Speedometer not kaput!

[pete east]

From the few but extremely useful replies to my earlier posting, it would seem that speedometer problems are not something that happens a lot to Sevens.

Having had mine repaired by John at JDO instruments, at a fraction of the cost of a new one, and also keeping the car as original, I can only reiterate the exellent service given by John. (you cannot get older non caterham logo`ed VDO speedos any more, not even from the manufacturer) so if you have to change yours and you dont want to have to buy a set of instruments to keep them looking uniform. he is worth keeping a note of.

One thing he did say, (which fortunately I did anyway) was that if your speedometer conks out, disconnect the cable asap. I did it just to see if it was the cable / gearbox drive end which had failed, as all you have to do is reach under the dash to unscrew the collar which holds the cable to the speedo.

Apparently if the drive is OK, but it is left connected to the speedo, it lunches the innards of the speedo, to the point where it cannot be repaired. It is possible to have entirely new non VDO innards put in there, but there are issues to do with calibration, gearing which have to be sorted.

 

 

 

[Richard K]

Pete,

I missed your earlier posts.

The mile counter has stoped on mine but the spedo still reads.

As a 'precaution' I have disconnected the cable.

Can you please post the contact details for John at VDO.

 

PS How are you and Midnight keeping.

Richard

Red Ali X/flow

[pete east]

Hi Richard.

I hope that you are very well too.

Thanks for your posting. If you take a look at my previous posting marked speedometer kaput, Mick kindly sent the details for JDO instrument repair.

John Ostick gives good advice re sending your unit to him, including not marking it as fragile, or instruments inside etc.

Typical repair including - postage, and insured return is about £54 - £55, and I got mine back in just 5 days after sending it off.New speedometers are circa £130 plus VAT, and will of course, show mileage as zero, If you have an old VDO unit a new one will also not match in terms of appearance.

First I noticed with mine was the the needle, instead of being rock steady, started wavering up and down. Repaire speedo is now back to being rock steady.

I hope this is of help, but if you need further please get in touch.