Club 80-90 Forums

Hi, in my westy the speedo is showing that I'm going faster than what I'm actually going.
Is this a common fault?
Is there a remedy?
Any help much appreciated

Thanks

It's a 'feature'

Most speedos on most cars will read to some degree faster than your actual speed. It's illegal for car manufacturers to have speedos showing a slower than actual speed, so what they tend to do is over compensate. I have a Golf that reads 4mph too fast.

It allows for the fact that you might decide to fit larger tyres than the original standard without getting into trouble for speeding.

I know what your saying about it reading slightly faster than what your going but for instance if I'm doing 90kmph it would be reading around 120 ish. This is also putting more mileage on than I'm doing. If anyone knows why this is e.g. problem with cable etc please let me know. Also it's a problem with speed cameras as your guessing how fast or slow your going

Do you have standard wheels and tyres on?

Yes, when I got it it had 16 inch alloys with 55 tyres. I've now changed back to original steel wheels with 185 14 tyres. The speedo also goes up and down when speeding up or down.
Any ideas?
Thanks

If it's consistently high by say 15 - 20 kph at all speeds then it may be that the needle's been removed and replaced wrongly in the past, for example to change the dial face. When correctly installed, the needle is slightly under tension and would sit further back if the pin wasn't there. If it has been replaced to align with the pin position then it isn't correctly set and so would show consistently high speeds.

Flutter in the speed reading could be problems with the bowden cable from the wheel hub to the speedo - either not fitted properly to the speedo, kinking in the cable housing or lack of lubrication inside the cable housing.

Ok thanks for reply,
How do you go about setting the needle correctly?

Remove the needle & replace it anti-clockwise by an amount you think will correct the discrepancy. Could be trial & error.

I don't know whether you can see it with the speedo in the housing, but there should be a white mark at the edge of the dial indicating zero, just below the stop pin. You need to remove the needle very carefully, as it is fragile - if I recall correctly some have successfully used a fork to pry it off the centre axle. Then you set it back on the axle aligned with the zero mark and push it partially home so it still clears the stop pin. Then rotate the needle until you're back past the stop pin in the scale and push fully home. When you release the needle it will then sit tight against the stop pin until you reach the required speed on the road to move it further.

I was just typing the same as you posted!

that's always happening to me.

Ginojasper wrote:I know what your saying about it reading slightly faster than what your going but for instance if I'm doing 90kmph it would be reading around 120 ish.

I would be kissing my ass goodbye if I were doing 90,000mph in my van.

As long as its fairly accurate in the 30mph and 40mph speeds. I wouldn't worry too much. Just take a satnav and see where 50, 60 and 70mph is for reference. Road speed is only really relevant when it comes to speed cameras anyway.