So I was leaving for work this morning and I didn't get even get a half mile from my house when I hit 45 mph and all of a sudden this terrible screeching sound comes floating out of my instrument cluster.

Great.

I put up with it for about a second, did a U-turn, and slowly crept back to my driveway. Pulled the cluster, detached the cable, thought about it for a moment and realized there wasn't anything I could really do about it right then and there. I put the cable back in, stuffed the cluster back into the dash, hoped for the best, and drove off again. This time, I didn't get the noise, and it (so far) hasn't come back since.

In thinking about it, I think the problem really is more the speedo than the cable - it's been making light noises intermittantly for awhile, and the grease in the little speedo-end bushing that the cable plugs into is completely dried out. I lubricated it tonight with a couple drops of ATF and drove it around for a few minutes, while it hasn't cured the bounce/clicking completely, it seems to have helped. We'll see how it does in the morning.

Thanks everyone,

-anthony

(also, if I had to do the cable replacement over again (really hoping I don't), I'd pull the rubber grommet off the cable and feed it down through the dashboard, then put the grommet back on. I fed it up underneath the dash, and not only did I have to wrench the cable around to fit up there - possibly kinking it, but so far okay - it was a PITA getting it to feed properly through the cable guide.)