speedo connection

I doubt if the tightness of the components has anything to do with the jumping of your speedo needle. Its normally due to the long cable catching on a worn spot in the non-replaceable plastic liner. If this is true in your case, you can look forward to changing the whole assembly soon. One thing you might try is to lube the old assembly- something thats virtually never done. Disconnect both ends of the cable. Build a paper funnel and attach it to the dashboard end of the cable with tape. Position it so the funnel is upright. Fill the funnel with motor oil and wait for oil to drain from the other end, under the tranny. Lots of rags at both ends soak up any drips. Let the cable drain from the tranny end, then reattach. This may give you another years' worth of use but eventually you'll need to change everything. Nothing lasts forever...

Jack, thanks for the quick reply. It's a brand new cable from Hall with a new assembly. Worked fine since installed a few months ago - the speedo actually reads correct!. I didn't do the installation myself and that's why I want to know about the connection at the transaxle. Is there supposed to be play?

Sorry- I missed that. The big nut on the right-angle adapter can be tightened, but only by playing around with the starting position of the nut on its threaded shaft in the adapter. It's harder to describe than to do, but if you unscrew the adapter nut all the way, then continue to "unscrew" the nut another turn or so, then bring the unit back down onto the transaxle stub, it should tighen up more-or-less-tight. This is the source of some oil seepage but I'd never heard of it causing needle fluctuations. I also rerout the speedo cable to produce larger more sweeping curves under the powertrain so as to not make the cable work too hard as in the stock too-tight routing. This seems to make a difference in smoothness, at least at low speeds (my opinion). You can continue this nut-position adjustment as required, as long as you don't disturb the small 10-mm bolt below the adapter. This is the extension shaft retainer bolt and if removed, it will release the shaft to fall inside the tranny, to your great cost at retrieving it.

Thanks Jack! I made the adjustment. No leaking. No jumping. And no lost shaft - which I was really afraid of. All is good. Merci.
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