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S Barker

2024-01-06, 15:48:05
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Speedo Problem XL125V1

Started by BobbyJoe, 10/07/20 - 16:57:09

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BobbyJoe

Hi, I've had an annoying problem with my speedometer ever since I got the bike a while ago and have been trying to resolve it ever since. Much like the other posts on here, my speedo either doesn't work, it keeps bobbing up and down or sometimes it might work because it feels like it. It's getting more and more frustrating by the day.

We bought a second hand speedo drive and it worked perfect, for a short while. The second I hit 100km/h the needle just dropped back down to 0.
Every once in a while though the needle will bob up and down, but sometimes it will actually show the correct speed, but not for long.
We've taken the bike apart and stuck our multi-meter in the dash according to the Haynes manual but we didn't really get any readings regarding the speedometer.
We've checked the wiring and all the contacts and nothing shows that it's corroded and none of the fuses are blown.

I don't know what to do anymore. We narrowed it down to 3 options really, a) Get a new front wheel, b) Get a brand new speedo drive, c) Get a new dash
Regarding the front wheel, maybe the retainer that catches onto the speedometer doesn't really catch on? We could get a new retainer since it only costs 4 euro. The speedo drive itself just has a plastic insert inside of it with the wire coming out, we greased that up well but doesn't seem to make a difference, maybe we just need a new one of those? Or replace the whole dash altogether, but I cant find another spare dash or unless I put in a full digital dash I've seen people put on their Varadero.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what we should do or what to look for?
It's a wonderful bike and I've already put a lot into it already, I'm just seriously at a loss at what to do next.

Thanks for reading.

S Barker


How much would a new Speedo drive cost ?
I wonder what happen if I click on this - Ooops

BobbyJoe

#2
Quote from: S Barker on  11/07/20 - 08:15:39

How much would a new Speedo drive cost ?

Well a brand new Speedo drive would cost 120 euro thereabouts in total, we might get the same result as before or it might actually work, but I don't know.
I actually took the bike out for an hour and a half drive last night, the speedometer didn't work for the first half hour but it eventually worked for an hour straight. I don't know what this is meant to tell me. Haven't taken it out yet today to see if it still works.

Edit: Just took it out for a quick drive and the speedo hasn't moved at all.

scub42

I`ve got very similar issues and the 2nd hand cable I got on ebay was the same. I now have a new one sitting in a bag. Should I grease it up before fitting?

BobbyJoe

Quote from: scub42 on  12/07/20 - 15:04:15
I`ve got very similar issues and the 2nd hand cable I got on ebay was the same. I now have a new one sitting in a bag. Should I grease it up before fitting?
Not too sure, I've been asking around and haven't gotten any solid answers.
People have said if it still reports the correct speed time to time then the issue isn't with the wire but rather with the drive itself and/or the front wheel.
I'm after ordering a new plastic retainer that fits into the speedo drive and will grease that up a small bit and see if it makes a difference, I also bought a new metal retainer for the front wheel but I doubt it would change much but no harm in getting it.
Should have the parts by the end of this week, will report back then.

Taught2BeCautious

The speedo sensor outputs a digital pulse so be careful what you try to test it with.

These things usually work all of the time, or none of the time, so an intermittent fault suggests a bad connection somewhere.

Unless you have access to an oscilloscope and know which wire does what, the best you can do is make sure there are no dodgy (loose or dirty) contacts or bent pins on the back of the speedo head.

If you can open up the speedo head, check for duff solder joints around the connector, or corrosion caused by water ingress.

scub42

Got the new cable assembly fitted yesterday, seems to be working with a hand spin. Have taken off swinging arm to give it a clean, will have it back on the road Wednesday, I`ll report back. as regards the grease, I noticed a very light application of grease in the new part. Havent added any more. Dark gray graphite looking grease.

BobbyJoe

I received the plastic bit that goes into the speedo head. Nothing much really changed, we tried bending up the metal retainer inside of the wheel but that didn't really help much either.

The funny thing was that when we had the speedo assembled in our hands and just spun around the plastic bit in the casing it would read it just perfectly fine. When we put it on the wheel it wouldn't read at all. Which we took off the wheel again and tried spinning the plastic bit around, it didn't show any readings this time, it confused us for a while as to why it would work sometimes.

So we eventually put the speedo back on the wheel and after jiggling the wire around we could kind of get a read.
We cut open the wire and saw the connectors didn't really look the best so that probably was the problem.

Still doesn't explain why the original speedo stopped working and the wire in that looked much better than the one I was currently using.

Anyways, I just shelled out 120 euro for a whole brand new speedo unit, including a new wire and everything. Will see next week when it arrives to see if this can finally be the end of this problem.

scub42

Yup, had exactly the same issues, off the wheel it worked and on the wheel it didnt, finally worked out you could do 60mph just by wiggling it about in the air. A new speedo pick up assembly with wire sorted mine.

BobbyJoe

The whole new speedo unit arrived a few days ago, finally fitted it on today. It works perfectly now.

That's one headache solved for now, so the main issue really was the cable. Shame that I couldn't buy the cable on it's own, at least the speedo drive looks brand new  ::)


scub42

Yup, same here, new speedo cable/assembly sorted it :)