Speedometer

[asesso]

I am still getting to know my 1986 Esprit turbo. My speedometer has been jumping around and when I looked under the car I noticed the right angle drive had backed out of the transmission. I reinserted it saw the clip on the side of the transmission to retain it but it almost immediately backed out again. Is there a correct way to insert this so that it stays in place

Art

[The Veg]

What year is your car? On mine the drive is retained by one of the rear-cover bolts.

[asesso]

The Eprit is a 1986, interestingly the odometer and trip odometer are working

Art

[The Veg]

If your drive keeps popping out, I wonder if it isn't being retained by the bolt.

If yours is like mine, getting the bolt out far enough will require removing the muffler (silencer for UK folk reading along), which is not a difficult job. Behind the transmission there is a plate upon which the muffler attaches, and there is a hole in that plate that allows clearance for the bolt to come out. Back the bolt all the way out and remove the drive unit. Take care at this point, as the driven-gear isn't secured to the drive unit and may fall back into the hole. If that happens there is no need to panic; just keep calm and use a magnet-wand to fish it out.

At this point you may wish to refresh the o-ring that is supposed to seal the unit in the hole (it can weep though since oil is splashed up toward the unit due to the transmission turning 'backward' to the direction it went in the original Citroen SM application). It's a weird size; I had to have the guys at the auto-store bring out every box of O-rings and we finally found a compatible size among the green ones meant for aircon use. I also found an additional groove in the plastic drive-guide and put an O-ring in this groove even though one was never specified there. So far so good as far as nipping the oil-weeps.

Now when you re-assemble, apply some good thick grease to the driven-gear's shaft before inserting it into the drive unit; this will help keep it from falling out and dropping into the hole while you're inserting the drive unit. Once the drive unit is in place the gear can't escape. When you've got the drive-unit seated, run the bolt back in and re-assemble the muffler. Done.