One annoying problem on my '66 Dart is that the speedometer is only working occasionally. This is one of those "ran when parked" scenarios - was working about 10 years ago, car was parked, just got it back on the road. The odometer is working. The speedometer, however, usually reads zero. Occasionally it decides to work, with a bit of bounce to it, but what appears to be a plausible reading.

I'm guessing something in there is just kind of stuck and needs to be lubricated. But I couldn't find any notes on servicing the speedometer in the factory service manual. Any pointers?

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Matt Cramer
1966 Dodge Dart turbo / EFI project

Right here. Sounds like you've got a broken speedometer drive pinion and/or a faulty cable.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

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Hey, SSD. Did you happen to miss the above quoted lines? If the odo is working, that suggests the pinion drive and cable are doing their job.
Isn't the speedo mechanism still just a pair of magnets spinning in a steel shell, giving an engineered "coupling" that causes the speedo needle to swing to a prescribed ratio to cable rotation speed?

I would suggest he disconnect the speedo cable from the back of the speedo, and arrange it so that he could observe the end of the cable inside the housing while he drove it to confirm that the cable was actually spinning in a consistent manner. (Or have a passenger do the observing.) That should prove or disprove any pinion or cable malfunctions.

Just my 2-pence, even if wrong.

Roger

Yup, I missed that. Faulty speedo head. Pull it and send to Deluxe for repair, or send another speedo head for rebuild ( @Michael on here might have one for you) and swap when it comes back to you.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks for the responses. I pulled the cluster out, and the speedometer seems to work if you spin the connection by hand. So it may be a stick-slip behavior on the part of the cable, or the cable not fully making contact with the speedometer.

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Matt Cramer
1966 Dodge Dart turbo / EFI project

Your cable needs a lube job! If you have the dash apart, disconnect the cable at the back of the cluster. I shot mine with a mix of PB-Blaster, liquid wrench, followed by some tranny fluid. Just spray into the cable at let it leach down to the tranny. If you can get the cable out the better, but it's not critical. Good Luck

Alternative lube: a small bottle or tube of "Speedometer Cable Lubricant" at your local auto parts store.

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"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)

That must be that SOS product with a new label that cost's $6 more then all the other stuff!

Been using it exclusively for 30 years.

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"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)

Update - lubing the speedometer cable hasn't fixed things. I've got a parts cluster on the way that hopefully should have a working speedometer and windshield wiper switch so I can fix both dash-related issues.

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Matt Cramer
1966 Dodge Dart turbo / EFI project