Re: Rubbing from Instrument panel?

Christopher Muto wrote:
> Hi All,
> I hear a rubbing that seems to be coming from the instrument panel.  It 
> changes with the car speed, not the engine speed.  My thought was that
it 
> could be a speedometer cable gone bad but the speedometer registers
smoothly 
> and I would think that if the cable was faulty then the speedometer
needle 
> would vibrate in tandem with the noise.  I welcome anyone's thought on
what 
> the noise might be.
> Many thanks.
> 95 BBB 

The speedometer/odometer and the cable that drives them are the only 
mechanical parts in the instrument panel that are likely be audibly 
affected by car speed versus engine speed, so that is a good guess.

The speedometer cable that I had go out was making noise at the 
transmission from the gears being worn, but your's could have developed 
a bad hookup to the back of the instrument cluster.

It does seem like it would affect your speedometer, but maybe that comes 
later. :-/

How bad is the noise, and is it affected at all by coasting the car 
versus keeping it under power?

I would disconnect the speedometer cable at the transmission and zip-tie 
it out of the way. I don't remember if you have an auto or a 5-speed but 
it is easy to do on the 5-speed, not sure about an automatic.
If the sounds goes away, you have identified the source.

Finally, have you checked the plastic instrument surround hood to make 
sure it is fully secured?
Losing one small & brittle plastic clip turns that part into a
noise-maker.

Pat