Annoying bouncing speedometer

[Tor-King]

Hey guys.

I have a speedometer that loves to bounce around +- 10 mph at various speeds.  There is no rhyme or pattern.  Sometimes it settles down and then hapazardly bounces.  The cable in new.  I THOUGHT I had read somewhere to take the cable out and coat it with a thick grease??  Any ideas as to what causes this annoyance and a solution?

Thanks,
Dean

[Pat Conlon]

A couple of things could be happening
1) your cable needs lubrication. The cable is spiral wound like a long spring and the lack of lube will cause it to slightly load and unload, or wind up and unwind, causing the bounce at the speedo.
2) your speedo gears need rebuilding. There is a link in the Maint. Files to a shop in San Diego that rebuilds our FJ speedos.

Lube the cable first. Slather it on. I use a white lithium grease. See if that helps before worrying about sending your speedo out.

Cheers Pat

[big r]

Speaking of gauges, I have a real flakey tach. I cleaned all the connections and the ground with comtact cleaner and steel wool. The tach. still only show about 3 or 4 thou when putting a good twist on the throttle. Anybody have any ideas? I do have access to another tach but I don't want to start changing it until I get some ideas from our senior members. Thanks guys.Big R

[fintip]

I also have this problem, bike came with it. Incredibly annoying. My tach also just stopped working the other day; now it just vibrates around zero.

These gauges are pretty, but it sure would be nice if they weren't so dysfunctional.

[andyoutandabout]

peeps, I've owned my 86 FJ for 8 years now and today is the day that all my gauges actually work.

Speedo - The solve was as Pat said grease the cable and the inner cogs (I used a lithium spray). Be careful to put the inner cable bit with the stop bump thing at the bottom. If you force it in the clock end it pushes the mechanism up and basically destroys it when you start moving.

Tach - The solve was to fish ebay and get a replacement ($30) - mine had stopped reading completely - its all electronic, so I guess when its beat its beat.

Fuel gauge - The solve - run an extra earth wire directly from the clocks to the battery. It still bounces a bit, but it seems to give a fair indication of what's in the tank.

Good luck with your sleuthing, Andy

[jscgdunn]

One thing to check might be the "clutch,meter" (number 5 in the diagram).

On my son's 92 it got worse and worse until it stopped.  Thought for sure it was the cable; replaced it but still no speedo. 

Pulled the front axle and the "clutch" was mangled.  Replaced it and speedo works fine.

Not sure it was worn out or installed incorrectly.

http://www.partzilla.com/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1989/FJ1200W/FRONT+WHEEL/parts.html

[fintip]

Went to Fjowners.wikidot.com/gauges, clicked 'create page', and copied the last two posts from this.

Shameless Plug.