auto pre facelift aw11 - speedo needle sits at 0 k/ph

[FXGTV]

Like the subject states i have a 1985 auto aw11 mr2...
Just took my aw11 out for a drive to grab some supplies and something strange happened...
While cruising at 50k i noticed the speedo needle started wobbling rather dramatically. I slowed down to around 40 but the needle wobble got worse if anything. Then, after speeding back up to 50 the needle all of a sudden dropped to 0 and has stayed there ever since. After this occured the light indicating overdrive being on started to flash even when off. When I select overdrive to be on it stays orange, but when switched back to off it flashes off and on once again.

The performance of the car doesn't seem to have been affected. I am not sure if this is related, but i have a rather noticible shudder of the steering wheel when going over 90km. I have had the wheels balanced twice, so its not that...was going to get this sorted at the end of the month but due to the speedo needle problem it seems smart to start to sort this now.

Any ideas?

[Jazza]

Speedo cable?

At least yours works. Ben doesnt even have a backlight on his dash

[FXGTV]

i was thinking the was the speedo cable...but didnt want to say so unless i was wrong and sounded n00b Is this an easy fix?

[Jazza]

I dont have a clue, never had the dash off an AW But im pretty sure it sounds like the cable. Another common thing that causes a speedo needle to flicker is if the speedo's been wound. Although that should never cause it to drop to zero. My guess is, its on its original cable (Or was) and just had enough Ask Ben or Revhead how easy it is to replace, and revhead can give you a price?

*Disclaimer* I may be wrong

[matt dunn]

you will probably find that like most of the other toyota's of that era,

there is two part to the speedo cable.

The first part is about 1-200mm long and goes directly onto the gearbox.
The second part runs right thru the car and is a mission to get out.

luckily 99% of thye time it's the short part that breaks.
Get a new or S/H one as the short piece's are not a real success at being repaired. make sure you replace the inner and outer and the inner cable freys and wrecks the inside of the outer making the new inner not last.

I think they are available new at a not bad price, and normally the inner and outer come as one piece on them as they don't ( are not meant too) come apart.

Matt

[FXGTV]

I'll give it a go
Cheers matt.