Hey. My dad's got a 1978 El Camino that I'm going to buy from him when I get my license. The speedometer works up to 30 mph and then stops. Any idea what could be causing it and are there any other things I should look out for on that year. Thanks.
It's a 43-year-old car. I would check EVERYTHING. Hopefully you are buying it as a project and not a daily driver.
The stepper motor probably needs to be replaced for the speedometer.
heh heh stepper motor in a 1978?
So is it the speedometer, the cable (doubtful), or the drive in the transmission?
You can rule out the speedometer, (but if you're a teenager, and your dad is like mine when I was a teenager, he won't let you do this)
Disconnect the speedometer cable from the transmission. Connect an electric drill to the speedometer cable and give the cable a spin. The drill will be able to get the speedometer to at least 50 if the speedometer is functioning
I will try the drill. Someone on another forum said that the cruise control, I forget what it's called. It has the cables from the trans and one to the speedometer. He said the bushings inside need to be lubed every once in a great while. Do you think that could be the problem?
If you have CC then that throws another, more likely, possibility into the mix.
Instead of removing the speedo cable from the transmission to test the speedometer's function you'd remove it from the CC transducer. (lower cable)
