1983 honda goldwing speedometer not working

There is a plastic gear in the speedometer that eventually breaks on mechanical speedometers called an odometer drive gear. This will involve removing the speedometer from the instrument cluster in the dash.

Right off the bat it sounds like a broken speedometer cable. As the cable spins from the gearing of the transmission it is clicking against the broken part of the cable running to the speedometer gauge. The frictional clicking is what's causing your needle to bounce around. Since the cable is probably broken and cannot spin long enough to move the odometer numbers. Raise your vehicle safely and disconnect the speedometer from the transmission. then see if you can pull the cable out of the housing. If only a portion of the cable comes out, then that should answer your question. Be careful when you disconnect the speedometer cable from the transmission as not to lose any small pieces that cause the drive mechanism to work.

Check your speedometer cable, detach it from the speedometer elevate the front wheel and spin it notice the inner cable if it turns or not, if not replace the cable if it spins then replace the speedometer.

Check the speedo sensor on the final drive of the bike. I expect there is a broken wire.

The speedometer, trip odometer and odometer are all driven by the speed sensor at the front wheel (NO CABLES).

Try the simple (but time consuming) test indicated in the attached image.

all you have to do is double check your speedometer cable maybe it might be loss or broken if there's a problem to your hardware just replace a new one yeah..

loose connections would not cause it to stay at 20 when your going zero. i think something is stuck and the needle isnt moving freely. sometimes the sticker that have the numbers on it can fall away from the cluster and rub on the needle that why sometimes when you apply pressure to the trip reset it will work. the needle and odometer are also connected so once you fix the needle the odometer will work again. i would take the cover off the cluster and move the needle with your finger and feel if it sticks any where. if it is the sticker just drop a little sper glue down there, move the neelde forward and hold it down till it drys. if nothing appears to be holding it i would blow a can of air in by center of the needle to get any debris out of there.

have the dsme problem. need to chech each of the 3 wires for continuity between the v.s.s. and the e.c.m. if good then the speedo is bad.

Sounds like either your speedometer cable, your nylon gear on the side of the tranny where the cable ties in, or the odometer itself is shot. One of those three will set you straight. If you are able, remove the cluster, take the cable off the back, and pull it out of the sheath. You will see if its broken or not from there. If not, slide it back into the sheath, then you have to find out where the sheath meets the tranny, and pull it off of there. Then, you can get someone else to watch the speedo as you turn the cable from the bottom. If it works, great, if not, then its your cluster/odometer/speedo. If it does work, the small gear in the transmission is shot.