'83 944 here.


Hi folks,

Next chapter in my saga:

1) After reinstalling the speedometer instrument, the needle for the speedometer is very wobbly when under ~25-30 MPH.
2) My blinker light I replaced with an LED. Here's the strange bit: the hazard blinker is perfect, but when I blink for Left/Right I get nothing.

Thoughts?

 

Speedo in an '83 is cable driven by the drivers side front wheel. The cable runs from the back of the speedo and passes through the center of the LF axle and is driven by a square hole in the grease cap. It is held in place at the grease cap by a C-clip. Try pulling the cable out of the housing and lubing it with cable lube or graphite and it may smooth out.
Blinker problem is probably related to not enough resistance in the LED bulbs for the flasher to function properly. Try replacing the LED bulbs with conventional bulbs and see if it works.

 

The cable is screwed into the back, there’s no C clip. I will try the grease.

Also I noticed that the light works much better IFF the AC is off.

 

The speedometer end of the cable housing does indeed screw onto the back of the speedometer. However, the c-clip is on the other end of the cable, the driven end, down at the grease cap of the drivers side wheel. It is a weird arrangement for driving a speedometer if you've never encountered it before. Just remove the left front wheel and it is right there in the center of the grease cap. Also, use speedometer lube on the cable, not grease. Once grease hardens inside that cable it will really give you a jumpy speedometer.