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93 legacy I think it must be coming from the speedo cable and into the cab started smelling it and now its stained my carpet, its and auto and its not overfilled, what can i do to stop this? Its got all my wiring wet, and the cab stinks. Thanks

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No experience with the cable driven speedos, but here's a guess. Perhaps you know this, but the AT has separate dipsticks for the ATF and the gear oil for the front differential. When you said the fluid level was OK, did you check the ATF or the gear oil? Make sure the gear oil level in the front diff is OK, and that the ATF isn't mixing with the gear oil. Also, if there are breather vents on the trans, make sure they aren't plugged.

 

Good luck!

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There is supposed to be a rubber seal on the transmission under the fitting where the cable screws in. My guess is it either has deteriorated, or someone removed it at some point. I have no idea where you would get a new one, but RTV might seal it up well enough to keep oil from pumping up through the cable.

 

Did you check the level of the front differential?

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Yes the front differential is not overfilled, it shows right below the top notch on the dip stick. nor is the trans atf portion, my guess is the rubber seal you are talking about, maybe i could get one from the dealer? After another look around where the speedo cable screws into the front differential there is gear oil around that too, ill have to look around for the seal, if not ill try the rtv

Edited by coolskaterkid
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The speedometer shaft seal is damn near impossible to remove, though at least on an automatic you can get a straight shot at it, it's blocked by the firewall on a manual.

 

I gave up trying to replace it and switched to an electronic vss and speedometer head. Had to get a bit creative swapping it into the dash cluster, but at least no more oil dribbling down on your legs.

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The rtv will just get balled up around the spinning shaft and do nothing. The problem is any oil that gets on the end of the speedometer cable is wicked up the spinning cable. It works like an archimedes screw pump.

 

Try replacing the seal, it's like $10 from the dealer and if you can get the old one out pressing the new one in is easy.

Edited by WoodsWagon
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The speedometer shaft seal is damn near impossible to remove, though at least on an automatic you can get a straight shot at it, it's blocked by the firewall on a manual.

 

I gave up trying to replace it and switched to an electronic vss and speedometer head. Had to get a bit creative swapping it into the dash cluster, but at least no more oil dribbling down on your legs.

 

Do you have a guide to doing that? or is it as simple as just pulling a VSS and cluster from a newer car and running a couple wires?

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Do you have a guide to doing that? or is it as simple as just pulling a VSS and cluster from a newer car and running a couple wires?

I should have taken pictures, it was in a friends turbo legacy wagon that I 5spd swapped. The electronic VSS threads right into the transmission where the cable was and a twisted pair of wires replaces the speedo cable between the sensor and the speedo head. The hard part was fitting the speedo head into the legacy cluster. I used one out of a 98 forester because I had it handy. What I did was cut out the white plastic section that the contact screws to the speedo head went through on the Forester. Then I cut part of the same area out of the legacy cluster so I could fit the forester one in the same spot and face depth. The forester gauge face was a little smaller than the legacy one, so I had to use black electrical tape to cover a couple small gaps that the backlighting would have shone through, but it fit pretty well. I then used hot glue to bond the forester white plastic section to the legacy rear section. I had to run a jumper wire from a constant power source and ground on the back of the board to the speedo head by wrapping it around the other contact pins on the board. I was able to carefully cut the other traces that went to the legacy speedo for the VSS output to the ECU free from the printed circuit sheet and reposition them on the forester speedo.

 

It wasn't that hard, just a bit of trimming and rewiring. I'll see if I can get him to take a picture of the cluster face, but the back section was where the technical work went on.

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  • 4 weeks later...

It's a seal that presses down into the bore in the transmission where the speedo shaft sticks up. Not an O-ring, a little lipped oil seal. Putting the new one in is easy, getting the old one out is pretty much impossible as far as I tried. Dealer should be able to find it under transmission parts.

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