Tachometer and speedometer bounces....

[Bozo]

If anyone is worried about this process not being tested, I'll be dealing with my speedo in the next two to three weeks and I'll let you know how it works out.

The only unknown is the viscosity of the oil, if too thick the speedo will be slow to respond etc (if I have to I'll try different grades of oil). Stay tuned - let me know if you are interested.

[ribbert]

The only unknown is the viscosity of the oil, if too thick the speedo will be slow to respond etc (if I have to I'll try different grades of oil).

What's with all the speculation on viscosity. Just ask an auto instrument shop or find it on the net. Sounds like a very labour intensive trial and error.

Noel

[baldy3853]

Bozo
This should work also just a miniscule amount on the cogs will also help to me thinks  
Baldy

[Bozo]

Bozo
This should work also just a miniscule amount on the cogs will also help to me thinks  
Baldy

Baldy,
I might do that as well but I will use the thicker silicone 300,000Cst I got previously.

Ribbert, I believe Dimethicone was used by others but when I used it on my fuel gauge the needle still had some movement, I tried the oil shown (and recommended by Baldy) and it is steady. So yes I could use Dimethicone on the speedo but if its still not 100% I'll vacuum the Dimethicone out and use the other oil.

[fintip]

I'm keeping all gauge related information here, for posterity's sake:

fjowners.wikidot.com/gauges

[Bozo]

Bozo
This should work also just a miniscule amount on the cogs will also help to me thinks  
Baldy

Baldy,
I might do that as well but I will use the thicker silicone 300,000Cst I got previously.

Ribbert, I believe Dimethicone was used by others but when I used it on my fuel gauge the needle still had some movement, I tried the oil shown (and recommended by Baldy) and it is steady. So yes I could use Dimethicone on the speedo but if its still not 100% I'll vacuum the Dimethicone out and use the other oil.

I tried the speedo on Sunday, my speeds varied from sane to insane (legal of course) I still have some bounce but no-where near to my previous setup. I did use the Dimethicone to be on the safe side but after trying this I would've preferred to use the Toyota silicone oil. The temperature I rode in was around 10/ 15 degrees C.

I'll leave the Dimethicone for now and maybe in the future I'll try the other oil. keeping in mind that the minor bounce might be due to other mechanicals (cable/ drive unit)

[baldy3853]

  Glad I was able to help
Baldy

[fintip]

My speedo needle, as well, just completely stopped working two days ago... So now I have literally zero usefulness from my gauges, except for the digital clock--and even that is half blacked out. -_-

(I'm assuming/hoping speedo cable for my latest woe... We'll see.)

[fintip]

So the conclusion is that the Toyota oil is still not quite thick enough, but pretty darn good? Sure would be nice to see an in-ride video.

Anyone have any ideas about finding a factory oil viscosity number? Maybe calling a Yamaha contact or something?

[ribbert]

I was at an instrument repairers yesterday and mentioned this while I was there, I also have a bit of speedo bounce. They keep 3 grades of oil for different applications. He was confident one of thicker ones would do the job.

Every large town probably has one of these shops. Worth a try.

Noel

[fintip]

If you give it a try, be sure to let us know.

[1wormsway]

Have been down these winding roads in pursuit of the bouncing speedo and tach as well. Never really got the speedo totally smoothed out but lubrication helped a bunch. As for the tach issue, sorry to say my friend, the only fix I finally came to was a new tach gauge assembly. Tough to find and a pain in ass to install. If you find another solution, you are more fortunate than I. Cheers, and Yamaha Ha Ha Ha to all

[fintip]

Bozo, I don't understand the step 4 picture; where is the plastic lid that one is supposed to lift? About to do this procedure soon.

Any updated recommendations on oil?

The fuel gauge also uses the same oil, correct? My fuel gauge, when I got it, was INSANE. Most people have bounce, mine would bounce all the way around to the opposite side of the resting pin at empty and mostly stay down there--unless you got really low, then if you were lucky it'd bounce around to the correct side for a while. 

