Speedo Cable vs Gearbox

[hiho]

Hello all,

On a recent vehicle recovery mission (see diesel demise thread) my speedo stopped working. I removed the speedo drive from the gearbox and i could pull the inner cable and plastic gear out so i figured that it was the cable that had snapped. I reconnected the speedo drive to the gearbox and continued on without knowing what my speed was. No problem, ill replace it when i get home i thought.
Today I disconnected the speedo drive from the gearbox to find that the plastic gear and cable were gone. I peered into the gearbox and the plastic gear that drives the speedo gear was also gone. I then drained the oil and it was like metallic paint. My gearbox had sucked up my speedo drive like it was eating spaghetti (then got serious indigestion)

The speedo drive cable is cross located at each end. What i mean is that the speedo end of the cable has a lip that prevents you (or the gearbox) pulling the speedo drive out at the gearbox end and vice versa. When the speedo cable breaks, there is no cross location for the lower section of cable.

My advice is this: If your speedo stops working, pull over, disconnect the speedo drive from the gearbox (one phillips head screw), pull on the gear to remove the section of broken cable (if it doesnt want to come out then it might be something else) then reconnect the outer part of the speedo drive to the gearbox. This will prevent destruction to the gearbox.

Fortunately i have a spare gearbox. Wouldnt mind a 5speed though, Ayden how is yours going? Worth the upgrade?
Matt

[brackie]

Is the gearbox R/S? I hope not (but a 5 speed would be the go ). I've never had a Mk1 speedo cable snap on me but I'll remember your advice.

[Oneofthegreats]

This has happened to me before as well.
But in my instance the speedo drive broke off & went through the gearbox without doing any damage & that happened well over 5 years ago on the current gearbox & oil.
Must be lucky!

[gtimk5]

It is a common problem, the drive dropping into the gearbox when removing the cable. I don't think that it can cause a failure of the actual box. The part is only plastic. When I had a 4 speed in my competition Golf it had a drive in that old box for ages. The only time that I had a problem was when I sent it to the exhaust shop. When they went to back it off there hoist the drive got caught up in the gears causing them to jam. Got it back to the workshop, pulled the box and dismantled to remove it. Situation solved but a real pain!

[hiho]

Unfortunately it took about 2 ft of speedo drive cable with it. I dont think that there is room in there for that amount of extra metal. Im doing a swap today.

[gtimk5]

Oh! Never heard of cables getting in there. What a bugger. Looks like you are going to have a "fun" sunday. Yes, cable would do damage. Hope it all swaps over ok for you. Cheers, Andrew

[gldgti]

sad to hear about your bad luck mate, i hope you have some happier golfing to come!

the five speed upgrade?

fantanstic! thats the only word for it... oh wait, theres amazing, wonderful, incredible, blissful..... you get the idea.

if you can afford it, and you do a lot of highway driving, and you think your engine has enough ergs to haul you at 110 and 2300 revs, then do it.

keep in mind, mine is not a stock 1.5 - i have done:

> 2" exhaust with free flowing muffler (downpipe back)
> big intake pipe (80mm diameter)
> carefully adjusted injector timing (dynamically - i.e engine running)
> max fuel adjusted in to increase fuelling a bit (this doesnt affect highway cruising though)

[hiho]

Thanks Ayden,

Im interested in what timing you are actually running. If you could get your hands on a dial indicator and adapter you could check what youve adjusted yours to let us know. Has it made a noticeable improvement?

Also, does one advance or retard injection when running BD and by how much?

Thanks
Matt