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83 245 speedo cable replacement question

PDX245T

New member
Joined
May 15, 2011
I replaced the cable, but I can't seem to connect at the transmission. When I turn the car over, the transmission connector does not spin. It has worked it's way out somehow and I can't figure out how to push it back in place to connect everything up.

Ideas or answers?
 
Here's what the transmission side speedo pickup assembly looks like:


The cable screws onto the threaded part. There should be a clamp that holds this assy into the tranny. If you don't have a hold-down clamp, the assy may not be fully seated.

Assuming no clamp, or a really loose clamp, you want to first remove the assy. To do this, leave the cable attached, and pull/pry it out of the tranny carefully. You're fighting the rubber o-ring. Once the assy is removed, undo the cable and check the plastic gear for damage. Re-install the assy, without the cable, while spinning the gear shaft by hand. You want to make sure the gear engages cleanly versus mashing the plastic to bits. Make sure it's fully seated. At this point, you could just reinstall the cable&clamp and try it, or you could jack up a wheel and spin it by hand to see if the shaft spins.
 
How much tranny fluid will I loose when pulling his gear out? Should I jack up the back to minimize lose? I started to pull it out and tranny fluid started to pour, so I pushed it back in.
 
You'll lose about ? quart when you pull the speedometer gear.

If the shaft of the speedometer gear isn't turning when the driveshaft is, the plastic gear is probably stripped. Either that or the output flange is loose.
 
I replaced the cable, but I can't seem to connect at the transmission. When I turn the car over, the transmission connector does not spin. It has worked it's way out somehow and I can't figure out how to push it back in place to connect everything up.

Ideas or answers?

Are you turning it over by spinning the driveshaft, or by using the starter with the car in neutral? If the latter, it shouldn't turn. If the former, then, yes, you should see the speedometer gear's shaft turn.

Get the car in the air, make sure that it's firmly in place, then put the tranny in neutral with the parking brake released. Crawl underneath. Spin the driveshaft while watching the gear's shaft. You should see it move. If it doesn't move, and the housing is seated against the overdrive unit's speedo drive port, then you need a new gear. Proper one for your car is red, if the car was originally a M46 car. If not, then it'll be a black gear, since that's what's used for the 3.91 rear axles (as well as the 3.31 rear axles, but with a different worm gear inside).
 
I was able to pull the gear out of the transmission. It is not stripped it is in good condition. One thing I did notice was the shaft on mine sticks out farther in from the housing then the one in the picture above. The cable bottoms out on the end of the shaft and I'm not able to thread the cable on to the housing. I was able to connect the cable to the shaft and my speedometer works, but I cannot thread it to the housing in order to secure it.
I'm not sure if it would help indicate which gear unit I have, but my gear is red and not green like the one pictured above
 
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I don't believe so. There is a metal piece wrapped around the cable that only allows the cable to go so far into the shaft and mine bottoms out there.
 
I can post a photo later, I should've taken a picture as I was working on it yesterday.
 
I'll check those out. The speedo did work until 5-10k ago(estimate). I've been driving by tach and feel.
 
My transmission's still on the floor of the garage (lingering back problems, #*&!@*), and I knew where the extra gear assy was on the shelf, so it was easy to measure both. The total length of gear+shaft is ~2.685" long (automatic). The end of the gear shaft, with seal installed, sticks out ~0.275" from the transmission. The tip of the cable, when pushed all the way into the sheath, sticks out ~0.185" from the flange on the sheath. So, .275+.185 = ~0.46" of overlap, or cable insertion depth.
 
Here is what is in my M46. The speedometer did work for the last 100k miles of my ownership.

RVKgETJ.jpg


1xkYB4Y.jpg
 
I think the shaft is coming out of the plastic gear. That's the only reason I can think of why the shaft would be sticking out so far. It would also explain why the speedo doesn't work if the shaft is spinning in the gear.

Pull the speedo gear out of the housing and inspect it carefully.
 
I'm able to separate the shaft from the gear, and the shaft only goes into the gear by 1/4 to 1/3 of the gear thickness before it bottoms out.
 
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