audiofreak97

Hello, This is my first post but I've been lurking here for a while now. Just about all the problems I've had with my Z have been solved reading through the posts. Thanks!!

On to my little problem...

I replaced my speedometer in my 81 280ZX with a 130MPH speedo off of eBay last fall, and all was working well till tonight. I went for a pretty long drive, and now my speedometer doesn't drop below 20 MPH at a stop, and is 20 MPH off through the speeds (which saved me from a heafty speeding ticket I think ). Searching brings up a post about someone spraying WD40 in the speedo, and that fixed the problem. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you fix it?

Thanks for any help!

naviathan

I usually use silicone spray on the speedo. There is a coil spring behind the face plate that can be used for making adjustments. Slight turns of the spring are all it takes to make a big difference in readout. I used a GPS to set my and made several laps around the block.

NismoPick

Welcome to the club Audiofreak!

audiofreak97

I'll pull the speedo and spray some silicon in there and see if that works. I've got my 85 MPH speedo here but I'm not seeing a spring on it, I'll take a look on the other and too see what your talking about there. I guess it's a good time to get some brighter lights in there too.
Thanks!

audiofreak97

Thanks!

audiofreak97

I pulled the cluster out, and tipped it over to get the connectors off the back and the needle just fell off. Put it back on and all is good again.

Oh well... at least it was easy

GTR

Great to hear that the problem was solved and welcome to Zdriver *HUGS*

audiofreak97

Thanks!

Seems that I put the needle at 10 MPH instead of 0 so I get to pull it all apart again! YAAY!

NismoPick

Doh! I love doing the cluster... good times.

Are you just pulling the steering wheel? I find that much easier than pulling the dash....

audiofreak97

Yeah, pulling the steering wheel is way easy.

On a side note... I looked for some brighter 158 bulbs for the cluster, but I can't even find standard bulbs. Any suggestions where to look around Salt Lake or even Bountiful?

NismoPick

Should be a fairly common bulb... tho I haven't looked for one at AutoZone. I just have a supply from when I go to the Pick n Pull.

007max

Does the 130mph speedo bolt right in place of the 80mph one? Is there any change in the speedometer cable between the speedometers?

I've had one sitting on a shelf for like 2 years, maybe I'll actually install it now that the exhaust and suspension are done.

audiofreak97

It bolts right up. I didn't need to change the cable.

The only thing that was different between the two, was the 85 MPH speedo had a micro switch on the mileage indicator with 1 red and 1 green wire with bullet connectors on the ends. (maybe a 3000 mile oil change deal??) The 130 MPH speedo didn't have it and I've had no problems not having that connected...

NismoPick

There's two (minor?) issues w/ changing to the 130mph speedo:

#1... the 130mph speedo is calibrated to the 3.7 differential. If you don't have a 3.7 diff... the reading won't be 100% correct.

#2... the 2 wires that are different are for the cruise control. I couldn't get my CC to work w/ the 130mph speedo.

audiofreak97

Good to know!
My cruise control didn't work before, so I guess it really wasn't an issue

007max

LOL, same here.

007max

I'm working on installing mine right now, and i found that there are no wires on the 130mph speedo but quite a few on my old one (in addition to the ones Nismo mentioned). Should any of that stuff be swapped over or is it good to install as is?




Also, the clear plastic "cover" that goes in front of the gauges is quite hazy and scratched. Looks like the previous owner tried to clean it with some solvent or abrasive or something. Do you think that that stuff used to recondition old plastic headlights would work on this part?

NismoPick

^^^ Looks like that 130 came from a base model 79 (that had no power windows or cruise control). Hence the reason it has no wires. It will still display the speed tho.

007max

So the red and green wires are for the cruise control, what would the other ones be for?

It looks like I can swap all the 'electronics' over from one to the other, all the bolt holes are the same...

audiofreak97

The red and green wires attached to that blue microswitch on the top are the ones I was talking about in an earlier post. There is even a little nub on the thousand number spot that looks like it'll trip that switch. Which is why i thought maybe an oil change light or something.

I would thought that the green and yellow with the L shaped connector would have been for cruise.