The speedometer in my dakota is constantly bouncing. It's accurate, but it's always going up and down 3-5 mph (which the manual says is the first thing to take care of in regard to faulty cruise control). I have a few questions on this topic:

1.) How do I go about telling whether this is the front or rear sensor that's causing the bouncing?

2.) I looked at my front sensor and there seems to be a slight fluid leak from where the speedometer pinion goes into the trans. Would that be a generic O-ring I could pick up from Murrays and a real easy change while i was down there?

3.) On the 95 service manual I thought i read that the fuse for cruise control is in slot number 15 and was supposed to be 2 amps? I have a 10 amp in this slot, and 2 Amps just seems way too small for me. Is 10 amps the correct fuse for there?

thanks in advance...

 

First of all you have a 92 which has a cable driving speedometer. The cable will be your problem for the bouncing.

94-up have an electronic controlled speedometer. And all 95 down have 1 speed sensor.

Is the bouncing your only problem?

 

yeah, it still says what speed I go and whatnot, I just want to fix that first so I can move on to the cruise control... It never goes haywire or goes 150 to zero and back again or anything like that. Just hangs out between 22 and 26 when i'm going 25.

 

Is there a chance this cable just needs to be adjusted or something? or is it definitely bad and needs to be replaced?

best place would be junkyard I assume?

Just found 2 new ones on Rockauto.com
one's 36" and the other is 80"

I would assume it's the 80" one as it has to plug into the back of the cluster itself? or where does the cable plug into on the other end?

 

The cable probably isn't bad to say. It is slightly binding on the inside, the internal grease is dried out.

It is best to replace it. I would suggest www.napaonline.com

IIRC the shorter one is for 2wd. Longer one for 4wd.