Help with Speedometer removal
 

How do I go about removing the speedometer/odometer from a 1987 560SL? I need to send it off for repair.

Remove the entire instrument cluster first (do a search here, lots of info and tips). You'll see the screws holding it in when you get it 'on the bench'. Pretty easy job.

just curious but why do you have to send your speedo off for repair?

I'm asking because the speedo stopped functioning on my 1987 300E and I could hear the cable clicking inside the console as it tried to turn the mechanism. My mechanic tells me that the cables shrink over time, in effect they get wound up by the constant revolutions and pull away from the socket.

Sounds reasonable to me but I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has noticed this in an older model Benz.

When you get the cluster out, take a good look at the square socket that the cable fits into. There's a Robertson screw size that will fit right in. Chuck that into your drill, put the drill in reverse, and insert. At maximum speed, you should see about 40mph (or whatever, I forget now). If the speedometer registers, that's not your problem.:)
...and no offence to the mechanic, but if you look at the depth of the socket in the speedometer head, there is no way a steel cable is going to shrink that much to withdraw it completely out. The casing collar might have loosened though, enough to allow this, but it's got to be very rare IMO.

I have tested the speedo using a 2mm Allen key and it works.

The cable inner is too far down in the housing to engage fully with the socket so I suppose logically it means that if the inner hasn't shrunk that much in 19 years and 180,000km use it must mean it's being eaten from the gearbox end.

i think its time for a thread, instead of a hijack...