On Friday I did a 150 mile drive round the M25 and up the M11. On the M11 there were some road works so I sat in traffic for a couple of hours and then when it cleared I cruised at a decent speed for the rest of the way.
The next morning when I pulled away the speedo wasn't working and the check engine light came on. I discovered that the outer casing of the speedo cable had melted onto the cable itself and was Ok while warm but overnight it had cooled and jammed the cable. When I pulled away the next morning the gearbox twisted the cable up and it came out the housing and was dangling in the engine bay. In addition to this if I take the engine up to 4.5k rpm it shakes, bangs and the power dies, the engine is fine up to this speed.
Has anyone else suffered from a melted cable? Is the engine check light and 4.5k rpm problem due to the broken cable upsetting the ECU or can I expect there to be other problems once the cable is fixed?

Silly I know but I drove the car the 150 miles back home Saturday afternoon using less than 4k rpm and it was fine the whole way!

 

Im pretty sure that the limp mode is 4500rpm. I.e due to the fact that the ECU isnt getting a speedo reading it will allow you upto 4500 RPM.

robski

 

I thought it could be something like that but it seems to stop the acceleration very abruptly, almost violently! My mate said it looked like my engine was about to jump out of the engine bay and was miss firing!
I also read some where before that on UK cars (mine is a 95WRX) the safety mode is 2500rpm as that is before the turbo kicks in. Hopefully sorting out the cable will get rid of this problem!

Thanks for the reply.
Scott

 

I can confirm the check engine light is on due to the lack of the speedo / speed sensor input, due to the broken cable

It will limit revs to 4500 rpm exactly, and it feels like you are hitting a brick wall when it happens

Stephen
Had a broken cable last year, due to the reduction gearbox (WRX import) seizing
(pprobably got too hot as it was right next to the Turbo ..!)

 

Stephen,

Thanks for the confirmation about the rev limit. I take it that it is safe to drive it around as long as it is kept below 4500rpm or should I not drive it until the cable has been fixed?

 

just out of curiosity is the earth cable
attached properly. it should be connected to the top bolt of the starter motor and there is a small earth lead attached to the gearbox which is bolted above the centre stay with a 10mm bolt . just wondered if these were there in case the engine is earthing through one or them.

 

No problems driving it round at under 4500rpm
Apart from the fact you can't easily see what speed you are doing and have to work it out from the revs and gear you are in.
Also don't drive too agresively, because if you forget or accidentally hit the 4500rpm cut out when doing an agreesive overtaking manouvre etc you could get caught out

On the positive side, you will get good MPG !

 

ZAZ,i have this set up and because i have the decatted downpipe i lagged it so it wouldnt melt the box,try it it will work!!!

Darren

 

I think I have a standard downpipe but when I get a de-cat pipe later this year I will definately get it lagged.
When I get the speedo cable replaced I'm probably going to put some sort of heat shielding round it anyway to stop it happening again.