sf89lx

Hi everyone, haven't had a problem with my accord in awhile, so its good to see the site is still up and running and giving excellent advice.

I have currently a 1996 Honda Accord LX 4 cylinder, non vtec 2.2L with approx 160k miles.automatic transmission. The engine was replaced at 143k.

My issue is that my speedometer has a mind of its own and works when it wants to. It would only happen occasionally, but now it happens a lot and it seems like it has started to affect my transmission shifting. (don't know if its related, but I think it is because when the speedo works, it shifts fine and has normal power)

When drivining in D4 or D3, the speedo will jump up to 70 or 90 and then flip flop back and forth giving an incorrect reading. Then once I'm on the freeway it will just go dead at 0. It occassionally jumps up , but usually stays dead. When I'm starting from a stop the car will jerk with the speedo jumps, and I"m assuming its related to the speedo and the automatic transmission working together and being confused. Putting the car into 2 seems to help.

Now I've read other threads but I'm still confused on what it could be. I can't use cruise control because it will engage but then quickly disengage due to the speedo fluctuating.

I want to replace the VSS but i heard it may be just a bad ground since it sometimes will go a few days with no problems and then go 3-4 days with crazy fluctuating.

What do you guys think. Any advice would be great.

Replacing the VSS is easy for 25 bucks and I'm willing to give it a shot, i just hope its not the circuit board. Thanks!

sf89lx

bump? anyone? ttt

HondaPartsHero

http://techauto.awardspace.com/vss.html

hatch-si09

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23732694@N03/4667583709/
that pic shows the circuit board of the speedo, i scalpe the epoxy(where the black arrow point at) today, my speedo works again.
my problem was speedo stay at 20 mph mark after i start up the car. it was not the VSS problem, because i had it replaced and didnt solve the problem.
i have 95 accord ex, AT.

chikin pickle

there are two commom failures in the speedometer system in these accords. If its the VSS, your car throws a check engine light, the other common failure is the circuit board at the back of the speedometer. You can pocket those out of a junyard and are not that difficult to change out it you have a screwdriver and some patience.

However there is another way to tell aside from a CEL. If your cruise control doesn't work then it is your VSS, or a short/bad connection in the wiring harness. If it is an intermittent failure it could be either of the two to be honest. However I would be willing to bet that the VSS itself is on it's way out. These types of sensors generally don't fail all at once, but will behave like you are describing.

windsc

I have seen many of the 1994 and 1995 gauge clusters having a bad speedometer motor. Many times the cluster sits at 20 mph. The cluster might work correctly sometimes but the problem will get worse and worse. You will need to replace the speedometer inside the gauge cluster or replace the whole cluster. There are many different variations to the cluster which is why it is easier to just purchase a used gauge cluster and remove the speedometer from it and install it in your cluster. The speedometers are all the same from the years 94-97 but I have found the 96-97 speedometers having less problems