Just ripped into my dash on the '95 to replace the speedo cable which makes a horrible racket when the vehicle first starts out on a cold morning.
I disconnected the cable from the back of the speedometer and jeez it was dark and oily. I've never seen a speedo cable this oily in my life.

Is this normal for a Toyota? Or do I have a seal out in the transfer case that's allowing the oil to creep up the cable?

By the way, the oil didn't smell like gear box oil, but I did swap in synthetic (Castrol) about 100K ago.

 

I have that same noise but it comes and goes. I need to oil the crap out of mine. How oily was the new one? The old one should have oil on it and it should not smell like gear oil. So was it hard to slide back in? Any tips for others on doing this job? thanks,

 

The new one looks clean and dry. If there is lubricant, it must be sealed inside the cable itself. The cable all comes as one unit with all brackets, heat shielding all installed. As for tips, it's a tedious job. Rip out the dash. Remove 4 screws holding instrument cluster in, undo the bayonet mount for the speedo cable and the clips for the guages.

Throw all dash components into the dishwasher, wash on low heat, no dry. Helps if your wife has seen you do this a couple times with no ill effects.

Might as well do everything on the dash at the same time. I may repaint one of the Toyota painted pieces if I can get some semi-gloss or flat black today.

As for putting it back together....I'll get back to you on that.

 

I replaced mine with no problem. Cable should have grafite lube in it instead of oil. Wish my '92 have a cable. It's electronic and a new one costs $250. there about.

 

P.S. why does your '95 have a cable instead of an electronic speedo?

 

Just talked to the dealer, they said it shouldn't have any oil in it. Which leads me to believe that it's coming from the transfer case. Which could also explain all the oil that is dripping off the transfer case is not from the rear output shaft but probably from the speedo gear drive.

More fun and games!

 

Why does your '92 have electronic speedo? It's definitely a cable on the '95.

 

Yeah I think my 92 4Runner has a electronic speedometer also.

 

Found out that there is a seal in the speedometer gearbox on the transfer case. If that seal is leaking, it'll oil the cable. I ordered the seal, and will update next week when it comes in. Thanks guys.

As far as "electronic speedos", I'll bet we're all talking about the same thing. The speedo is an electromagnetic device, but they've all been that way since the 1920's. The only truly electronic speedos I know of are transducer types.

 

An electric speedo is a digital dash. A manual cable is a manual needle dash style. i think you guys are getting your blinker socket wires mixed up with your in dash speedo wires. jk

 

Mine has been doing this every winter since I bought the rig back in '98.

This morning it was real cold out, it did it for about 10 minutes straight.
Enough to make you want to scream.

 

an electronic speedo works like a tach,just reads a pulse generated by the thang on the tranny.actually goes in the hole where the cable would have went.your leak is just an O-ring,you can get those at any parts house.disassemble it and see.even though it should not have defied gravity and went all the way up to the speedo head,unless tranny or t/c vent is stopped up.

 

P S elec or cable may be japan built or US built.

 

The "thang" on the tranny on mine and in the schematics is a speedo gearbox. The speedo cable screws into the speedo gearbox just like it did on my Dad's '31 Pontiac. The other end of the cable is connected to the speedometer. Turn the transmission end of the internal cable and the speedometer turns an equal number of times. No different than any speedo cable I've ever worked on, except you can't pull the internal cable out and the speedometer end has a nice, quick bayonet mount.

I'll put the new one in tomorrow. Just gonna leave it disconnected so I don't ruin the new one with transfer case oil.

 

Don't the transmission and transfer case both vent at the shifter on manual tranny?

 

I wonder if that's a manual tranny thing then because my 93 auto tranny is different. My VSS plugs into my tcase just before the driveshaft. It uses a gear to engage a gear in the tcase. But, the VSS sensor outputs an electrical signal to (I assume) the speedometer. No moving parts outside of the VSS...no moving cable.

 

That would make sense.

 

just had my cable replaced last week for this same problem. Of course my speedo stopped working entirely yesterday, but the dealer said to go ahead and bring it back in. A man can only take so much of that god awful scream from the dash before it wears on your nerves.

 

Maybe the 93 is different than the 89 V6 auto, but I doubt it. My 89 has a VSS on the driver side of the transfer case. The signal from that goes to the engine and transmission computers. There is also a speedo cable on the passenger side of the transfer case that connects to the dash gauge.

 

Hmm...that could be, but when my VSS sensor went out, my speedo also went out. Once that went out my tranny didn't know what to do.