Speedometer failure right after airbag recall. - Coincidence?


John B

John B

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 28, 2006
158
So I finally capitulated and brought my car in for the airbag recall. All seemed to go well and it looked fine. About 50 miles later the Speedo failed. It moved a little at first, but wouldn't go above 20. Now it just stays at 20, even when stopped. The odometer works though, so I don't think it's the sender on the transaxle. Given this happened so quickly after the airbag recall I can't help but wonder whether the techs were a little too brutish moving things around inside the dash I know it's tight. Has anyone else had the speedo fail shortly after the airbag recall?
 
Unrelated. Drivers side steering wheel is easy job that doesnt intrude into dash and instrument cluster.

Passenger side also doesnt involve that area, just lower dash pad.

GT guages are a known weak spot. It is also possible you have a bad battery ground or a weak battery from the doors being open/ interior lights on from the techs doing the airbag recall.
 
I agree. But first I would check the ground cable from the chassis to the battery and be sure it is clean bare metal. Then replace the battery if it is more than about 5 years old. It might be less if a battery tender wasn't religiously used. If one was used all the time it wasn't being driven you might stretch the time somewhat but remember you will in all likelihood need a battery sooner rather than later and replacing the battery is cheaper than replacing the gauge.

Just so you know that the gauges are a weak point. Nothing was done by Ford to fix that so replacements from Ford will fail at the same probability. Autometer (the original manufacturer) makes and directly sells replacements for the small gauges but not speedo and tach. For those you are dependent on Ford or someone here that has had success in replacing the innards. You can also replace all gauges and the bezel which includes bullet proof larger gauges but these will not physically fit in the factory bezel. Search will expose a plethora of topics on this subject.
 
Agree, highly unlikely related to airbag work. Having been down this road, pass on the Speedhut option (their speedo can fail too, mine did).

Go with the Autometer replacement small gauges.

Not a fan of the 3rd party tach and speedo repairs - they use Speedhut components - tach is very slow to respond, speedo is off a bit over 10%. Again, been there already. Rumored to "be working on it" but I've not been offered a solution. Expensive, but go with Ford factory replacements.

Just my .02
 
Joe's experience was the last straw. The (very competent) shop that we had doing the speedo/tach repairs was using Speedhut internal components but there were quality issues that speedhut simply has not been attentive to. The primary issue has been slow movement on some repairs - something that initially seemed resolvable but for which no solution has been made available. As such, we've discontinued the service so the only alternative is now OEM through Ford. Yes, expensive.... but worse is that there is no assurance against future failures.
 
I replaced all my gauges and their panel with the Speedhut gauges and panel years ago. It's important to note that although Speedhut gauges can fail, the company honors their warranty and in addition, the last time I looked, their gauges are much less expensive than Ford replacements (by at least an order of magnitude).
 
BUMMER! I wanted to get my oem tach fixed, for if I ever wanted to swap back. Too bad

nota4re said:
As such, we've discontinued the service
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Thanks for the input guys.
So what exactly is it that fails inside the gauges? It can't be rocket science to figure out a proper fix.
i.e. What exactly did AutoMeter do that fixed the small gauges?
 
Not to hijack the thread but I felt it only fair to provide an update. Cooltech have reached out to me now. Any resolution is waiting on me to pull the "repaired" gauges out of the car and put in my Ford replacements.
 
John B said:
Thanks for the input guys.
So what exactly is it that fails inside the gauges? It can't be rocket science to figure out a proper fix.
i.e. What exactly did AutoMeter do that fixed the small gauges?
Click to expand...

The short story.... with a few "allegedly's": Ford had originally subcontracted the gauges to Autometer and the gauge control module to a different company. When gauge failures started to appear, a LOT of finger pointing started to occur - and likely continues to this day. Autometer CONTINUES to insist the failures are not the fault of their gauges. As their proof, allegedly they have some kind of other application using the same internal design - and with superior reliability. The maker of the original Ford GT gauge control module (another "suspect" according to Autometer, is no longer in business.)

All of the original gauges use an air-core design for the needle movement of the gauge. Eventually, an agreement was struck between Autometer and Ford where Autometer re-made all of the small gauges using a more conventional stepper-motor design. (Ford most likely generously funded all or most of this re-do.) The appearance of these gauge is IDENTICAL to the originals - same case, glass, face, needle, etc. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a failure of one of these replacement gauges - available exclusively from Autometer.

Allegedly, Autometer did not believe that their stepper-motor/electronics design could accommodate the faster needle-movement requirements of the speedometer and tachometer. These two gauges were never recreated and are only available as OEM through Ford - or in an aftermarket design/form factor (aka, smaller) through Speedhut.

DBK can correct me if I am grossly in error of my understanding of this history.
 
I think I have 2 complete sets of unused OEM 05/06 Ford GT gauges... along with a large list of other 05/06 OEM parts... Working on pricing them now.
 
Awsum GT said:
I think I have 2 complete sets of unused OEM 05/06 Ford GT gauges... along with a large list of other 05/06 OEM parts... Working on pricing them now.
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I would be interested.
 
Yes it is related in my experience.I had my driver airbag replaced and the tech accidentally disconnected and reconnected the battery when finished with the key in the on position(I was watching).I did not realize it until I noticed the battery cable spark when connected and then went. around to look and see if the key was on(it was).Immediately from leaving the dealer the speedo did not work.Bought a new one and chalked it up to a learning experience.
 
nota4re said:
Joe's experience was the last straw. The (very competent) shop that we had doing the speedo/tach repairs was using Speedhut internal components but there were quality issues that speedhut simply has not been attentive to. The primary issue has been slow movement on some repairs - something that initially seemed resolvable but for which no solution has been made available. As such, we've discontinued the service so the only alternative is now OEM through Ford. Yes, expensive.... but worse is that there is no assurance against future failures.
Click to expand...
That sux .I never did put my gauges in you fixed for me as I was saving them as spares.Are they all not working correctly?
 
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