Hi

The speedometer is jumpy (jumps between the 20 - 40 km/h range)when I am travelling around that speed, on my 88 W124 260E. Once the speed has gone above 40 km/h, the needle will be steady and no longer jumps.

What is the cause of it, and any quick remedies? :)

Thanks in advance

Lim

Same here
 

I too have a jumpy speedo needle at low speeds, what gives? This is on a '90 300TE.

Check the speedo cable. May be kinked or need lubing. A good lube is silicone oil. Pull cluster, unscrew cable from speedo and inject the oil down the cable housing.

Be cautioned that silicone oil is an eye irritant. Wash your hands extremely well when you finish, and even then, don't rub your eyes. This stuff can make your eyes burn for days. Don't get it on the paint either.

Thanks.

I will check for the speedo cable. What about using ATF for lube? Will ATF work as lube?

Pay attention when removing the cluster as not to overstretch the speedo-cable housing. I did make the mistake and had to change the cable (about $100.00 and it took me about an hour).
Pull out the cluster just enough so that your hand can be slipped behind it to unscrew the nut for the cable housing (I found it easier to go behind from the right hand side).
The connectors are designed to go on one way only, difficult to mix them up. :-)
Good luck,

Alex

Should have mentioned this before. The book calls for the cable to be disconnected from the tranny before pulling the cluster.

wow, talking about bringing up an old topic.

i've got a 95 e320 wagon and the needle is jumping at low speeds, but i thought this model year had an electronic connection. if so what do I do??

The jumping needle is usually caused by cable overstretch. Your instrument cluster may have been removed for whatever reason and the person didn’t disconnect the cable at the transmission end, he just pulled the instrument cluster out enough to slip his hand behind to disconnect the cable. This would have caused the cable housing stretch, which produces the typical needle jump at low speeds. All 124s should have mechanical speedo/odometers. If you look under your car you should see the cable attached to the left side (if memory serves me right) of the transmission.

Alex