speedo operation

[Ray Hoffman]

Just had to replace my VDO speedo in a 1988 coach. Had to use one of the new electronic ones and works fine up to about 40 mph after that guage will bounce all over the place. Odometer and tripmeter are working fine. Could there be a problem with the pickup on the trasmission?

[Bob]

Had my 1988 Beaver Marquis VDO speed rebuilt several years ago for only $76.00````````````````````````
you might try this as a last resort

[Editor's note: Newell's of this vintage have a gear-driven electric sender at the transmission and an electric speedometer. Either component can cause a problem. We don't know if the Beaver speedo is similar or not.]

[Summersgal]

I am trying to locate that gear. I have found a round plate bolted next to the U-joints with holes in it and a proximity pickup at a right angle to the plate. I am assuming this is the cruise control. There is a type of sending unit in the bottom of the bell housing that has two wires on it, I thought this was the tempature sending unit(not sure). There is also a sensor of some kind located in the side of the pan toward the back that has a high presure hose (air/hydraulic) not sure, attached to it. Then there is an elctronic box that looks like the shifter. I am unable to find anything else that is on the side of the transmission with wires coming out of it. My speedometer and odometer do not work until I have driven around 15 miles, then the odometer will start working and speedometer needle will bounce all over the place. The bouncing will last another 5 or 6 miles before it settles done and starts working correctly. I would like to find this gear, any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Jeff

[fulltiming]

By 1990 there were two sensors on the disc you referenced, one for the speedo and one for the cruise control.

[Wally Arntzen]

On my coach the speedo senser unit is on the drivers side front wheel. Mine was not working right a few years ago and my mechanic friend found it and did something that fixed the problem and it has worked fine ever since.
Check it out.

[Summersgal]

Thanks for the information, I crawled back under the coach and checked but there is only one prox mounted on the tail shaft of the transmission. Thanks Wally, I am eager to go check out around the front tire, since our coach was only 3 ahead of yours maybe the speed sensor is mounted in the same place.

[Summersgal]

I finally had a chance to look around the front tire to see if I could locate the speed sensor, no luck though. We took the coach out for a short trip this last weekend to Paris Texas, the speedometer started working within 10-12 miles of the trip. It worked great the rest of the trip there and back, aprox 400 miles. I will give Newell a call and see if they can point me in the right direction. We may just have to force ourselves to take another trip this weekend to check and see if the speedo is still working or not.

Jeff

[Wally Arntzen]

You may have just triped something that got it going. If these coaches sit to long I think some of the equipment just gets stuck in place. Hopefully it will keep working and you can just forget about it and enjoy your trips.