Howling from my Dashboard
 

I was driving home yesterday in my 300D when a weird looking pickup passed me; I heard a howling noise and thought, "He needs to get that thing fixed." He kept on going whereupon I realized that it was *my* car making the noise.

I panicked! Sounded like a WW2 hand crank siren. I checked my oil pressure, brakes, engine had good power, no steering problems. Pulled over and as I slowed down, the sound diminished. Stopped the car and the sound went away.

Got back into the road and accelerated to speed and all seemed well. After a while, the sound came back. I noticed that the dashboard was humming and I could deaden the noise by pushing on the instrument cluster.

I've come to the conclusion that my speedometer is failing. It acts erratically when the sound starts.

Any thoughts? Possible remediations? Is it possible to oil the cable or speedometer working parts or just replace it?

It is more likely the cable. You can receive temporary relief by lubricating it but a new one is in your horoscope.;)

It's the audible option speedo. You can gauge your speed by the sound, no looking necessary. ;)

My car has this exact problem too... I've talked to my friend about the problem before, and he says that it's a problem with the speedometer.

A wolf got into the dash while you werent looking.

This issue comes up occasionally on the forum and it is no doubt either the cable or the speedo itself.

I've had the howling issue in 2 different cars (only when ambient temps dropped into the 30's or below) and both of mine turned out to be the speedo gears themselves losing lubrication when the temp dropped. Mine were fixed by lubricating the gears with white lithium grease.

I have heard that the best lube to use on the speedometer gear and cable is a light oil such as oil for a sewing machine

Ok, I'll bite the proverbial bullet, pull the cluster and lube the cable and inspect the speedo. I think I did this to myself though. I had painted the needles and the speedo needle was sticky. I had to tap the plastic to get it to let go. I'll bet this caused the speedo to fail. Live and learn.

I'll also chase out the wolves. Also, the audible speedo is a novelty that I think I'm going to pass on.

I need to repair the ODO anyway so now's as good a time as any.

Thanks for the witty comebacks and solutions guys.:rolleyes::o

... the thread title makes me think you are wolfish about your dash!

like you are asking about standing on the dash for a good position to howl from...

UPDATE:
Been driving my 300 DT wagon for a bit and lovin' it.

Anyway, back to the 300D:
Finally got the time to redo the instrument cluster. Took it apart, cleaned everything, replaced the speedo, touched up the faces, put it all together and it looks brand new. Even got matching needle hubs now.

Oiled the speedo cable and put it all back together with much cursing... taking care not to bugger the oil line and it works much better than before. All except for the dang RPM gauge and ODO.

A job for another day. Now the 300 DT can rest a bit.