The interior of the white GTE had to come out AGAIN! During the test drives, I noticed the speedometer wasn’t working. I managed to pull the cable off the transmission to check it wasn’t broken, and even spun the cable with my drill to make sure the speedo was working. All signs pointed towards the transmission side as the source of the problem. There’s an angle drive mechanism that turns the speedometer cable, but it’s not accessible without removing the transmission tunnel. I tried every trick I knew, but this was the only way.

With the angle drive out of the transmission, I was happy to see the internal gears were still working. The last I heard these angle drives are getting pretty rare as replacements, and rare in the Ferrari world translates into expensive. Replacements, originals or reproductions are in the thousands of dollars!

The problem was the short piece of flexible shaft between the transmission and the angle drive. It looks like it was missing a square drive piece on one end. I could see the crimp had come off and the end was still stuck inside the angle drive.

Another thing I noticed on the test drive on the white GTE was there was a vibration and I think it was coming from the drive shaft. Wheel imbalance usually has a different frequency than drive line vibrations, and can be felt through the steering wheel if it’s coming from the front wheels. I would guess wheels vibrate at around 500 cycles a minute or slower and increase with road speed, but drive line vibrations are higher, usually 1000 cyles or higher. Engine vibrations change in frequency to the engine RPMs, while driveshaft vibrations follow road speeds.

Finding vibrations can be tricky, but listening and feeling the clues will help direct you to the culprit. Since the wheels had already been balanced, and the transmission tunnel was already off the car, now was the time to send the driveshaft out for balancing. I’ll let you know what I find!