Speedo stuck on 200 1500 nomad FI

[miltonsain]

my speedo sticks, and when I take the cable loose, it falls back to 0, I ordered a new cable, OEM, what kind of lube can be done to the speedometer head? can I clean it with break clean, and then use a lightweight grease? My first Kawasaki, so i'm looking for help.

[DragonLady58]

Don't lube your head (Speedo). If your gonna lube anything, it should be the cable. I use 3in1 oil, with some extra fine graphite powder. Put about 2 drops on speedo end of cable, holding it verticle. Then I give the cable end 1 good squeeze of the graphite bottle, followed by 8 more drops of 3in1 oil. In 20+ years in a service dept., haven't had any problems with any bikes running speedos or tachs...
Your wheel drive, use some carb cleaner, wash it off good, clean it out good. If it looks dry, I use some vasoline, shoot a little graphite onto the little pile on top of a piece of cardboard, mix it with a toothpick, put this mix. into a syringe, pry the seal up with a small metal pick, and inject you vasoline mix in there. Gentle let seal down. Then I use the end of a batt. powered drill to spin the unit to mix in all the vasoline. Just drive it a minute or so....from the wheel side.....I use a rubber tapered cone to drive it

[miltonsain]

Thank you, there is some nasty looking greasy mess in the spedometer head cable input, can that be cleaned out? and if so, should I use a oil free solvent, like carb cleaner, or maybe some alcohol? It is like something is binding when the cable is tight, and the cable has a rusty looking crud on it, so i'm relpacing the cable.

[DragonLady58]

I haven't ever messed with the speedo, but the wheel drive unit can be cleaned out with carb cleaner. Just keep the open end down, so the crap can drain.
If you can, hold your speedo face in the up position, you can use some contact cleaner, hold the speedo with one hand or wire it so the drive hole is sticking straight down, use the contact cleaners and wash it out. Don't keep spraying directly into it for very long, or spray will appear between the needle and the face. Use very short, quick shots.
There is a instrument cleaner that is made especially for this, you can get it thru eastwood....or contact a speedo rebuild place and get some from them....

[miltonsain]

Thank you so much, I have 3 cans of contact cleaner, just spaced out, and forgot all about it. I'll let you know if thie new cable and some good cleaning solve the problem. I didn't think about all the things that could be wrong, with this bike, considering it was kept in a open shed 3 miles from the coast, I guess some salty air didn't help this bike very much

[DragonLady58]

Just to check, you can get a old speedo cable end, chuck it in your batt. powered drill, and spin the speedo....there should be no drag up inside the unit.
I believe your speedo cable got dry, it put a kink in the middle of it, and it is dragging on the housing.

[miltonsain]

the speedo head spins free, the cable is awful, so it is getting replaced

[DragonLady58]

Originally Posted by miltonsain

the speedo head spins free, the cable is awful, so it is getting replaced

Lube it before installation....
99% of the time, its the speedo cable. It gets hot, in the 100 Degree weather, the grease is kinda thick, it heats up, the oil seperates from the grease, runs down the speedo cable, over the years eventually drips and/or dries out. The 3in1 oil is really light, will mix with the grease, and the ultra fine graphite that you put in, will mix and desolve into the grease. The speedo cable is essentially a long spring. If you look at it closely it looks like a bunch of little wires twisted together. The oil/grease/graphite will embed into the cable, and as things heat up, will release gradually. The graphite is a dry lube, once your grease starts to seperate again and let go of the oil, the graphite will keep on lubing the cable.
I would lube your speedo cable about every 4 years....its pretty well in a sealed enviroment....

[DragonLady58]

Also after a year or 2, if you see and black drooling out between your front wheel and the speedo drive, you'll know what it is. For the tach anf speedo cables, I always used the tubes of the extra fine graphite. That way, when it gets got, heads down to speedo cable with the grease, it also lubes the speedo drive gears. The larger graphite grains don't desolve and embed into the spiraled housing as well as the ultra fine stuff....
On a new bike (New To Me), Thats one of the very first things I do. I've worked on the bikes, had the speedos or the tach needles bouncing, after a dose of oil and graphite, they usually smooth out quickly....

[miltonsain]

Thanks, waiting on UPS to deliver my new cable

[miltonsain]

new cable lubed with graphite, installed and works perfectly. Thanks for the help.