KSWEST

I just swapped in a new transmission in my 1996 EX coupe because the old one was about dead. My roommate torqued the stupid speed sensor (must have been aftermarket already, it was plastic) down too hard and crack the arm on it that bolts to the tranny. Needless to say I had to get a new one.... It started coding p0500 just this thursday and so I ordered a new sensor saturday. In between the old one breaking and this one coming in I had gotten one from a friend later just to find out that it was bad (magnet got de-sensitized sitting next to a bigger magnet), got another one off another friend that ended up being broken too...Long story short, new VSS comes in today, get it, erase the code, put in the sensor and....Nothing on the speedo. Pulled out the multimeter and I was getting my 12 at the one and the variable resistance when the wheels were turning at the other, also checked the fuse...nothing.

Then from the garage I was using to my house, about 3-5 miles into the drive, she started stuttering under any load, forcing me to use extreme care when accelerating in order to prevent it. Blows me away because we literally only fooled with the VSS.

So after that wall of text, help??

beeseeries

Sounds ridiculous but;

Your VSS, o2 sensor and alternator all run on the same circuit. If you grounded something out, the car will go into limp mode and drive like ****. Double check everything, and double check your o2 sensor wires aren't rubbing on anything like the ground or your shift linkage.

KSWEST

Will check. Assuming I figure out what is causing limp mode, do you think it is sheer luck that the speedo didn't work with the new unit or is there something I missed when I was checking it all?

beeseeries

Maybe you have a bad ground, bad wire or connection on the VSS. I'm not sure as I can't look the car over. Check out the o2 though and check out the wiring for the VSS.

KSWEST

Alright, well I once overed everything. No bad grounds, no loose wires, no random things unplugged. She ran like a champ, no CEL or anything for about 2 minutes while driving this morning and then she went limp again, though no CEL came on... I'm so dumbfounded right now about this whole thing...

Importdj67

try putting on ur original speed sensor... see if that changes anything...

SpoonfedCivic

I'm sure you looked at this already, but did you check fuse number 15 under your dash? If that is blown then you might have a bare wire in your engine harness under the bracket of your intake manifold that is shorting causing all of these issues.

KSWEST

Both have been done, Original speed sensor, new one, old one, one from a different transmission.

Yes. Fuse 15 was checked, not popped, and still replaced anyways. I have fine toothed everything that I can get to right now.

Lastly, and newest developments, now I went back out to put my timing gun on it just to see if maybe I jumped a tooth or something and now she won't even fire up. She turns 2, maybe 3 times, then just stops... (rrrrrnnnn, rrrrrnnnn, chck)

O.o

beeseeries

Check voltage at the battery terminals, with it off then while the car is running. Sounds like a bad alt and a dead battery because of it.

KSWEST

Matter of factly it was electrical though it was neither the battery nor the alternator. I took a few hours to think about why all of the sudden it was acting like it was in limp mode without throwing any codes and it dawned on me that my friend hosed out the engine bay the night previous when we finished under the hood. Long story short, the distributor cap had gotten a tiny bit of water in it causing corrosion on most of the metal inside and caused shorting while driving. Luckily, I had literally just bought a cap/rotor/plug/wire bunch last week because I eventually wanted to put them all in. Thanks for your help man, I'll keep you posted, had to order another speed sensor.

SpoonfedCivic

Good thinking! I'm glad you were able to find this, because it would for sure cause the issues you having. Good luck and keep us posted!