Janet1995

The speedometer works when it feels like it. At times it works for a couple of days, couple of hours then it stops. Sometimes I can be driving and it is working then it drops to 20mph. The neddled always is on 20mph even if the car is off. I bought a speedometer from junk yard still didn't work so I bought a new speedometer and a new vss. All other gauges are working, cruise conrtol works, engine light works.
What I have noticed is when the neddle is bouncing at 20mph if I press or hit the reset button the speedometer will work. Why does this happen? Is there a loose harness, wire or cable behind the reset button?

nus_dogg

You said you bought a new VSS too right?

jdmAccord210

this is happening to me also. My speedometer worked when i first drove it after the h22 swap then it would get stuck on 20mph, mileage stuck. i would click mileage reset. it would work then stop.. speedometer gauge only finally stop working all together for a year. i switched out the speed sensor..nothing. then i recently changed the full gauge cluster and it worked, but the other day the mileage stop working, pressed the button few times then it worked. i haven't pressed it since. any ideas?

Janet1995

Yes I did buy a new vss. So now what?

ChaseIntegra

I'd look into getting a new speedo cable

Janet1995

how do I replace this cable do u have pics so I can refer to

Janet1995

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Jägermeister

Hi all, I'm new here and this is my first post.
I own a Honda Accord Coupe (1996) and it had the same problem. I didn't replace the VSS. I believe the speedometer PCB has some faulty solder joints - I read it somewhere so I took it apart and resoldered everything on the speedometer PCB (under the epoxy too) with a fresh solder and high quality flux. That fixed my problem completely. It wasn't a big deal for me as I am an electronics technician.
Some say you can just buy a second hand speedometer from eBay or something like that, but keep in mind - you can't be sure the replacement unit will be good or that it won't brake in a week, month or so.
I could help you with it, but I'm in Europe.

EDIT: oh, sorry, I didn't notice you bought a new speedometer. If it was brand new, then it could be other problem. My speedometer got stuck at about 25MPH no matter how fast or slow I was going. Sometimes it started working, but got stuck after about 10 minutes or so. Now it has been almost a month without any problems since I fixed it.

Janet1995

Hi I wanted to thank you. Being a tech myself I did reflow the solder joints on my old speedometer and it has been working now 3 days. Hope it stays that way. Thanks again.
Now I have a new problem I will make another thread.

Janet1995

Sorry but your message box is full. So yes i did as you said any ides about my overheating

TOOLMAN1966

I had the Speedometer indicating 20mph and Odometer not working problem, half the time. The other half it worked perfectly. Mine is a 1998 Civic EX. My problem was a broken solder connection (often called a "cold solder joint") on IC1 pin 10. My circuit board is the one pictured by REVOAPPAREL in this thread on 8-15-2012. This pin is one of the epoxy (or glued) pins. I used the soldering iron to remove this epoxy from the pin before re-soldering it. (The heat kind of crumples the epoxy so it can be scraped off with the iron tip.) The Vehicle Speed Sensor signal comes into IC1 on this pin, but also on IC1 pin 12, and IC2 pins 10 and 15. __ I found which solder connection was broken in the following manner: Removed the circuit board from the speedometer/odometer mechanism (it pulls right off.) Attached a 12 volt power supply to IGN and GND. Used a voltmeter to read COS & SIN voltages. These 2 voltages tell the speedometer needle where to point. (RED voltmeter lead on COS+ and BLACK voltmeter lead on COS-.) (Don't look at the voltages with respect to GND. The speedometer doesn't see that.) When the circuit board was working correctly, the COS voltage was 5.04 and the SIN voltage was 0.26. These are logic levels ONE and ZERO. (If you remember your Trigonometry, the COS of zero is ONE and the SIN of zero is ZERO. Zero is the vehicle speed.) When the circuit board wasn't working correctly (this is when the needle would indicate 20mph IF it was attached) COS voltage was 2.47 and SIN voltage was 1.80. When I read these WRONG voltages, I started touching things and when I pushed on IC1 the voltages became correct for a moment. Then I used a probe to push against each IC1 pin individually and found pin 10 was the pin not making contact. __ A person should be able to use this technique to find a bad solder joint anywhere on the board causing incorrect speedometer readings when the vehicle is sitting still. ___ I also traced out the entire circuit board and drew a schematic. If I figure out how to post a scanned pdf of this, I'll attach it. ___This is my first post to any automotive thread. I sincerely hope this helps many of you out with your speedometer indicating 20mph problems! Enjoy Troubleshooting! ((Toolman1966 _ APRIL 14, 2013))

LostOnRow1

Remember trig? That is a very detailed explanation.

allama94

Hey. I bought a 1996 Accord VTi with the speedo not working. It stays on 0kms all the time and the odometer also doesn't work. The engine light comes on when the car is decelerating and when tripped it tells me its the VSS. Transmission light blinks on D4 and also tells me its the VSS. Been told it could be that or the cluster. Would i be better off trying to replace the VSS first or the cluster? Which is more likely to be the issue?

holmesnmanny

Replace the sensor first since you know that's bad. You can get these for $15 off ebay or amazon. I got one and it hasn't had any problems since.

5th Gen JB

Get another vss pig tail and splice into it, fixed my problem

professorman

This was a great explanation, but it hurt my head terribly. I had this problem last month and just fixed it. The ~20MPH thing seem to be a pretty sure indication that it is the speedometer circuit board that needs to be resoldered.

I tried to explain it a little easier and did a little writeup/tutorial in my repair tread here:
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/speedometer-sometimes-jumps-20mph-stays-there-3188256/

Known_Offender

I have a 94 EX that had speedo/odometer issues. I went to the salvage yard and pulled a cluster and swapped the circuit board on the speedometer, and it was still horked. I tried re-soldering board to no avail. Went and pulled ANOTHER board and bingo. Turns out the first one I swapped was also bad. Whooda thunk.
The info at this site was a huge help. Thanks to all who posted....

Fastguy

I have a 95 Accord with a dead speedo. I followed these instructions and found the issue, IC1 pin 10, thanks toolman!

jupiter

This is my first post. Since I can't start a new thread so I'll post a question that's relevant to the problem described in this thread.

My 1997 Honda Accord has the identical issue. The mechanic diagnosed the problem to be the speedometer (the sensor is good). I need to find a used speedometer that has the mileage similar to my car so that he can replace it for me. I googled the internet for used Honda Accord parts and found two speedometers with mileage similar to my car at a relative good price I think (comparing to other internet sites)

1) $93 (include shipping may not include tax) - a 1997 Honda Accord with one year limited warranty
2) $63 (everything included) - a 1994 Honda Accord with 30 day warranty

I know that 94 & 97 speedometers are the same. Which one do you think that I should buy? Are there other ways to find used parts? I goggled Junk Yard near my neighborhood but didn't find any.

Thanks very much for your help!

tech8

You just need the speedometer circuit board, that way you can keep your original odometer reading.

jupiter

Thanks a lot for your quick reply!

I understand what you are talking about after reading the posts on this thread and other related ones. I don't think that the mechanic would want to install the speedometer circuit board or he may charge me more money to install the speedometer circuit board. Most online sites only sell the speedometer but not the speedometer circuit board. I found someone selling speedometer circuit board on ebay, is that a good place to buy? I don't think I can install it myself because I am not handy and I've never worked on my car before.

Daniel Bente

I don't have access to stuff like the solder or flux.. I just got this car and have been using a gps for speed.. my gas mileage sucks.. my speedometer is stuck bouncing at 20mph on idle and while driving.. is there another way to fix it without tearing my car apart?