My 1987 Chevorelet S-10's speedometer cable is making a huge racket. When I go beyond 10 miles an hour it sounds just like a card pinned to a bicycle and is making a burning smell just in the dashboard. I need to accurately diagnose that this is the problem. How do I go about doing just that? Is this an expensive fix?

Sounds like you need to replace your speedometer cable that runs from your dash to your transmission.

What I had to do when I did mine was to lightly press on the speedometer while driving a short distance till the cable lined up. You should feel the speedometer fall into place and it should start working. Make sure to do this where there's no chance of hitting anything.

remove the speedo cable, lubricate it. if the sound still there, change the cable.

sounds like speedometer is broke u need a new istrument cluster

Could be the gear in the transmission or the speedometer head in the instrument cluster

Yeah you may need a whole new dashboard because the whole panel circuit for may be messed up.

Cost of labor depends on the problem. You could have a bad seal at the speedometer adapter, bad output seat for the drive shaft, a bad pan gasket, loose cooler line, ect.... Take it to a qualified mechanic for a look and estimate.

This is not specific to a Chevy, but the speedometer cable generally is held in place with either a threaded nut or a retaining clip. Pulling on it will just cause damage. Disconnect it from the speedometer and feed the cable through the grommet in the firewall.

You will need to pull the speedo cable 1st and see that it turns freely at the transmission, then pull it at the speedo end and make sure it is not broken, pull it out of the cable housing to check this, lube it (white lithium grease) and reinstall, if the cable looks good then the speedo head will have to be removed and sent out for repair.

sound like the alternate my friend. before you replace it take it to autozone and have them check it. its free and could save you a couple hundred buck