On my way to work, stopped to fuel up, when I got back on the road, my Speedo wasn't working, plus.. my AVC for the stereo doesnt work,( speed controlled so figgered that) and..my turn signals dont cancel, ( again I am supposing they get info from the speedo to cancel. Now.. my Service Manual is at home... any body know off the top of their head if this would be a fuse issue??? kinda like to have a speedo on the way home..

94 EGC by the way...........

 

Could be a fuse/circuit breaker and or wiring short or the reed switch in the speedometer. If the spedometer is functioning the previous is probably the problem. Hope this helps.

This text was added: noticed you said the speedometer wasn't working. Check the cable, when you roll the bike it should turn. If not then the cable or the speedometer drive. If it turns then it is probably the speedometer.

 

if speedo is electric then a vehicle speed sensor on transmission may be cause.
if speedo is mechanical could the cable end or ends be broken?

 

'94 is a mechanical speedo. Remove the speedo end of the cable and check as MIA stated. My '98 has gone through three cables.

 

I'm going to wake this one up ... I hope.

What did it turn out to be?

I had a speedo-drive unit go through a whole range of sounds while on vacation last summer. I honestly thought a front wheel bearing had dried out. Well after making the decision to to shorten my trip to Cheeseburgers In Caseville, a Jimmy Buffet / Mardi Gras festival held along the Saginaw Bay, I was in Port Austine when the noise stopped and so did the speedo. I was pissed cause since I got the bike I knew the speedo would stay on 0 and then suddenly bounced up to my speed at about 25 to 30 miles and worked real smooth after that. I had already considered a cable and now it took out the drive. So parts are ordered and when I put it all back together the speedo acts the same way. Now I don't want to have to even look for a replacement speedo / tach assembly for that bike.

Just thought maybe someone had an idea or two of what causes the speedometer to stay on zero until it springs up and start working perfect at about 25 or 30 mph.

I did have a WTF moment when routing the cable through the fender strain relief. I wound up have to adjust the amount of cable stretching to the actual speedo at the fork mount, and the amount to dangle down to the fender mount because you can't reroute the new style replacement cable through the fender relief. Then it seem to shift back and forth at highway bars so I decided securing it there was another good hold down point. Wound up using wire-ties but not overtightened.

I say the cable is still dragging somewhere even thought the drive and cable are new. There's no binding when steering with it secured.

Now ... and are you still with me? I'm second and third guessing here but not knowing all the working of the speedo's inner mechanisms, is it possible that somewhere inside things are resisting the needle from moving until, at faster speeds, it exerts enough pressure to push the needle up and make it work the rest of the time.

Thanks in advance for the advice .... especially you John.

 

Same issue.. seems after doing some research this is very common for this era bike. I have a 98 Heritage.. Speedo works when it wants.

 

Swensos,

Good to hear from you. You know that wasn't the answer I was hoping for, but read on ...

I actually like cruising back home and for almost a week of no speedo. I thought I knew the speed by the tach, and later discover was about 15 MPH over the speed limit most of the time. It was an odd feeling not giving a hoot about how fast I was going, sort of following the traffic flow or setting my own pace on the open road.

 

Here's my experience with my cable. When I bought my bike a '96 ex cop bike the speedo read 16k miles. I really didn't believe that was true as the speedo wasn't working, and who knows how long its been non functional. I bought a new cable and put it in. It didn't seem to be reading right tho. I had the bike up on my jack at the time. So I could spin the wheel and got minimal reading. Then I had a brainstorm, I took the old cable which was snapped about a foot from the drive unit, and put it in a drill to test the speedo head. Seemed to read fine. I put the cable back on and went for a ride. still didn't seem to read right. After staring at it for a couple of minutes. I let the bike off the jack, and put the cable in while the bike was on the ground. I don't know or can't say why this made a difference but, it worked fine after doing that. The only thing I can think is ,the cable might not have been inserted enough in both ends to spin enough to read properly.,,

 

Sounds like cable bind. Do you lube the cable with anti-seize when installing?

 

In my case I wouldn't think a new cable would require lube ... Am I wrong?

A good friend, who has an '87 tour glide had some opinions. First his has never given him trouble. Second, don't try to lube the speedo's moving parts (head unit, not cable and drive), doing anything could make it worse. And it didn't matter to know how fast you were going if you're only going 20 or so because it shouldn't be a speeding issue going that slow ... LOL.

He was also warning me about using solvents to degrease areas of your bike that could seep into other areas and give you a lot of issues, like around bearings.

We were also figuring the next ride we get to make, we should make a calculation chart for RPMs / *Gear = MPH and add a few more specification notes for our bikes and laminate it, then tape it into our tour packs for those times when a quick glance of a detail will get you on your way quicker.