Topic: Speedometer is s-l-o-w to respond

[gar]

Hello, and on my '75 CB550K the speedometer seems to lag behind--taking its time to move around the dial and point towards indicated speed, and it seems more pronounced under acceleration.   In other words, the needle moves slowly up to speed, and it is quite noticeable after rapid acceleration.  It's like watching a bubble rise in a bottle of honey, its that slow.  Any ideas?

[MikeDeB]

Hello, and on my '75 CB550K the speedometer seems to lag behind--taking its time to move around the dial and point towards indicated speed, and it seems more pronounced under acceleration.   In other words, the needle moves slowly up to speed, and it is quite noticeable after rapid acceleration.  It's like watching a bubble rise in a bottle of honey, its that slow.  Any ideas?

Yep.  It's possible the grease in the grease cup has dried up somewhat.  The grease cup is on the shaft that is connected to the speedometer needle.  In all the speedos and tachs I've taken apart I've, fortunately, found adequate lube on the shaft pivots so I never had to solve the problem of getting new lube into the grease cup.  Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[yzfrider]

You might also check the speedo cable - if it is original - I would replace it.  These are readily available.  When my speedo started to go south, I was getting all kinds of advice to take it apart and lube it.  Before doing all that, I replaced the cable - speedo works great now.  YMMV. 

Cheers!

[nickjtc]

You might also check the speedo cable - if it is original - I would replace it.  These are readily available.

Ditto to that.

[jhaa_lives]

So this is exactly the problem I'm having.  I'll take my "cup" off and clean it up.  I already installed a new cable.  Does anybody know if this fixed the problem?

Sometimes it's nice to give resolution to these "fixes".  It helps when searching the archives.

[gregk]

I had similiar problem with a tach.  Read somewhere on the forum to try rinsing the unit in Isoproponal alchohol 99%.  This worked and the tach wasn't "lazy" after the bath.  Alot easier than taking the unit apart. 

Greg

[heffay]

when i have this problem... i twist harder.   

[MoTo-BunnY]

I had similiar problem with a tach.  Read somewhere on the forum to try rinsing the unit in Isoproponal alchohol 99%.  This worked and the tach wasn't "lazy" after the bath.  Alot easier than taking the unit apart. 

Greg

+1 I did that too, to 'wake up' my tach. I used 'denatured alcohol solvent' (basically 100% methanol) from Home Despot, and rinsed the internals a couple of times. Washed all sorts of gunk out and didn't leave any film on the glass or anything.

That solvent is great to have around for a variety of tasks, anyways, like de-greasing stuff.