Picked up new car on Saturday :) - Speedo not working :(

[MikeGF]

Hi Everyone

Picked up my Caterham Superlight on Saturday. What a car!! Have by no means explored the limits yet, but over 5k revs it flies!! Can't wait to get it on track.

However, after driving it for about 20 mins after leaving Caterham, I was finally brave enough to take my eyes off the road and look at the speedo, which wasn't working.. I have had a quick look under the dash but found nothing obvious, and havent had time to find the fault, but is it easy to fix? where does the speedo cable go to? I found where it leaves the dash, but had family commitments so had to go..

Sorry, silly questions from a neeby owner!! Or do I go straight back to Caterham?

Thanks
Mike

[Tango7]

Hi Mike,

Congratulations on your new purchase and welcome to the seven community. Sorry to hear about your car having a fault already. I would take the car back to Caterham to have it sorted out and that way there is no comeback in the future if something isn't fixed correctly now.

Assuming yours is a standard set of clocks (not the digital Stack dash), the sender unit should be bolted to the side of the gearbox on the driver's side and they can come free and dangle under the car. Maybe stick your head under the car (you don't even need to jack it up) and see if anything is obvious.

T

[MikeGF]

Hi Tango

Thanks for the rapid response, I will have a look this evening. I was actually expecting a few niggles (had 2 TVR's previously) so not that worried by it Sounds quite simple, but if that isn't the problem, I'll take it back to Caterham.

All I need to do now is get me some driver training and track days!

Drove the car on the motorway on the way home - that was an experience!!

Cheers
MikeGF

[RobM77]

Any thoughts on trouble shooting the speedo? I'm trying to get my racing Caterham road legal and the speedo currently just flicks all over the place. It does sometimes work, but mostly it does nothing or darts about the dial. Mine is a non stack car, and the sender is in place on the gearbox.

[ewenm]

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

[RobM77]

ewenm said:

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll have a look tonight. This "quill" thing: from what you say I presume I can get this as a seperate component rather than replacing the whole speedo cable?

[ewenm]

RobM77 said:

ewenm said:

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll have a look tonight. This "quill" thing: from what you say I presume I can get this as a seperate component rather than replacing the whole speedo cable?

Yep, they're not expensive from Caterham Parts. Mine's knackered because the gearbox end of the quill is stuck in the gearbox

[will_]

RobM77 said:

ewenm said:

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll have a look tonight. This "quill" thing: from what you say I presume I can get this as a seperate component rather than replacing the whole speedo cable?

Actually I don't think you can - but it might be worth replacing the cable anyway.

[ewenm]

will_ said:

RobM77 said:

ewenm said:

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll have a look tonight. This "quill" thing: from what you say I presume I can get this as a seperate component rather than replacing the whole speedo cable?

Actually I don't think you can - but it might be worth replacing the cable anyway.

You definitely can - I've got a spare one waiting to go into mine at the moment.

[will_]

ewenm said:

will_ said:

RobM77 said:

ewenm said:

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll have a look tonight. This "quill" thing: from what you say I presume I can get this as a seperate component rather than replacing the whole speedo cable?

Actually I don't think you can - but it might be worth replacing the cable anyway.

You definitely can - I've got a spare one waiting to go into mine at the moment.

Apologies - I stand corrected (and not for the first time...)

[RobM77]

will_ said:

ewenm said:

will_ said:

RobM77 said:

ewenm said:

Probably a broken/twisted quill Rob. There's a little inch-long or so square profile quill that goes between the gearbox and the end of the speedo cable. I've broken a couple of these and the sign that they're on the way out is an erratic speedo. Relatively easy to fix (unscrew cable from gearbox, replace quill, reattach cable)

Excellent. Thank you very much. I'll have a look tonight. This "quill" thing: from what you say I presume I can get this as a seperate component rather than replacing the whole speedo cable?

Actually I don't think you can - but it might be worth replacing the cable anyway.

You definitely can - I've got a spare one waiting to go into mine at the moment.

Apologies - I stand corrected (and not for the first time...)

Speedo problem diagnosed. There should be two wires going into the speedo, I've only got one The one that remains is really tattered, and the other one has just worn off basically. They've come right off at the sensor and it doesn't look patchable. I'm ordering some bits in the morning, so I'll add a speedo sensor to that. I reckon my car will be ready for its first MOT by Saturday lunchtime

[Tango7]

RobM77 said:

Speedo problem diagnosed. There should be two wires going into the speedo, I've only got one The one that remains is really tattered, and the other one has just worn off basically. They've come right off at the sensor and it doesn't look patchable. I'm ordering some bits in the morning, so I'll add a speedo sensor to that. I reckon my car will be ready for its first MOT by Saturday lunchtime

Nice one
I was going to ask how old your car was and whether it had a mechanical speedo or not...

[MikeGF]

Well, had a look at mine last night, and the cable is connected to the speed and to the gearbox, and is attached firmly, so looks like it's back to Caterham for mine..

[RobM77]

MikeGF said:

Well, had a look at mine last night, and the cable is connected to the speed and to the gearbox, and is attached firmly, so looks like it's back to Caterham for mine..

Was Ewen indicating that the quill can break inside though? You'd need to unscrew the sensor, pull it out and have a ganders at the quill. It's easy to take it in and out.

[ewenm]

RobM77 said:

MikeGF said:

Well, had a look at mine last night, and the cable is connected to the speed and to the gearbox, and is attached firmly, so looks like it's back to Caterham for mine..

Was Ewen indicating that the quill can break inside though? You'd need to unscrew the sensor, pull it out and have a ganders at the quill. It's easy to take it in and out.

Yep, assuming you've got a mechanical speedo drive, the end of the cable screws onto the gearbox. Inside that connection is the small quill that sometimes snaps. To find out unscrew the speedo cable from the gearbox and see if the quill is whole.

[RobM77]

ewenm said:

RobM77 said:

MikeGF said:

Well, had a look at mine last night, and the cable is connected to the speed and to the gearbox, and is attached firmly, so looks like it's back to Caterham for mine..

Was Ewen indicating that the quill can break inside though? You'd need to unscrew the sensor, pull it out and have a ganders at the quill. It's easy to take it in and out.

Yep, assuming you've got a mechanical speedo drive, the end of the cable screws onto the gearbox. Inside that connection is the small quill that sometimes snaps. To find out unscrew the speedo cable from the gearbox and see if the quill is whole.

Ah, I misunderstood you there. Mine's a three year old car with a sensor and two wires going to the speedo. The sensor has a stalk about 3cm long that fits into the side of the gearbox. The sensor itself is about the size and shape of a small shallot, and just screws into the gearbox housing once the stalk is lined up. What's happened to mine is that the wires have sheared off.

[MikeGF]

I can't actually get to where the speedo cable connects into the gearbox, there seems to be a plate or something under the car across the gearbox, if that sounds right? maybe I should jack it up? Oh, I haven't got a jack.

It's a Superlight if that makes any difference?

[RobM77]

MikeGF said:

I can't actually get to where the speedo cable connects into the gearbox, there seems to be a plate or something under the car across the gearbox, if that sounds right? maybe I should jack it up? Oh, I haven't got a jack.

It's a Superlight if that makes any difference?

Interesting. My gearbox is open to the ground. You'll definitely need a jack and axle stands - I think it's back to Caterham to be honest!

[RobM77]

One concern is that the previous owner disconnected/disabled the speedo to record fewer miles... Does your service history check out?

[RobM77]

One concern is that the previous owner disconnected/disabled the speedo to record fewer miles... Does your service history check out?