Male

Hey I'm new to this I just bought a 280zx and the speedometer only gose to 20mph. I heard you can just put some lube on it but I don't know how to get to it. So can anyone help?

NismoPick

Welcome to ZDriver!

Does the needle also bounce a lot? If so, yes, a good lube job would probably do the trick. You need to put the car on stands to access the cable at the transmission. Then follow it up through the firewall. There is another connection above the steering column.

Make sure you download the FSM from XenonS130 - S130 Reference

Male

Thanks and you don't lube up the gauge itself?

NismoPick

The speedometer itself doesn't need to be lubed / greased. If the actual speedo gears are damaged, then you will either need to find a replacement and deal with the odometer difference, or take it to a speedometer specialty shop. Or if you have the courage, try disassembling it yourself and try to fix it (not the simplest task ).

Male

Oh well thanks for the help friend and how do I locate the speedo gears? Do I have I take anything apart? And dose it tell you in the service manuel?

Male

Take anything apart to lube it I mean

Male

Ok I found it. Thanks anyways Nismo pick

WildmaN

You can use multi purpose machine oil to lube the gears. I did it with my speedometers, and it seemed to do the trick. You could probably get away with just lubing the cable that is inside the car. Use graphite to do it with. Good luck man, and welcome.

Male

Well guys it seems to be the worst case. We took it to a Machanic and he told us the gears are not working and somthing was moving when it shouldent. Is it worth gettin it replaced? Do you know how much it cost ? Is there any alternative options ?

NismoPick

Hopefully the mechanic didn't say those words...

That's really generic and vague..

Which gears aren't working? What's moving?

Are you talking about the speedo gears? If so... go to the junk yard and get another for $10, which I've already mentioned:

Pipsqueak

I'm having the same issue, but I wish I had a junk yard that had Z's left.

how hard is it to remove the "pig tail" that is on the back of the speedo? I have grased the long part, I just hope that part solve my issue.

for now, Im just using a speedo app.

Male

Well I wish I was there but my dad took it wile I was at work and the machanic said that the wire up worked perfectly but I'll ask my dad when he gets back, but we asked him to lube it with that grease because we didn't want to take it apart but he said that that wasn't the problum. And unfortunately I spent a after noon trying to find a junk yard near buy and I haven't found any with any parts

NismoPick

Post a "WTB 280ZX Speedometer" in our classifieds. I'm sure several people have a spare. I have one, but I won't be able to get up to my garage for a week or two.

Male

Alright i think were going to take it to the transmition shop first and what's the app called?

FricFrac

Someone has two for sale on hybrid

Male

Can you post a link?

Male

Thanks but my cluster is still good

WildmaN

You might have to get another cluster to get the speedometer. Besides, there is nothing wrong with having an extra cluster lying around.

Male

Well I found out that my speedometer did work its just gets stuck on 20 like yours I have to accelerate from 20-40 and it will work good sorry about that it's because I always drove on little streets

Male

Well I gess sence its not what I thought it was where to I get thouse digital gauges ? Are they just plug in ?

FricFrac

DId you replace the gauge cluster yet? If it's not the speedo cable it's probably the gauge cluster. Did you check the cog for the speedo at the tranny?

IMHO the digital cluster sucks - I replaced both of mine with analog gauges asap.

Male

I that sucks I realy wanted one they look pretty cool and what's the problems with them

NismoPick

https://www.zdriver.com/forums/280zx...-analog-35230/

Male

Thanks I didn't know they were that much. I could but some new headers and a exhaust with that

NismoPick

They're not usually that much. You can get them for $50-$200 on ebay... or ~$20 at a junk yard (almost non-existent now). And you must use the digi dash harness.

280ZX DATSUN NISSAN DIGITAL SPEEDOMETER TACH WITH FUEL AND TEMP GAUGES RARE OEM | eBay

It's still not worth the time or $$$.