Speedo cable trouble guys - any ideas?

[funky2nite]

I've been tweaking around the engine bits n bobs there n here. Supposedly I was looking for the clutch cable, and ended tweaking with the speedo cable mistakenly.

the cable hooks onto the transmission by a round knurled connector onto the gearbox. I found this connector half way un-screwed, and I attempted to unscrew it further, instantly it popped up. Now after lots of efforts going through haynes I am simply ending with the instructions saying refitting is reversal of removal. and in removal it just asks to pull cable out of transmission, presumabbly it should be inserted back for refitting.

Prob is I cannot slide the connector down again enough to touch the grooves to screw the connector back into. As it is rain water would run-in the transmission..and I'll defo be then damned! anyone has any clue how to refit it back. There is a plastic plate that slides up and down as a seal, on top of it is a small metal washer which slides down but stops early onto the inner cable's metal end which seems appropriate halting there. But upon attempting to pull down the connector it's like when magnets repel. I simply feel it's touching something, presumably the metal washer and wouldn't go down any further.

any form of help would be essential as already mentioned I simply would be mad to drive the car around like this.

for your ref here are the pics: pardon me for my dumbness...

The above photo is where to 'nut/'connector' stops from sliding any further down therefore missing the grooves..

the above pic is for your reference to recognize which cable I'm referring to...I mistook it for the clutch cable....

this is the parts I was referring to, noticeably the nut can be pulled further up exposing the inner cable. the metal washer is shown by the yellow arrow which stops couple of mm's higher than the plastic washer below. Both can be slided upwards towards the 'nut'. As they are I presume to be in place. the prob once again is when sliding the nut over everything to screw it back on.. it is simply stopping higher than the grooves.

The 'pinkish' background is the road..

 

[skymera]

I had that problem.

If I remember rightly, I had to straighten out the whole cable which allowed me to push the metal right back.

Make sure you hold it all together when you're trying to fit it to make sure it doesn't pop back out.

With any luck you should be able to screw it back on.

OH! It only fits a certain way. Took me a while to figure out.

 

[funky2nite]

man you're a ray of hope, I'll soon go try it out..before it starts raining.. SO I'll try to straighten the inner cable inside the outer.. and straightening the outer cable and down force everything inside while holding the inner cable straight inside the outer cable...

 

[skymera]

man you're a ray of hope, I'll soon go try it out..before it starts raining.. SO I'll try to straighten the inner cable inside the outer.. and straightening the outer cable and down force everything inside while holding the inner cable straight inside the outer cable...

Yeah but the inner cable can only go in the speedo hole in a certain way otherwise it wont push down. You'll see it has a notch type thing.

It can get a bit fiddly

 

[pollyp]

the inner cable slots into the dash speedo dial via a square peg and the other end inserts into the gearbox pinion via a notched shaft.

must first make sure the cable is fully inserted n engaged with the speedo dial end. if the tip of the inner cable is petruding out more than bout 5mm from the big screw cap holder, pull it out by few mm, turn 10deg, reinsert and see if it slots further into the square hole.

once the cables engaged with the speedo dial, don't let the inner cable pop back out n turn or else ur back to square 1

now you have to match the position of the male notch on the inner cable with the female slot on the gearbox speedo end. say if the gearbox speedo slot appears to be at 2oclock, rotate the inner cable with ur finger to roughly 2oclock n try slotting the inner cable into the speedo gear.

when both ends of the inner cable have fully engaged you should be able to tighten the big screw holder without any springiness

 

[funky2nite]

Hey guys, Thanks skymera and pollyp,

thanks to you my mind is now at rest! after a lot of fiddling I did manage by exactly following your instructions. cheers guys.

For those that will run into the same prob in the coming future, hopefully not...this is summary of solution as instructed by both micra fellows here at the forum.

I had to unplug the end of the speedo cable from the transmission just by pulling it out, obviously after unscrewing the 'plasticky' nut which I ran into mistakenly.

The end of the cable will have a plastic washer and a metal washer, these must be pushed inside the nut as to be in place for when lowering the nut onto the drive, moreover the inner cable must be also inserted back into the outer cable as not to be showing out of the nut. As Skymera said, this is only possible after pointing the cable away from the transmission as to straighten the outer cable first and instantly everything will squeeze inside in place, thankfully!

then the hard part is to lower the cable towards the transmission slowly with tip of finger keeping everything from popping out of speedo cable and hooking it onto the transmission and screwing hopefully the nut would be going down the grooves.

As pollyp said this wouldn't go well just first time round...because the inner cable needs to be in a specific angle...Don't laugh heh, but the way I got around this is to pull the inner cable couple of cm's out of the speedo outer cable and plug the end in to the drive to find at which angle the slot must be. YES there's a slot on the tip of the inner cable which can be felt.

this helped me so when I was lowering the speedo cable, yet holding everything inside with my finger, I still felt the slot making sure it's at it's correct angle then screwing the nut down. I think it also helps if you straighten the whole cable whilst lowering it down, in other words do not let it bend as it's comfy for you to see, but ideally it'll be straight overlooking the transmission hole and bang...

thankyou guys! such a wonderful place to get help and help back in return...

Ian - Malta

 

[skymera]

Hey guys, Thanks skymera and pollyp,

thanks to you my mind is now at rest! after a lot of fiddling I did manage by exactly following your instructions. cheers guys.

For those that will run into the same prob in the coming future, hopefully not...this is summary of solution as instructed by both micra fellows here at the forum.

I had to unplug the end of the speedo cable from the transmission just by pulling it out, obviously after unscrewing the 'plasticky' nut which I ran into mistakenly.

The end of the cable will have a plastic washer and a metal washer, these must be pushed inside the nut as to be in place for when lowering the nut onto the drive, moreover the inner cable must be also inserted back into the outer cable as not to be showing out of the nut. As Skymera said, this is only possible after pointing the cable away from the transmission as to straighten the outer cable first and instantly everything will squeeze inside in place, thankfully!

then the hard part is to lower the cable towards the transmission slowly with tip of finger keeping everything from popping out of speedo cable and hooking it onto the transmission and screwing hopefully the nut would be going down the grooves.

As pollyp said this wouldn't go well just first time round...because the inner cable needs to be in a specific angle...Don't laugh heh, but the way I got around this is to pull the inner cable couple of cm's out of the speedo outer cable and plug the end in to the drive to find at which angle the slot must be. YES there's a slot on the tip of the inner cable which can be felt.

this helped me so when I was lowering the speedo cable, yet holding everything inside with my finger, I still felt the slot making sure it's at it's correct angle then screwing the nut down. I think it also helps if you straighten the whole cable whilst lowering it down, in other words do not let it bend as it's comfy for you to see, but ideally it'll be straight overlooking the transmission hole and bang...

thankyou guys! such a wonderful place to get help and help back in return...

Ian - Malta

Glad it's sorted!

I had this problem a few months ago in the pouring rain