So its been a while since I have gotten my car. And I had a hard time finding out information on how to replace the speed cable. So, I figured why not make a DIY for my fellow EF guys. When I bought my car, the cable was broken. So I went to pull-a-part < junkyard> and pulled a cable out of another hatch. I pulled the cable only, not the whole encasement. $5 fix.

Fist off, you need to take off your speed cluster. Start by taking out the 4 screws on the dash. Two are on the bottom, two are on the top. Pictured below are the places of the two on the top, pictured from above the windshield. There is a cover over the slots. Use a small flat head to get them off.



Once that is off, take off the 4 screws holding in the actual cluster. Behind the cluster are 3 or 4 plugins. My last 90 only had 3, my current has 4. Take your time and pull everything off carefully. You don't want to break anything here. Below is a picture of all the connections. The one with the arrow is the speed cable.



With all that off, you are ready to pull the cable from the tranny. its in the very back,near the rear motor mount. In the pic below, i'm pointing at the actual cable.



I don't know the proper way to take it off, but I'll tell you how I did it. =P I grabbed the cord itself, and pulled up until it came up a few inches. You then pull off the cover thats at the bottom of the cord. You will then see a clip < pictured below > at the bottom of the cord. To take it off, use a flat head, and pry off gently. It comes right off.



Now go ahead and pull the cord up, not out. You will see a piece sticking out the bottom, thats what you want to pull out. Get some pliers and pull that sucker. Comes right out. If it gives you trouble, just twist.



Now, for the cable you are going to replace it with, you need to lube it up first. Make sure its clean before you lube it, or your just going to have troubles.

Simply put it back in the tube and push. Your going to notice it doesn't want to go all the way in. There's nothing wrong, it does this. Just twist as you push. It will eventually go in. When you finally get it all in, I highly recommend you put the cluster half together first. Once you know the custer side is in correctly and the cluster is attached, go back to the engine bay. Put the cable back in the tranny. It may not go all the way in, but this is ok. Put it in as far as you can. Then simply get in the car and back up a 5 feet, and pull forward again. This will have put the wire into alignment. You can now push it down all the way. Now replace the clip and enjoy knowing how fast your going. =)

 

I don't think you have to take the whole cluster out. Take the "back" cover off (the screws near the windshield, actually this cover is closer to the front of the car) and then you can disconnect the cable from the speedometer.

Replacing the complete assembly not just the core is very similar, after disconnecting at both ends, pull it from under the hood and fish the new one in.

To get fully engaged in the transmission gear right away, look down into the transmission socket and note there is a slot in the side of the driver piece. Set the tab on the cable to about the same position as this slot before you push the cable in. Also it is OK to put the clip on first (note that it is not symmetric, the side that is less round goes into the slot) and when you have the cable all the way in it will snap into the clip and can't be pulled out.

 

Thanks for the additional information sir.

I just took the whole cluster out because I have these big hands. lol. I had a real hard time messing with the system with the cluster there.