to the inner cable (in the old days we used the same stuff they used on drum brake backing plates, white lubriplate) and then reinstall the inner cable and connect back up to the speedo.

When you reinsert the inner cable, you may need to spin it slightly to get the other end to engage the speedo gear.

Just looking at the new speedometer cable I can't figure out how to do it. Would the cable assembly have to be removed from the car? How is the cable removed from the cable assembly? Please describe the procedure for me.

Thanks
richie
 
Bouncing Speedometer Needle

its easier to tell just by looking at the trip odometer. If the number furthest to the right (the .1 number) is white/black then its electronic, if its Orange then its cable driven.

simple.

Since the needle almost never bounces on an electronicaly driven gauge cluster Im going to guess you have a cable driven one, and at that matter its very common for this to occur, but it also might mean the cable is worn out.

Thanks for the tip. My trip meter tenths position is orange.

It was very obvious when I looked under the hood at the cables that go thru the firewall to the dash guages. The white plastic connector of the speedometer cable had completely broken off of the cable where it connects to the cable, and the internal wire was twisted and bunched up there. When I removed the cable from the car, the cable shaft that is inserted into the VSS was sheared off at the seat. That's why my speedometer was bouncing and finally stopped working altogether.

Thanks,
richie
 

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Welcome :) . Open the door and look at the label to determine when your car was manufactured. If it is an early 95, the speedometer is cable driven. If it is a mid to late 95, it is electronic. "Sounds" like yours is cable driven but check to be sure. The cable may be about to break.

Edit. Speedometer cable thread.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=2438&highlight=cable

Vehicle Speed Sensor thread.
http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=1816&highlight=vehicle+speed+sensor

Hello Tony,

Looked at the door lable and the date is 12/94. And I've confirmed that I have an early 95 Contour with a speedometer cable.

You were right on in my case - broken cable. At my other post, you can see further what I found when I removed the old cable itself.

My speedometer cable shaft that inserts into the VSS sheared off at the seat, and it look's like the end piece of the speedometer cable remains in the VSS. Is it possible to remove this speedometer cable piece from the VSS and reuse the VSS if I can get it out of the vehicle?

Please let me know what you think.

richie
 

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Richie65, did you ever find the information you were looking for? I am having the exact same problem with the speedometer cable & it is broken at the same location at the white connector at the firewall.

Any help on accessing the connector at the VSS? Can it be reached from under the car? Also how much was the cable at Pep Boys. The local dealer wants $70 and has to order it.
 
Richie65, did you ever find the information you were looking for? I am having the exact same problem with the speedometer cable & it is broken at the same location at the white connector at the firewall.

Any help on accessing the connector at the VSS? Can it be reached from under the car? Also how much was the cable at Pep Boys. The local dealer wants $70 and has to order it.
Welcome IH-Warranty :) . Read the links posted on this thread. Then post more questions and more answers will be given.
 
Richie65, did you ever find the information you were looking for? I am having the exact same problem with the speedometer cable & it is broken at the same location at the white connector at the firewall.

With a lot of help from Tony, I was able to understand how my Speedometer problem could be solved.

My speedometer internal cable did not break at the white connector, the white connector broke off of the outer harness. The internal wire cable then bunched up and twisted itself, and this is what caused the other end to shear off where the speedometer cable connects to the VSS. The only symptoms I have are no speedometer, odometer, or trip meter. Otherwise the car engine and transmission act normally. Apparently, on the 95 Contour, 4 cyl, with a mechanical speedometer cable the only input from the VSS to the Speedometer is a mechanical one thru the speedometer cable. The electrical output of the VSS go to the PCM and indicate the speed information to control the engine and transmission efficiency. So if your speedometer cable has in fact broken completely at the white connector, the other end at the VSS may not have broken, and except for some work to remove failed the speedometer cable, you might be able to just replace the speedometer cable itself without having to remove and/or replace the VSS too. Seems like others on this board have done just that and fixed the problem.

Any help on accessing the connector at the VSS? Can it be reached from under the car? Also how much was the cable at Pep Boys. The local dealer wants $70 and has to order it.

The VSS is held in place by one screw that secures a clamp that holds the VSS to the transaxel. It's very apparent after looking at it from underneath the car. Even with the limited access working area around the VSS, I was able to disconnect the speedometer cable from the top of the VSS without too much difficulty. Just took time, so be patient. I'd suggest that you tie a long piece of heavy string to the botton of the speedometer cable after you've disconnected it from the VSS. Then after you remove the speedometer cable from the engine compartment, tie the string on to the VSS connector of the new cable, and pull on the other end of the string from underneath the car, you be able to easily feed the new speedometer cable down thru the engine compartment to the VSS location where you will be connecting it to the VSS.

Now, I haven't done this myself yet, but I will be doing it if I don't have other problems with the VSS. Right now, I just keep putting it off.

I got the cable for $14.98 plus tax. Total came to $16.18.
 
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Great this is good information I have this exact problem on my 95 Escort and my 10th mile guage is orange so I may have the same problem, except mine is at highway speed (55-70) and it makes a buzzing not a clicking. Hasen't done it lately but I may check it out someday.

Hey Jason, you can confirm that you have a mechanical speedometer driven by a mechanical speedometer cable by just looking under the hood. If you have a cable that connects at the firewall directly opposite to where your dash speedometer is, most likely that's the speedometer cable. At that point the 95 Contour has a white 3" cylindrical connector. That's where I had my initial problem that caused the speedometer needle to jump around. Since I had no idea what was going on I didn't know what to do until I learned enough about it to even understand that my speedometer was mechanical and not electronic. That delay caused me to have further problems that resulted in the shearing off of the internal wire cable shaft that is inserted into the VSS as I described in earlier posts(see Tony's message #2, and my message #5 above on this thread). Now it looks like I will probably have to replace not just the speedometer cable, but the VSS as well. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to remove the piece of the speedometer cable shaft that sheared off and is still in the VSS. If so, then it's likely that only the replacement speedometer cable is needed.

Since you still appear to have a speedometer that is working, it may be that you can correct the problem with the replacement of a new speedometer cable. If I were you, I would look at the speedometer cable to see if you have the connector broken at the firewall in the engine compartment. Also at the VSS from under the car. If so, just replace the cable.
 
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