This is on a 00 Civic with a manual d16y8.

The speedometer quit working, throwing a P0500 MIL. The needle wasn't moving at all, then for a while was jumping wildly, then quit completely again.

I pulled the VSS and found that the middle pin was corroded and broken off into the connector. I was able to get the pin out of the connector with a paperclip and pliers (I'm fairly sure it came out in one piece), and I ordered a VSS from an ebay junkyard. The guy said that it was for a 96-00 manual.

I got the VSS in, and it looked a little different from my broken one. It was labeled as being a 98 MT. I put it in, reset the CEL, and the speedometer is still not working.

I looked in my helm's and noticed that the troubleshooting procedures for this are a little different between 96-98 and 99-00 because the ECU pinouts are different, but I wasn't able to find out if the pinouts on the VSS connector are different between the years. Could that be the cause of my problem, or did I get a bad VSS?

Cliffs: does a 96-98 VSS work on a 99-00, or do you have to change the pins? What should the pinouts be? Why is my speedometer not working after replacing the VSS?

 

come on, someone's gotta know something about this...

 

If it isn't from an S40 trans, it won't work. Chances are you got the wrong VSS, but you should be able to tell that from the shape of the connector, so if they look exactly the same, I guess it could be bad.

 

yeah, the connectors do look exactly the same.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vindicator9000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yeah, the connectors do look exactly the same.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is there alot of play in the gear on the VSS? Does it move up and down if you jiggle it?

 

change the speedometer motherboard, I had the same problem and it fixed it for me

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by . a d a m &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is there alot of play in the gear on the VSS? Does it move up and down if you jiggle it?</TD></TR></TABLE>

On both the stock and the new one, the entire shaft that the gear is on moves in and out a little bit - maybe a little more than 1/16". I assumed it was normal, since it was happenning on both.

 

any more ideas? are the pinouts the same on a 96-98 vss as on a 99-00?

 

Finally figured it out, in case anyone else has this problem.

Called the stealership, and they said that 96-98 manual VSS is the same part # as 99-00 VSS (even though it looks different), so I'm good there. Pinouts are the same. The same day, my speedometer magically started working again - intermittantly. It was bouncing around a lot, so I decided I had a short somewhere.

I inspected the plug again and removed the little white plastic piece in the middle female VSS connector and found that part of the metal in the connector was corroded away. I cut a little piece of a staple and shoved it in there (until I can get a new connector) to replace the piece that had corroded away. Working great now.

 

yo, can i get a PM...im having the same problem...where is this VSS located?? i dont know none about this speed sensor..thanks

 

mines still is like that but i have no clue wats wrong with mine....it'll bounce all thru the mph...and can someone please tell me wats a vss so i can fix mines?...thanks

 

vehicle speed sensor??? i dont know...

 

Since Armed was asking where the VSS is, here's pics.

In this pic, the intake arm is on the left side, directly over my hand Distributor would be past the upper right corner of the picture.


Here's a better pic of the VSS:


One 10mm bolt removes it. The big grey thing that it's bolted into is the transmission.

 

so thats on the tranny... does the b16a2 got a different VSS from a d16y8???

 

yes it's different, but it's in the same area, and works the same way.

 

I just went through this problem. I have a 99' ek1 and my spedometer would stop working. I read the codes and i had the p0500 code. The probable cause was a speed sensor circuit fault. From what it sounds like, your speed sensor went bad and you replaced it with one that should work. Check your fuse # 15 in the in car fuse box and see if it is blown. Also check to see if your speed sensor is giving an electrical output... to find that out... put ur front wheels on blocks so the wheels can move but the car cannot go anywhere... then there should be 3 wires comming out of the vss sensor, the middle one should be your output. Use a voltage meter to see if it is giving an output when you accelerate, or rotate the wheel... the voltage meter should read a pulse between 0 and 5 volts. also check the engine wire that is under the intake manifold for any exposed wiring or possible shorts in the wire.

hope this helps

 

damn..will do that tomorrow..thanks