aholiday

I have a 1955 Olds S88 Holiday that runs great but I am having speedometer problems.
I checked the cable...It was worn and suspect so I replaced it, but the problem remains.
It is jumping, running a bit higher than my actual speed, and sometimes will "stick" at 20-30 mph or 5 mph.
I thought it would be a simple thing and of course nothing ever is but I know there are some wiz kids here that could probably point me in the right direction without me getting too many headaches.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

flatoz

mine did similar, I pulled it to pieces and cleaned all the gear for the odo and put some light oil back on them, probably just a build up of grime over the years. the biggest trick is getting the speedo out. you need to take the whole facia out and don't forget that the oil pressure is manual. also I have found that you need to drop the column to bring the facia forward enough to get the lights out and take the whole lot out of the dash.

if in doubt once out, take it to a speedo shop for a service. Mine still bounces at low levels as in under 20mph, but otherwise its pretty steady at any mph above that.

aholiday

Thx Flatoz. I will give it a shot when I have some time. Cleaning 55 years of grime might just be the ticket.

flatoz

do you have a factory manual? as the first time I took mine out it took me forever to figure out how to do it, I just remembered there are I think 5 nuts that hold the facia in , and you need to remove the radio panel too, to be able to get the facia forward. tilt the top of the facia towards you in the drivers seat and then undo the wiring and blubs. as i said, don't forget the oil gauge is hard wired in so you need a 3/8 spanner to undo it and what ever you do remember to do it back up! did that once, oil everywhere.

and be careful in taking the speedo out of the facia as you can hit the needle on the facia and damage it.