Speedo replacement

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pistolpete
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Model: Excel SE
Colour: Red
Year: 1990
Location: Oxford

Speedo replacement

Post by pistolpete »

So I decide to log all the previous owners and mileage on my car pulling out service records and details on line MOTs etc. It would appear I have had 3 speedos the mileage each time went back to zero it’s all documented so it’s not dodgy I even found the invoices for the new dial. The dials most be very poor quality to pack up so often, has anyone else had this.

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rbgosling
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Model: Lotus Excel SE
Colour: Midnight Blue
Year: 1990
Location: Rugby

Re: Speedo replacement

Post by rbgosling »

My speedo has made it to 85,000 miles for the second time around, and has always worked fine in the 10 years and 60,000 miles of my ownership (although the cable has had to be replaced once).

Only problem is the trip reset knob, which has to be twizzled round and round to count through all the miles back to zero, rather than bringing all 4 dials to zero simultaneously like it should.

Maybe the quality is variable, and I've been lucky to get a good(-ish) one? Same year as yours, 1990.
"Farmer" Richard

1990 Lotus Excel SE (Lilith)
2022 MG MG5 EV (not due to be a classic for quite a few years...)
2011 Nissan Leaf (Ragly - EV pioneer, must be due to be a classic one day)

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Hawaiis0
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Re: Speedo replacement

Post by Hawaiis0 »

The design uses a magnet which is easily displaced if I recall.

My speedo failed on the day I bought it so was my first second purchase.
Nothing is fool proof. Fools are clever!

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Lotus-e-Clan
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Re: Speedo replacement

Post by Lotus-e-Clan »

Mine packed-up @ 50K miles.

Bought one off ebay which looks like the original vdo but it was described as a TVR vdo speedo. It had 6.5K miles on the clock and a shorter scale with a lower max speed (150 mph) - which I prefer because the car seems to acellerate faster! :D
Peter K

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MetBlue
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Re: Speedo replacement

Post by MetBlue »

The vdo speedo is not easy to break into without damaging the bezel, and even harder to re assemble, especially to get a sealed unit.

Once inside however, it's an easy fix for the needle. As Hawaiss0 said, the magnet can come adrift from the drive shaft with some weird consequences, but not hard to press back on. My needle was bouncing all over the place and even trying to lap the dial twice!! Repaired 9 months ago, and still behaving fine - - - - that's guaranteed to have jinxed it 😀😀😀
Tony
What goes together.... Must come apart.

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