The speedo on my LR went out last year and they are easy to trouble shoot. You might get kind of oily, though.

1)You’ll need to remove the grease cap from the front hub. Make sure the hole in the grease cap is nice and square.It’s made out of very hard steel, so it probably will be. If it’s rounded, replaced it.

2)While still attached to the speedo and give the inner cable a spin. Check to see if the speedo pointer moves. If not, disconnect from the speedo, spin again to check if the speedo end moves, too. Because the inner cable may be partially broken, hold on to the tip and give the wheel end another spin. If you can hold onto the speedo end while spinning the wheel end, the cable is stretched. Replace it.

3) This is the hard one.If everything seems to be whole, the speedo itself is stuck. You’ll need to remove the speedo from the dashboard,(a feat in contortion) and from the housing itself. I had to tease it from behind the bezel and glass face to get it out. The speedo unit itself is a real credit to German engineering and simplicity. It’s just a donut magnet that spins inside a coil of wire. The faster the magnet spins, the more the needle moves. Just like a generator.  Give it a spin to make sure it moves freely.I found mine would bind a little and keep the needle from moving. A little 3M oil and lots of spins did the trick. Put it back together and while it’s outside the car give the cable a test spin. If the pointer moves, you can put the whole assembly back together. If not, the speedo will need to be replaced.

As far as how LONG a cable you need, you’ll need to measure the one in your car to know for sure. An easy way to measure is take some string and while the cable is still in place, lay the string along the path of the cable, from dashboard to firewall, then move to the “engine compartment”, and continue to the wheel. That will give you a close estimate.

Here’s a link you can check:http://www.mamotorworks.com/VW/product/313218.

Click on the “Documents” tab. Either will work, since they go to the same instruction pdf. All parts needed can be found at Jbugs.com

Hope this helps.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by scubasteve. Reason: forgot some info

That should do it.

When you check the cable, check the path from speedometer to hub. Look for kinks or sharp bends. Mine had one and I’m pretty sure that’s why it failed. I re-routed the new one more carefully and it’s been good since.

The majority of gauges are installed like this…

http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/21/2010/07/1007cct_17_z-custom_dash_gauge_install-gauge_illuminator_wiring.jpg

Its just a matter of getting your hand back in there.

Good Luck.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by billnparts.

Got me thinking. ..

Florida or Texas?

I don’t know if this string is still alive or not, but thought I would give it a try as I also have a speedo problem.  Pulled the wheel, removed cable from speedo and tested it and cable seems good.  I think the trouble is in speedo.  I have a “VDO” model speedometer.  I removed the speedo from the dash, and removed the two nuts and the washer from the stem so the speedo is loose in the housing.  SCUBASTEVE above indicated he had to “I had to tease it from behind the bezel and glass face to get it out.”  I can twist the bezel, with difficulty,  and the speedo is free inside, but can’t get the bezel and glass off.  Anybody know any tricks to doing this so I can get at the mechanics in the can?  Also, if this can’t be fixed, anybody have any recommendations for a replacement.  This is obviously not OEM VW.  MG Magic carries a speedo but I can’t find the diameter and it apparently runs on some sort of “sending unit”.  Not sure how that works, would really like to get the one I have working.

Scott

I believe Classic makes a VW cable driven speedo. So if the one you have actually has gear damage you can probably find a replacement. They make a 3.38″ version. You can check some of the dune buggy parts supliers or the standard Jbugs, cip1 (http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C14-3992), etc. Should be a pretty simple swap. Good luck!!