Bouncing Tach Needle!!

[DimitriT]

Seems to start happening when the temp gets in the low 40s.

Very annoying and distracting but otherwise harmless.

Cure?

Tried: new tach cable, old tach cable, greased tach cable, opened up tach, oiled tach

[JTGS850GL]

Tach is internally dirty and crusted with old grease. As the temps drop the dirty grease makes it stick. Some will say to just spray WD40 into the tach drive of the gauge. I would recommend that you open the tach up and clean/lube it properly. I've had pretty good success with just de-crimping the gauge and spraying the rotating assemblies with contact cleaner and then using 3-in-one or sowing machine oil.

[Wingsconsin]

Tach is internally dirty and crusted with old grease. As the temps drop the dirty grease makes it stick. Some will say to just spray WD40 into the tach drive of the gauge. I would recommend that you open the tach up and clean/lube it properly. I've had pretty good success with just de-crimping the gauge and spraying the rotating assemblies with contact cleaner and then using 3-in-one or sowing machine oil.

would this work with a noisy speedo too?

[JTGS850GL]

In my case both the tach and speedo needed the same cleaning procedure. In the speedo's case it was stuck and in the tach's case it was very slow to respond. Both were fixed by cleaning. Noisy speedo may be dirty or may be a cable issue as well. After 30+ years I'd say most of our gauges could use a good cleaning and relube.

[tkent02]

I have just shot some spray lithium grease up betwen the part that turns with the cable and the housing. That's where the squeal comes from. Done several bikes that way, it's fine. Speedo and tach are the same.