Broken Tacho

Hi,

I've recently greased the inner cable for the tachometer, after about 50 miles of riding, I noticed the pointer started jumping around before stopping on 1k revs. Although I didn't grease the last section of the cable, my only thought is the grease has worked its way up and into the clock.

Is there any quick fix for this problem?

Cheers,

Neil

Check and make sure the cable isn't pushing up against the drive on the tacho. It might not be all the way into the drive down on the motor. Grease might not be the way to go...I use light machine oil. Take the cable apart and re-do, and see if you can get the needle to move again, maybe a bit of very careful cleaning of the drive in the tacho...and wait for other advise. There are some that know better than I, for sure... :wink:

iS THE CABLE FAIRLY NEW? I HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM AND IT WAS THE CABLE WORN AT THE END. A NEW ONE HAD A MUCH SQUARER PROFILE AND WORKS FINE.

Brocken tacho

Hi
Have taken the tacho cable off and cleaned all the grease , removed the tacho and looking in through the bulb hole i am able to see the grease on the small disk that spins around.
Is there anything that can be done to clean the grease away, or is it a complete strip down by an expert.

Thanks Neil

If you can SEE it...can't you try a bit of a blast with some de-greaser spray, brake cleaner or such, and then quickly and gently, use the compressor to get the fluid dried out in there so it doesn't do any damage to dial and finishes inside the clock? Obviously, if you have a Smiths repairman around the corner, it would be the place to go. But baring that, a bit of grease... must be a solution to the problem. It would although, be a bummer to spray in there and get the inside of the glass messed up...no way to get it clean again, so you must really be on your toes, no matter what you do to get it free again. Maybe a very light touch of WD 40 applied to the drive, from the outside, and use an old short piece of cable to turn the drive until it loosens up the grease...then a bit of shop vacuum to suck the softened grease out. Or, if you can get at the disk through the bulb hole, can you use one of those spray cans of compressed air they use for computer maintenance and a red tube you get with some spray cans, to blast the offending grease off the disk? Got to be a way, but caution is called for, indeed.

Neil
Sounds like you have a Veglia. They come apart easily but need the bezel crimped on to look good but they can be gently levered off and replaced as a temp measure. Are you sure it's grease on the drive cup? Not oil coming up the cable? Do you have a seal in the engine drive? It could mix with dust and look like grease. Once it is apart they are simple to fix. Have you tried rotating the tach drive CCW using the inner cable or a small flatbade screwdiver? If there's no grinding or resistance it might just be that the tach needle shaft is tight in it's bearings, plastic at one end under the dial face and brass at the other. The magnetic drive to the cup cannot overcome too much resistance.