205 speedo cables?

[nametooshort]

Grrr, why is it that EVERYTHING with oldschool Peugeots have to be difficult?

So my buddy got a 205 with a 16v motor. Everything else is standard 205, just the motor has been swapped out.

It needs a new speedo cable cause at 35 the arrow is bouncing around between 40 and 30.

There seems to be NO speedo cables avaliable for these. I even asked a buddy in the UK to call various suppliers, since stuff like that is more plentiful there, and everybody doesn't stock it. US suppliers don't stock it either.

GSF stock a one-size-fits-all speedo cable on their Ebay outlet, but their shop staff agreed it's probably a mistake, because they don't stock any 205 cables, and besides there is no way one cable can fit every 205.

The best they could do was to tell me there are 3 different types, neither of them sold no more, but they are 870mm, 900mm and 1100mm.

FirstLine don't even have speedo cables for later 205s. They only list them for the earlier smaller 205s. Some people said to use a pre 1993 405 cable, its 100mm longer than the longest one but that's no big deal, but NOBODY stocks these either.

So we took the old cable off, just to figure out which one it is, and the answer is it's neither! These are the exact measurments of the old genuine Peugeot cable that came off:



So, does anybody happen to know which cable that is?! And where do I find another?

[citronut]

here is the list of cables for a pre face life 205 from pug service box

6123 64
NFP
SPEEDOMETER CABLE
LONG. 970
UNTIL - 1988 EXCEPT GTX

6123 72
NFP
LONG. 1100
UNTIL - 1988 EXCEPT GTX

6123 C4
LONG 890
SINCE - 1988 EXCEPT GTX

6123 C5
LONG 1100
SINCE - 1988 EXCEPT GTX

6123 65
NFP
GTX

the two in the list above ending C4 and C5 and are the same part No.'s for the face lift ( later 205 )
and are still showing as available from Peugeot

02

6123 93
NFP
SPEEDOMETER CABLE
LONG. 270
- DRIVING SCHOOL SINCE - 1988

03

6123 94
NFP
SPEEDOMETER CABLE
LONG 590
- DRIVING SCHOOL SINCE - 1988

No. 2 and 3 are a two part cables ( upper and lower cables )

[RichardW]

Speedy cables in the UK can make up cables to match old ones - perhaps there is a similar outfit in Oz?

[nametooshort]

Hey Citronut

I saw that list already, but what confused me is that photo I attached. As you can see, the oem Peugeot cable that we pulled off of that car does not match ANY of those sizes! The donor car was a 1994 xu-powered non-gtx and the speedo cable is oem abd dated 1993, so makes sense that its the oe unit for that car. But its not 900 OR 1100mm!

[citronut]

i would have thought if the fittings on both end of the 1100 cable are the same as your original one 50mm aint going to make any difference

[nametooshort]

I mean, obviously it will work, but why does the official spec say 1100, and I have 1050? Which is a genuine cable? Either I can't measure, or PugCit can't measure!

Does anybody know what the deal with 205 speedo cables it anyways? Why do some have 900mm and some have 1100mm? The models which have these have the same transmission and the same firewall and even tho instrument clusters have different variants, the cable goes in in the same place. So why do some need a cable thats 200mm longer?

BTW, Peugeot claim that all these cables are obsolete and no longer stocked.

[citronut]

these two are still showing as available from the dealer

6123 C4
LONG 890
SINCE - 1988 EXCEPT GTX

6123 C5
LONG 1100
SINCE - 1988 EXCEPT GTX

have you tried aiming either/both of these two numbers at your pug dealer, dont ask them if a cable is available for your car, but give them the number/s and ask them to do an all dealer search

[spider]

The length is due partly to some models (XS maybe) and certainly GTi / DTurbo / STDT which have a tacho and the speedo is not in the middle its on the left.

There might be a difference between early and late (say 87 or newer, when they changed the dash layout a bit) as well.

Its quite a tight fit anyway, there's little to spare.

[nametooshort]

Thanks for that info. Ill try to tell the pug dealer the part numbers.

This car is another victim of the whole 1990s west-coast RHD trend BTW, but I have no idea where it originally came from. Most right-handed cars that end up here are from Japan, but I dunno if they ever sold 205s there. I think UK-spec 205s were made in the UK and have different ID plate (is this right?) so this one is probably not UKDM, but to be honest, nobody knows. Its got orange turn-signals and un-colored front parking lights inside the headlamps, European-style.

