Speedometer & Tachometer Slow to Respond

[W Kym]

My XS has been in storage for close to 17 years. I took it out the other day (I am getting older and wanted to re-live part of my youth) and while I am still mucking with some carb issues, I got it to run. Cruising around, I notice that both the speedometer and tach seemed sluggish, in that I can tell I was going faster than the speedometer stated, and while it did catch up, it took some time. Same with the tach, not real time, slow to respond. It almost seems like they are both 'sticky' (up and down). Anyone seen this previously, any ideas on the cause and solution? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Other than this and the carb issue (a float issue which I am sure I can fix), still runs pretty good! Thanks, Kym.

 

[angus67]

take those cables off, and lube' em

 

[aldo5468]

Yeah, lube those cables, it will make a difference, and next time the front wheel is off, clean all the old grease out of the speedometer drive and re-grease it.

 

[PhatTony]

Maybe it's your old mind not registering fast enough. Just kidding. Sounds like a cable problem. Grease em, it's the easiest thing to do. If it's still not fixed then you might be looking at taking apart the drives and possibly the gauges. I had an old Honda 350 speedo that a mud wasp moved into, that was a bitch to disassemble and clean.

 

[W Kym]

Thanks for the ideas. I will try lubing the cables in the next couple of days. Kym.

 

[XSLeo]

Lubing the cables will help. The grease in the gauges themselves get stiff. Riding the bike will soften the grease and they will start working better.
Mine were slow and bounced around alot at first, after a few hundred miles the are quite steady and read very close to what they should.

 

[W Kym]

Lubing the cables did not solve the problem, although I am sure it will not hurt. I will try riding the bike around for a while to see if things loosen up. Kym.