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Speedometer Quit......


Richard Z

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2004 Sport....

 

The speedometer/odometer gave up today coming home from a funeral.. (that is a bad sign)

Now the Speedometer and the low fuel light don't work. The bike still has a year and a half of warranty left. I've been waiting a month for the fuel sending unit and now I have the speedo issue.

 

I take it, the speedo is electronic? So a sending unit would probably be the culprit? Where is the sensor located?

 

or Could the ITI gauge be the problem??

Any thoughts?

Maybe I'll leave the odometer broken so not to put miles on it... :not:

 

Richard Z.

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2004 Sport....

 

The speedometer/odometer gave up today coming home from a funeral.. (that is a bad sign)

Now the Speedometer and the low fuel light don't work. The bike still has a year and a half of warranty left. I've been waiting a month for the fuel sending unit and now I have the speedo issue.

 

I take it, the speedo is electronic? So a sending unit would probably be the culprit? Where is the sensor located?

 

or Could the ITI gauge be the problem??

Any thoughts?

Maybe I'll leave the odometer broken so not to put miles on it... :not:

 

Richard Z.

 

 

My speedometer quit on my '03 Rosso Corsa a year ago, but the odometer still works. MPH told me it probably just needed some lubrication. Don't know about that.

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Hey Richard. The speedos seem to have good timing like that. My bit the dust right after I got the bike back on the road from a crash. If it's not spining at all you might just want to check the cable. Like Pasotibbs said its on the right hand side of the tranny just in front of the oil fill plug. If the cables not broken than its ganna be the speedo itself.

 

Good luck :bier:

 

Ciao

Z

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Hey Richard. The speedos seem to have good timing like that. My bit the dust right after I got the bike back on the road from a crash. If it's not spining at all you might just want to check the cable. Like Pasotibbs said its on the right hand side of the tranny just in front of the oil fill plug. If the cables not broken than its ganna be the speedo itself.

 

Good luck :bier:

 

Ciao

Z

 

You guys rock!!!

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I'll go check now. BTW.is it lubricated by the trans oil or do I need to lube occasionally?

 

Richard Z.

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It was the cable. The insert is broken 3 inches above the transmission. Its rusted. At 1400 miles and just having the bike completely serviced at 1200 you'd think it would have some sort of lubricant.

 

back to the dealer....

 

Thanks,

Richard Z.

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BTW.is it lubricated by the trans oil or do I need to lube occasionally?

 

Richard Z.

As far as I know (I don't have much hard facts on this and I've been wrong before) modern cables does not need lubing, and in fact may suffer from lubing (if you happen to use a lubrication not suitable for whatever long life magic and teflon stuff in there). Ratchethack, on the other hand, will probably tell you lubing is good, and preferably with Redline Shock Proof Heavy (I think he's tempted to drink that stuff). This puts you in a good position: you can chose for yourself :lol:

 

Seriously I don't think it is needed but I don't think it will hurt either. Much more important is to avoid any sharp bends in its routing.

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As far as I know (I don't have much hard facts on this and I've been wrong before) modern cables does not need lubing, and in fact may suffer from lubing (if you happen to use a lubrication not suitable for whatever long life magic and teflon stuff in there). Ratchethack, on the other hand, will probably tell you lubing is good, and preferably with Redline Shock Proof Heavy (I think he's tempted to drink that stuff). This puts you in a good position: you can chose for yourself :lol:

 

Seriously I don't think it is needed but I don't think it will hurt either. Much more important is to avoid any sharp bends in its routing.

 

I think you should use whatever Trans oil you are currently using as thats where the cable oil ends up.

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2004 Sport....

 

The speedometer/odometer gave up today coming home from a funeral.. (that is a bad sign)

Now the Speedometer and the low fuel light don't work. The bike still has a year and a half of warranty left. I've been waiting a month for the fuel sending unit and now I have the speedo issue.

 

I take it, the speedo is electronic? So a sending unit would probably be the culprit? Where is the sensor located?

