speedometer off
 

Ok, My speedometer is about 4 mph off. When I go 40mph, I'm actually going 36mph.


I've gotten this confirmed by pacing a 2002 Acura RSX, and by a laser gun from a cop, after I showed concern about my speedo(after he gave me a ticket)

How do I fix this, or how much would it cost to fix? How invasive is it?(hopefully no deep surgery on my baby :( )

Re: speedometer off
 

I am not sure how most people would fix them. I pull the little needle out on mine, take out my GPS set the car at 60 and hold it with cruise. Then I put the needle back in. I then try different speeds while checking with the GPS. I guess it can't be much more accurate than the GPS. :D

Kind of a pain though. Good luck

Lwin

Do you have aftermarket wheels on your svx?

Henry,

One more thing though, I have posted at one time that ALL SVX speedos are off by about 5mph. Every single SVX I owned had been that way and I've fixed the speedo on 2 of them. :D

Lwin

Lwin, were both off in the same "direction"? i.e. reading faster than actual?

Thanks,

Matt

All three cars I owned read faster than they were doing. Which is a good thing for us.

Lwin

Car & Driver ran an article a few months ago about speedometer error. All cars had errors, almost all (if I remember correctly) read faster than actual speed, and (also if I remember correctly) the German cars were the least accurate. So when your buddy with the Bimmer talks about how fast he's going, you'll know it ain't all true.

You could try a new speedo gear with 1 or 2 fewer teeth.

Once I resetted my speedometer with the GPS, it has been real accurate (according the GPS anyways). So , it's all good.

Lwin

Speedometer error is progressive, if you're off 4 MPH at 40 MPH, Then you'll be off 8 MPH at 80 MPH.

Every Subaru newer than 1990 I've owned has read faster than it is actually going, up to as much as 14% off, this also means the mileage is adding up more than you're actually driving, so you're not getting the gas mileage you thought you were either:(

4@40 is 10%, so you need to take 10% of your miles off before you figure you gas mileage, on the brighter side, your car has 10% less miles on it than you thought:D

Is the speedometer on the SVX the same as on other cars? Does it have that steel cup that rotate son the cable and then the magnets attached to the arm of the needle that are held against rotation by a spring? or is it some kind of electronic positioning servo?

Well any way.... What Huck is talking about is gearing to the cable and also maybe Lwin. I have seen speedo's go wrong when the cable leaks grease into the rotating cup and then this drags the needle to a higher speed. Can't fix that unles the cable is replaced.

Stock wheels with stock dimensions for the tires (kumho ecsta supras-16)

Hrm. Weird. Last night I drove back from my girlfriend's hometown. She was trailing me in a 1991 Honda Civic (hehe. Refrain from the jokes) and my speedo was reading 75mph, and hers was reading 79. Who knows. :)

- Ca$h

All I can say is that my speedo and my GPS match at any given speed at this time.
Lwin

Hi Lwin,
Atlast i am thinking of doing this to correct my speedo which is reading more than it actual is. But, I am having a doubt, if the error is progressive as other members say, how can it be correct at all speeds if we reset the needle at say 60mph using GPS?? Other than that I would really like to try this as my last hope to get my speedo read atleast near to accurate.

thanks,
-Pavan

As the speedometer is electrically pulse operated and therefore presumably a moving coil instrument, any error should be basically linear rather than progressive. Resetting the pointer should be OK from a practical point of view.

That said, if anything OEM has been altered you are in a different ball park.