So I was hearing a weird rattling noise upon acceleration. I noticed the heatshield covering my headers was loose, so I removed it to see if that was what was making the noise. I drove like that for a day or two before I put it back on. I'm afraid maybe the excess heat caused some electrical damage or something. Whenever I first started the car, the speedometer wouldn't work for a few minutes, then it would kick in and be all shaky and wacky, then settle down and be normal for the duration of the drive. A couple drives later, it stopped working altogether, and the CEL comes on after awhile now also, but is always off for the first 10-30 minutes of a drive. The odometer has also frozen up, although I don't know when that happened exactly.

I thought speedometers were operated off a cable? Is that only in older cars? Is it possible the excess heat from having that heatshield removed damaged some wires or something and caused the speedometer and odometer to stop working and the CEL to come on once the car is warmed up? I looked at the wire harnesses that were closest to the headers and they APPEAR to be ok, although who knows. Maybe those harnesses aren't even related to the gauge cluster? I'm pretty new to Hondas and just don't know where to look to pinpoint the issue. Thanks!

 

sounds like your vss went bad.....i bet your throwing a code 17..
check the cel and post back

 

or the back of the cluster came loose, happend once in my coupe....
but yea if you have a code like ^ said
post that

 

this happened with my car, and it turned out being the gauge cluster itself. Just food for thought before you go buy a VSS for nothing. VSS=vehichle speed sensor, BTW, so no, it is not cable driven. Older cars have that.
crap, I just read your odometer stopped working, that sounds more like a bad VSS. Your heatshield being removed probably doesnt have anything to do with this problem, the VSS and its wires are on top of the tranny underneath the starter, so they are pretty much clear of the heat from your exhaust.

 

Hmm interesting, haven't heard of the VSS. How expensive is it and how easy is it to replace? Thanks for the replies. And just out of curiosity, what is that heatshield for anyway? And what harm could it cause driving without it?

 

If you have a service manual, there are a few steps you can do to test if your VSS is working properly. I had a similar problem, the VSS was ok. My problem was the little circuit board that controls the speedometer. It sits in the cluster, behind the speedometer. Swap out the circuit board with another one and problem solved.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by derblott &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hmm interesting, haven't heard of the VSS. How expensive is it and how easy is it to replace? Thanks for the replies. And just out of curiosity, what is that heatshield for anyway? And what harm could it cause driving without it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

VSS is easy to replace, but I am sure it is not cheap. Just make sure you know what is wrong before you go spending money. You could pick up a cheap VSS at a junkyard i suppose.

 

ya i got my vss off someone for like 40 bucks....
but before you replace it check the connection...on mine one of the plugs(the one's on the vss that the wiring harness plugs into) had competely corroded away and it wasn't getting signal

 

fuse grounds and then last the vss, Make the vss the last thing tho since the rest can be easy fixes

 

A honda mechanic I talked to on the phone said they didn't get vehicle speed sensors until '96? Is that right? And where is the wire harness located so that I can check it for corrosion or damage? Thanks.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by derblott &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A honda mechanic I talked to on the phone said they didn't get vehicle speed sensors until '96? Is that right? And where is the wire harness located so that I can check it for corrosion or damage? Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>
get a new mechanic.....if it didn't have a vss then how would your speedo work? magic?

 

Well he's not my mechanic, I'm usually able to do most work myself, although this is my first car newer than a '77 Is it called something else maybe? I'm also having trouble finding it on any parts websites.

Can anyone tell me where the speed sensor harness is located?

 

nope Vehicle Speed Sensor. I saw the first of them '92+. look on ebay for pics of what they look like.