imported post
After reading this, you will notice that I was obviously confused, and I hope that it contributes to your amusement!
The bolt that I thought needed to come out was the metal casing that surrounded the end of the tach cable. After turning and turning it while the cable was still fed underneath the false gas tank, I decided that it might be easier if I just removed the cable from underneath the false gas tank. But, I was afraid of not being able to get it fed back through without taking the false gas tank off. And I didn't know how to take it off (as far as I got was taking off the two bolts from underneath the seat).
So, what I did was to tie some sturdy string to the end of the tach cable that goes into the tachometer. Then, I pulled the tach cable through the body of the bike from the back of the engine (close to where the cable enters the engine/fuel pump). All of this with the string in tow, so that I could use the string to thread the cable back trough the bike when I was done.
So, I now have the cable free from the bike, except for the end that is in the engine/fuel pump housing. I turn the cable, hoping that the "threads" will come out. I did this for about 30 minutes, wondering why I couldn't get this "bolt" to come out. I gave up, and sprayed some white lithium grease through the top, let the bike run so the turning cable inside would let some of the grease penetrate down through the cable.
Then I tied the end back to the string that was threaded through the bike, and fed the cable back through to the tachometer. The whining stopped!
Well, it stopped whining just as I got the furthest distance from my house to work on it. This is when my suspicion turned from the cable to the gauge. I rode most of the way home with the tach whining, until I couldn't take the noise or embarrassment anymore, and disconnected the cable until I got home.
I looked online for pics of a new tach cable, to see what the other end looked like. I was surprised when I found out that THERE ARE NO THREADS AT THE OTHER END OF THE TACH CABLE! This is what wda-83wing was trying to tell me. So, I found out which bolt has to be removed for the tach cable to come off from the engine/fuel pump. I marked it in the picture I'm posting.
So, now that I have the cable completely out, I lube it up real good, re-install it, and start the bike while crossing my fingers that it doesn't whine.....which of course it does :?
So, now my suspicion is targeted at the tachometer gauge. I found some forums on here that helped to increase my suspicion, as I also experienced the "oily right boot".
http://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=3856&forum_id=1&highlight=tach
http://www.goldwingfacts.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=5423&forum_id=1&highlight=oil+right+boot
Now I was looking all over the place to try to find directions on how to remove my tachometer. I have the Honda Service Manual, and couldn't find anything. I looked on here (except for in the online manuals) and couldn't find anything. So, I decided to take it on myself, or continue the embarrassment of riding with a whining tach.
It was relatively easy, there were just two 10mm bolts behind the gauge that needed to be removed (be careful as there is also a washer and a spacer that can fall off and get lost). I had to use a 10mm offset wrench to reach the bolts. Otherwise I probably would have had to remove the fairing to remove the bolts.
Once the bolts were removed, I still had trouble getting the tach out. I later found out that this was because the lights that go into the gauge had very short wires, so I didn't have much room to work with. I removed the all the lights (I had 3 lights, two for illumination, and one for the OD light).
With the tach removed, I tried to see if there was an opening to put oil into the gauge. I saw the three holes from the lights, and two smaller holes. I didn't want to put any oil into there, because I was afraid that the oil might leak through to behind the glass of the gauge, and then I would have to live with it until I bought another gauge. So I tried to remove the two screws on the back of the gauge first.
After removing these two screws, I realized that I still couldn't get to the inside of the gauge. So, I re-installed the screws. Apparently, the gauge is crimped together, and I didn't want to open it if I didn't have to. (For anyone who may have to operate on the tachometer, this may help
http://www.salocal.com/sohc/tech/speedo/spedo1.htm )
Instead, I sprayed some WD-40 into where the cable enters, and let it penetrate for a few minutes. I did spray a lot into there, as I wanted it to get down into all the little crevices, but I was careful to not let any excess drain to the backside of the glass on the gauge.
After this, I connected the cable to the gauge before reinstalling to make sure that the whining had stopped. It did stop (for now anyway). So, just to be sure, I sprayed some white lithium grease into the back of the gauge where the cable enters. Then, I reconnected the gauge to the bike (getting the lights back into the gauge was a chore, since the wires on the lights are very short).
Now that everything is back together, it all seems to be working fine. I'm just afraid that without opening the gauge to lubricate it, that the lubrication that I was able to seep in there will dry up, causing it to whine again.
So, if anyone has any other suggestions or experience on lubricating the tachometer gauge, I would appreciate it!
PS: I initially thought that it was the tachometer cable that was making the noise, as I could feel the vibration from the gauge through the cable. The noise was actually coming from the gauge.
