Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => Electrical and Instruments => Topic started by: Timthebizarre on December 30, 2012, 10:49:48

Title: Accessing right hand drive noisy Tachometer drive cable
Post by: Timthebizarre on December 30, 2012, 10:49:48

Hi Pagoda Group,

Ive got one of those noisy screechy tachometer cables. MY problem is that there seems to be no way to get AT it. My car is a 1971 280SL and the underside of the dash is clad in metal sheet and seems to be impossible to access without major expensive surgery!! ???

Any ideas gratefully accepted

Thank you

Kind Regards

Tim Beaumont]

Title: Re: Accessing right hand drive noisy Tachometer drive cable
Post by: Iconic on December 30, 2012, 13:50:08

Quote from: Timthebizarre on December 30, 2012, 10:49:48

....   the underside of the dash is clad in metal sheet ....

Can you post a picture of this?

Title: Re: Accessing right hand drive noisy Tachometer drive cable
Post by: PeterW113 on January 10, 2013, 23:52:37

Getting to the tachometer is very difficult and requires significant dismantling of the dash. You need to remove the trim, speedo and centre gauges to get to the tacho, it's a big job.  Removing the steering wheel and removing the front seat will help too with access. You will also need a small child as you need tiny nimble fingers to remove some of the various nuts etc.

If you really want to attempt this think about replacing the dash bulbs and overhauling the heater controls at the same time.  That's what I did and took me about three weeks! on and off.

That's the bad news. The good news if you have an auto, if i recall correctly and am not getting the taco cable mixed up with the speedo cable, you can detach the cable at  the transmission  end which I what i did.  You can then remove the inner cable lubricate it an put it back. It takes about an hour but you do need the right sizes hexagonal socket.  Can't remember the size but this has been covered on the forum before. Much much easier.

Good luck,

Peter

Title: Re: Accessing right hand drive noisy Tachometer drive cable
Post by: georgem on January 11, 2013, 08:26:02

Tim,

Peter has his wires crossed  a tad - the tacho cable is run off the engine, with a pick up point near the distributor. I think the method Peter describes re the speedo cable would probably work though ;  disconnect the cable at the engine and wiggle the inner cable free. Clean the cable with petrol/turps/ kero or even WD 40 then smear it lightly with grease - not too much otherwise excess grease could work its way into the back of the tacho and Peters statement re getting to the back of the tacho I think is an understatement.

Getting it back is the reverse; slide it back in then wiggle it until it slots into the back of the tacho.

Cheers

George

Title: Re: Accessing right hand drive noisy Tachometer drive cable
Post by: PeterW113 on January 12, 2013, 09:28:34

George,

Thanks for correcting my statement,  I had an inkling that I was getting mixed up. 

Peter