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  • Thread starter Thread starter Riverwood
  • Start date Start date
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Riverwood

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Hi All,
I just bought a 1984 GS400S. I should note I am in Canada, so the speedometer is in kilometers. I like the site. I was hoping that someone could provide some information that I haven't been able to find online anywhere. I just got the bike two days ago and have had it out for a couple of rides. It is a bit of a fixer, it seems to runs ok, there needs to be some carb tuning done for idle. I have two issues that I need to correct right away. the speedometer is intermittent, and the tachometer starts to slip at higher RPM. The Tachometer sounds like it is slipping inside the gauge. Regarding the speedometer, I checked the speedo drive and cable which are worn but functioning, so I am guessing that the speedo problem is in the gauge as well. I have not been able to find replacement gauges on ebay or on any of the numerous parts suppliers I've fond online using GS400 parts searches. The 84 GS400S has the kickstand down light on the speedometer gauge and the fuel gauge is built into the tachometer.

Would I be able to use a speedometer and tachometer from a different year GS and a different model?

Has anyone had any luck rebuilding speedo and tach gauges?, if so any tips would be helpful.

How well do parts cross reference from year to year and model to model?

I ordered a Haynes service manual, and should have it in a week or so, but was hoping to get started on the gauge issue right away.

Any thoughts or ideas regarding these gauge issues would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Welcome to the club.

99 times out of 100 guage problems are due to the cables. Try spinning the speedo and tach with an electric drill in reverse, making sure that you have a good snug fit where the inner cable seats in the gauge.
 
Gauge issues

Gauge issues

Hi Thanks for the welcome.
I did try the drill trick with the speedometer cable, and to be honest the speedometer gauge started working again while riding after I ran it with the drill. I haven't tried the drill with the tachometer yet, though I will be doing that directly. If the cables look generally worn, is it likely that the cable is slipping inside the fitting or receiver in the gauge? I've never had to deal with this kind of problem before, I'm not only a club newbie but I'm kind of a bike newbie as well, this is only the second bike I've ever had. The first was a new 91 KLR250.
I guess if you did the math I haven't had a bike for quite some time now.
Thanks for the help.
 
The cables do need to fit snugly and if they're worn they can spin inside the gauge.

Also make sure there's no build up of crap in the metal section where the cable plugs in. A squirt of penetrating oil is usually all that's needed to shift it if there is any.
 
Cable Questions

Cable Questions

Hi,
So with a little help from Hampshirehog I have come to believe that I need to replace both the speedometer cable and the tachometer cable on my bike. The drill trick was definitely the trick. And on closer inspection I could see the slanting wear along the edges of the squared cable ends.
The awesome super cool bike that I have is the 1984 GS400S. I am in Canada and I believe that the bike was built for sale in Canada as well, the speedo is in KPH rather than miles. I am having trouble finding this year and model listed as being compatible for any of the parts listings I've been able to find. Specifically every part I've tried to look up....?
Will Speedo and Tach cables fit from a different model and year, like say a 1978 Suzuki GS400X, or a 1982 Suzuki GS450E, or any others? In the pictures the cables look identical to what I have, but I know there could be more to it than that. Is there somewhere that I could cross reference the compatibility of parts for my bike?
Any help would be great, I really don't know a whole lot about bikes, I can turn wrenches and follow directions really well but I have no experience with bikes.
Thanks
 
Gs400s

Gs400s

Hi Hampshirehog,
Thanks for all the help.
This link you added, it may be my bike. I googled it for images and they look very much like my bike, the one I have has the S designation, which is for sport I guess. My bike has a mini-fairing. I couldn't view the image on site you added the link for...I have no idea why I can't see the photo. But how can I confirm this information? If my bike is exactly the same as the GSX400E and was just issued in Canada as the GS400S, than I should be able to find basic parts quite readily I would think. It seams that the GSX400 comes up a lot in the online parts searches I've been doing.
 
If you look at the parts diagrams you'll find the part numbers. Just type them in to google and hopefully you'll find what bike they are for on a Canadian site.
 
Canadian GS400S

Canadian GS400S

Hi again,
I entered the part numbers for the speedo cable and tach cable into the search on BikeBandit and they come up as available, so I'll be placing an order and will have my speedo and tach back in order really soon.

Anyway thanks for all of the help, that website with all of the part numbers is awesome.

thanks
 
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