Howling tach

[Guest]

Now that it has gotten cold around these parts (below freezing at night), I have noticed the tach on The Flame! (see sig) has begun to howl over 4,000 rpm and to become unstable above that figure.

I lost my speedo end of last season, preceeded by the same howl. I did a search and could not find a definitive answer as to whether its life can be extended, or should I just source another one? Has anyone rescued a tach (or speedo) from the abyss AFTER these death throes begin?

[chiphead]

I had a similar problem and tried all kinds of lube in the cable and tach head. Even took the bugger apart with no success. Replaced it with a used one I had and that one was erratic as all heck over 4K but eventually it seemed to heal itself.

[Wallowgreen]

Had the same thing with the tach on my 1100. Where the end of the cable goes into the back of the tach, there's a metal cylinder that rotates with the cable, that cylinder sits inside the threaded part you screw the nut of the cable to. That turned out to be what was binding on mine, made a hell of a racket and the needle bounced around all over the place.

I squirted WD40 up there to figure out if that's where my problem was, shut it right up. 3 in 1 in the same spot proved a more permanent fix, up to now anyway.

I believe there's a schedule you should follow for this kind of thing in the owners manual. If you don't have one, go visit Mr. BassCliff's site, think he has one for download there. IIRC the manual tells you to use ordinary oil to lube it up.

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/

[piester]

I has the same problem with both my tach and spedo. Took both cables off the bike and removed cables from housings. Sprayed wd40 down through the houseing until the stuff comming out was clear. Cleaned the cable itself off and inspexted them for any kinks or frays. Used 3 in 1 oil inside the housing. On the cables. And inside the the back of the gauges as well as where the other end of the cables connect on the engine and front wheel hub. And only tightened them hand tight on either end of the cables. Repeat this if you ride in the rain.

[Kerry]

Thanks Wallowgreen, piester. The implication of cold temps on this problem (only seems to happen then, as it did with my speedo) makes me think perhaps something is gummed up a bit in the housing. As I'm down to my last couple of rides this season, I think I'll see whether lubing what I can get at helps.

[SqDancerLynn1]

It helps to turn the gauge upside down and let the oil soak in...

[almarconi]

Remove the cable and oil it. My tach goes wacky every 4-5k miles, it just needs to be lubricated.

[Dave_17954]

I had this issue to last year. Lube the area where the tach cable goes into the tach and also the area around the outside. Works best to take the tach off and turn it over like was mentioned above. I think theres another thread with this same issue just have to do a search.