May be time to get the speedometer fixed...

"OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars" (jakeauern)
09/23/2017 at 09:59 • Filed to: None

At least I would have a good excuse if I got pulled over? “My car said I was doing 25!”

While we’re in the dash I’m going to have to replace a bunch of bulbs in the radio and climate control that apparently “only” lasted 20 years and 314,000 miles...

DISCUSSION (14)

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 10:11

At a previous job I was allegedly pulled over for speeding in one of PoS, beat to hell, Econoline van that had a broken speedometer. The officer (and former coworker) asked “do you know how fast you were going?”, and I could honestly reply that no, I didn’t know how fast I was going. Thankfully he was a friend of mine, and I wasn’t really speeding all that much; he had spotted me and just wanted to give me a hard time, because, well, he could...

Ages ago my uncle had a ratty old truck, and rather than fix the speedo he just added a basic tach onto the steering column and drove by that. Once he knew what speed equaled what RPM in each gear (three on the tree) he was set. A cheap and effective “solution”.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 10:33

Just hit the top of the dash really hard. That usually does the trick for me

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
09/23/2017 at 10:39

Welll interesting fact. The speedo was sticking because(my dad did a bunch of research as he owns a Toyota shop) the oil usds to lunricate it leaks down and combined with dust and age makes it stick. I’ve been hitting the top of the dashboard for the last 2 summers and I think I finally made it skip a tooth or two on speedo assembly. My dad did find a guy who fixes the Lexus speedos if you ever want to get it fixed. I think we’re ripping out all of of the dash today/next week to get it all taken care of.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 10:41

Buckle up this is one of my favorite stories to tell. My dad got pulled over when I was a kid (around ‘99) for going 70ish in a 55 while the speedo was reading an indicated 58. After much arguing he reluctantly accepted the ticket and then set the cruise right at 60. Sure enough the mile markers came up much faster than one per minute. The car was a ‘95 Windstar with around 30k miles and the transmission had recently been replaced under warranty because 90’s Ford. At first the Ford dealer claimed nothing was wrong but after a few days they begrudgingly took it out on the highway themselves and confirmed the speedo was reading wrong. After increasly frequent calls from my mother growing more and more distrusted with her loaner Neon (the dealer also owned a Dodge franchise) they agreed to pull the transmission again. The background is that the Windstar was built on the Taurus platform and shared the 3.8L Essex V6 that was optional on the Taurus. The transmissions were externally identical but the gearing was lower in the Windstar version to accommodate the higher weight. You know where this is going - the dealer had obviously put a Taurus transmission in. Who knows if it was a mistake or on purpose to save a few bucks but since the speedo picks up in the transmission (in the final drive I think) and is calibrated for a specific gearing, it read low when the gear ratio was lower than expected. So we got correct transmission put in for free. After all of this my dad took the work order to traffic court to fight the ticket but the judge basically said well you really were speeding it’s not our problem your speedo wasn’t working and upheld the ticket. Still one of the strangest being pulled over and dealer repair things I’ve ever been through.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 11:14

I’d love a link for that, and radio LCD repair also if you have one.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
09/23/2017 at 11:43

My dad also has that haha. It’s expensive but the ls400 dash was sculpted so well it would look awful with an aftermarket bin in there

JR1 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 11:55

Is this a common problem with Toyotas and Lexus? Because my GX 470 sometimes reads the wrong speed as well.

JR1 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 11:56

You don’t have to answer that I saw the other comments.

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/23/2017 at 12:08

Yeah, it’s gotta be done though. I wonder if it’d just be cheaper to get a new head unit.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
09/23/2017 at 12:09

Unless you’re talking about an aftermarket stereo they’re all about the same age and I think it’s age that gets them.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > JR1
09/23/2017 at 12:27

It’s a LS 400 thing from what I remember. My car never read wrong until it’s skipped a tooth.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
09/24/2017 at 11:20

We’re taking it apart this morning. I’ll try to post a “how to” later

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars
09/24/2017 at 14:14

Excellent

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches
09/24/2017 at 14:24

YouTube is your friend. My dad ripped it the cluster so fast I couldn’t do anything about it hahaha. He’s been doing this too long.