Its a mid 1990s car, so way past the redesign in the late 80s. 2 doors, aftermarket sunroof, no trim at all but i guess it was de-trimmed.

Anyways, it has a normal late 205 tranny (be5?) and it has the most basic kind of dash, the one shown right at the top of this photo:


So does anybody happen to know which dash needs the longer cable? Do the two styles with the speedo to the left and a tacho need a longer cable? Or does the cable come in from the left, and therefore actually the type with the center speedo need the longer cable?

Because this car has the dash with the central speedo, but who knows what it would have had originally.

If the central speedo type needs a SHORTER cable, than we got lucky, cause the shorter 900mm cables seem to still be avaliable. But if the left-speed type need the shorter cable and the central-speedo type need the longer 1100mm cable, than not so lucky.

[spider]

To be honest I'd be tempted with the longer one, I'm pretty sure the end fittings are the same.

I do recall you have to feed it one side of a bracket or suchlike to get it to fit, the non-tacho vs tacho models have it one side or the other if that makes sense.

As far as I remember basically there were two facelifts, one about 87*** when the dash changed (basically round heater controls instead of up/down sliders) and again about late 90 early 91 I think. The second facelift is easier to spot, as the reverse lights changed to be in the bumper (along with the fog light, ie one fog one reverse) , this is the time the front indicators went to clear as well. Although the issue is, all these parts are easily swappable between models.

*** The speedo changed at this dash facelift as well but it was just the font on it (smaller numbers on newer ones) nothing else changed regarding the cable.

The driving school cables are not relevant iirc they are for LHD vehicles typically as new models 206 etc have these type of parts for switchgear too.

[spider]

You know, I was thinking about this a moment ago. Short may be LHD and long RHD.

If you think about it, its not like the 106 or something where it always enters on the left of the car, the RHD cable is longer as it must go across the bulkhead and enter near the servo area, so a LHD cable *will* be shorter.

Same way a LHD clutch cable is tiny in length compared to a RHD one (as its more or a less a "straight line" on the LHD)

[nametooshort]

I assume those specs were all for RHD only, cause this forum is mainley UK people so they usually post specs for UKDM cars by default. But you could be right. I dunno tho, a LHD cable would be a loooot shorter I think, cause the hole in the tranny is right about under where the dash would be.

Maybe the 'driving school' model with the really short cable had some kind of weird dual-instrument type setup so the instructor can see the speed? Hence the super short cable, cause it just went straight out the tranny and into the cluster. I assumed that whole list was for RHD only and the LHD would be the same or similair as the driving school model. I don't have a 205 handy to check tho!

I wonder if 205s were ever sold in the US officially? Aint nobody ever heard of them. Some of the older mechanics always assume that I got my numbers mixed up and I mean a 505

[spider]

No, not in the US. Europe / Asia (I think) , Austrailia / NZ / Japan

GSF Ebay outlet have them > http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Speedo-Cable- ... 1513744307" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I see a used one as well on Ebay but not linked to that as you have a used one as is, it may be no better.

The GSF one offers that 'click and collect' so you could have it appear at a branch if preferred (although it may not be any quicker than delivery)

[nametooshort]

That's that 'questionable' listing, because as you can see, in the compatibility table it lists as fitting every 205 ever. Which is of course completely impossible, right, cause there are several variants of the 205 using different cables. If you look at the listing tho, it says its 890mm long, which is the 'shorter' style, 6123 C4.

My UK buddy emailed them and gave them the specs of some car which they knew was the 'longer' 1100mm version for sure. I think it was a GTi or a Turbo or something. So he gave them the year and specs and such, and of course, they just replies 'whats the license plate' (jesus christ, its like they are obsessed with that phrase! I just told you the exact year/model/spec of the car you don't need the license plate I just told you all the info you would have got by running the plate) but anyways so he gave them the license plate of that car which was UK registered, and they said yeah that cable will fit.

But that's clearly untrie cause that car we used as a example has the 1100mm c5 cable and they are selling the shorter c4 cable.

So from that, only 2 conclusions can be made.

Either

1. GSF have a little oopsie in their parts database again (lets face it, it wouldn't be the first time. Ordering from GSF appears to be a bit of a lucky-dip type situation half the time).

Or

2. Actually the C4 890mm version of the cable IS a one-size-fits-all variants that can replace the longer 1100mm cable. But then why would PugCit make the 1100mm variant in the first place?!