Eventually it snapped its own indicator needle off. I assume it's still sitting in the back.

Will damping oil fix that? (And, of course, I need to come up with a solution for the needle...) 

My tach all-but-died. Occasionally shows 1.5-2 if I'm shifting or something and cruising around on the highway. During high speed runs (up to probably 7 or 8k), it might register as high as 4k for a bit. Usually just sits down and registers nothing.

Ground looks good. Plug for gauge cluster looks good, a la this post. Don't know what else to do for tach. Don't like the idea of just replacing it because:

A) Money.
B) If all tachs break like this eventually, someone eventually will need to figure out how to fix them or none of us will have tachs anymore... This has to be repairable, it's a very simple instrument.

(Rich Baker, you out there?)

------

On the other hand, I just replaced almost all of my dead bulbs and have a fully lit up, bouncy speedo, stained clock, SNAFU tach, and needle-less fuel gauge that I can now see clearly! 

[Bozo]

Bozo, I don't understand the step 4 picture; where is the plastic lid that one is supposed to lift? About to do this procedure soon.

Any updated recommendations on oil?

The fuel gauge also uses the same oil, correct? My fuel gauge, when I got it, was INSANE. Most people have bounce, mine would bounce all the way around to the opposite side of the resting pin at empty and mostly stay down there--unless you got really low, then if you were lucky it'd bounce around to the correct side for a while. 

Eventually it snapped its own indicator needle off. I assume it's still sitting in the back.

Will damping oil fix that? (And, of course, I need to come up with a solution for the needle...) 

My tach all-but-died. Occasionally shows 1.5-2 if I'm shifting or something and cruising around on the highway. During high speed runs (up to probably 7 or 8k), it might register as high as 4k for a bit. Usually just sits down and registers nothing.

Ground looks good. Plug for gauge cluster looks good, a la this post. Don't know what else to do for tach. Don't like the idea of just replacing it because:

A) Money.
B) If all tachs break like this eventually, someone eventually will need to figure out how to fix them or none of us will have tachs anymore... This has to be repairable, it's a very simple instrument.

(Rich Baker, you out there?)

------

On the other hand, I just replaced almost all of my dead bulbs and have a fully lit up, bouncy speedo, stained clock, SNAFU tach, and needle-less fuel gauge that I can now see clearly! 

Sorry about the delay, I thought this topic died sometime ago, The picture Step 4 shows a small container inline with the needle shaft (in front of the odometer numbers) if you look closely there is a plastic lid.
An update on my speedo - it stopped bouncing but I have a new problem, at 100kph and over it starts to read 10kph higher than it should be (my speedo was normally ok at these speeds) and when the speed is constant it drops down and reads correctly (I used a GPS to compare against)
So it appears I have another issue which might be a drive cable binding?? - suggestions?

As for the fuel gauge it works 100% (the toyota oil was used), I did have the same problem as you where the needle spun around but that was a simple fix, just push it back and once the oil is in this will not happen again.
Tacho is a seperate issue as it is electronic, never had to fix mine so maybe someone else can chime in.

[fintip]

So the Toyota oil was perfect for the Fuel gauge, but insufficient for the Speedo gauge?

What was the last fluid you tried for damping the speedo?

For the speedo, is it possible that the fluid is too light, and so it doesn't provide enough resistance when the cable provides a certain amount of force? Sounds weird. Odd that it goes too *high*. Cable binding, I think, would provide a number that would be too slow to keep up with speed increases, not the opposite...

...then again, I cannot fathom how the speedo works. How in god's name is some kind of damping fluid involved? In my mind this should just be a straight mechanical device, I've never heard of a problem like this. Do other vehicles use this design? It just seems crazy to me. Some kind of explanation on what is going on and the actual physical role that the damping fluid plays in the system would be great, if anyone knows... Or has a resource they can point me to.