Uno Speedometer cable -- maintenance and refitting

With the bonnet up, the speedometer cable is easy to find, appearing from the bulkhead on the right-hand-side of the engine bay as you look at it. Here we see the other side of the grommet, with the continuation of both the cable and the rear washer fluid hose:


NB: Note that in the picture I've removed the washer hose from the fluid reservoir -- there is no need to do this if you are only accessing the cable; it's only required if you are removing the entire cable assembly (which you don't want to do if you can avoid it ).

Follow the cable down to the back of the engine, and you'll find where it attaches to the back of the gearbox. This set of images zooms in on the connector as seen through the HT leads etc.:


The connector can be unscrewed (somewhat awkwardly) just by reaching down behind the engine. It will most likely be too tight to turn by hand though, so a small mole grip (Vise-Grip) or a short 15mm spanner will probably be required. I've also previously encountered a cable connection where the outer "bolt-like" screwed cap mechanism had welded itself onto the outer sheath of the cable over time, so that each unscrewing turn of the connector twisted the whole cable assembly gradually tighter, and consequently I was fighting against the sprung force of the rubber cable for the last few turns! Basically, expect this to be really awkward, and hopefully it will turn out to be a doddle.


Once you have removed the cable from the gearbox, you'll be able to inspect its connector. If you find it to be just the bare cable, flattened to a thin square in shape, then you should be able to remove it from inside the cab. If however, you find it to be like mine as pictured, with a ~5mm circular metal "key" attached to the end, then the cable should be easy to remove from the engine bay end.

If you find that the cable cannot be removed from either end (as according to its connector) then chances are you have a snagged cable, which could potentially be removed with some serious lubrication sprayed in at either end, but will most likely mean replacement of the full cable/sheath/grommet assembly. If you don't see the end of the cable poking out at all, and it's not just because you've already pulled it partially through at the other end, then the cable has most likely snapped -- you might find the other end still poking out of the gearbox.