 

or Could the ITI gauge be the problem??

Any thoughts?

Maybe I'll leave the odometer broken so not to put miles on it... :not:

 

Richard Z.

 

Welcome to the club. My '04 Sport had exactly these two problems, and so have many other Guzzistis. I went through several attempts at speedo cables before learning that MG had redesigned the speedo cable housing, finally realizing it was a real problem. The cause of failure is the sharp bend just above the trans case, exactly where yours and mine (3 in a row in the first 700 miles) failed.

 

I tried lubrication, both graphite, light oil, and grease. The graphite made no difference. The oil and grease accelerated failure to less than 20 miles in the case of oil, and 800 feet in the case of grease.

 

Ask your dealer to be sure to get the latest design speedo cable and housing. If you get the same housing as came with your '04, you are likely to have the problem again.

 

If he cannot find out which is the new versus old design, let me know, and I'll research my files for it.

 

My low fuel reserve light failed after about 150 miles. The cause of failure was the thermistor sensor within the fuel tank. I'm hoping this will not recur for a long time. My theory is that during all the time the bike spent at the dealership before selling it to me, the gas was probably low. I think the way it works is that the thermistor is in series with the bulb. It has a negative temperature coefficient, so with no gas around it, the current through the bulb and the sensor heats up the sensor, causing its resistance to drop and light the bulb. It could have spent a long time in that "hot" mode inside a low fuel situation while in the showroom whenever the key was on, thereby using up it's useful life.

 

Both the speedo cable and sensor were replaced under warrantee. Good thing, as the normal dealer invoice was for several hundred bucks.

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It was the cable. The insert is broken 3 inches above the transmission. Its rusted. At 1400 miles and just having the bike completely serviced at 1200 you'd think it would have some sort of lubricant.

 

back to the dealer....

 

Thanks,

Richard Z.

 

Hi Richard,

 

further to my earlier message, here is some info. courtesy of Todd Haven of MPH Cycles:

 

Todd referred to an Moto Guzzi bulletin: " ... applies to Lemans, Nero Corsa, and Rosso Corsa as well.

01760481 is the new cable for Cafe Sport and Ballabio.

01760492 is the new cable for Lemans,Nero Corsa and Rosso Corsa.

Both in stock at MGNA as of 1-05.

 

Todd Haven - MPH Cycles.com"

 

Caution, this posting was in the context of a speedo cable fix, but the service bulletin speaks of the tach cable, yet the tachometer on my '04 Sport is electronic, so it's possible there was a mistake in translation from Italian to English. You might want to call Todd direction at MPH to clarify.

 

Hope this helps.

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Guest NotRight

As far as I know (I don't have much hard facts on this and I've been wrong before) modern cables does not need lubing, and in fact may suffer from lubing (if you happen to use a lubrication not suitable for whatever long life magic and teflon stuff in there). Ratchethack, on the other hand, will probably tell you lubing is good, and preferably with Redline Shock Proof Heavy (I think he's tempted to drink that stuff). This puts you in a good position: you can chose for yourself :lol:

 

Seriously I don't think it is needed but I don't think it will hurt either. Much more important is to avoid any sharp bends in its routing.

I guess I'm old school. I listen for snickering from the peanut gallery when I lube my cables. I need to lube them! Just so when it breaks, I can say, "well I lubed em". And my grandpa would be unhappy if he knew I didn't. Those old farmers.... you should hear him bitch about teflon tape. Its hilarious. He still uses Pipe Dope. Also almost every fastener he touches gets a light touch of Never-Seize. I guess if you've fought all afternoon in the sun out in the field to get a simple bolt loose...you'll learn quick.

 

Its great though. I really enjoy spending time with my elder wise men.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I have the same problem, thats actually how I found this forum, was looking around the internets trying to figure out what I could do about it... My Speedo just up and quit today along with the odo etc.. I followed the cable over to the trannie before I came in, but didnt take i apart until i knew a bit more what might spit out at me.. I think ill run and give it a try now..

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