Hello all,

So i have a problem with my car hoping for guidence

Issue
I was driving a long the other day and my speed odometer stoped working and so did my Odometers and trip Odometers. and my check engine light came on. continued driving and my radio died and car died right after. got it towed home.

The next moringing my car started no problem my same issue no speed odometer so i hooked up my multi tested and wached the battery drop ( so i know bad alternator)

so i changed my alternator and check engine light was still on and my battery was only reading 12 volts which was low , but now my speed odometer now doesn't show my speed but jumps randomly and my day lights would dim and get brighter but if i reved my engine the lights would be fine as the voltage in my battery went up.

So the next morning i took my car to my friends shop and tested the battery/alternator. the alternator failed so i took it back and we installed it and same issue.

So in testing we found that Fuse 15 (7.5) was blown changed that and now my car battery is charging at 14.6 while at an idle and at 15 Amps.

so one problem down now have a check engine light and a non working speed odometer. so we hooked up the computer to get any error codes and found out my o2 sensor was shot and that is casing the check engine light (no big deal) problem 2 solved

But now problem 3 i am stumped
still don't have a working speed odometer as it jumps all over the place if i am driving at a consistant speed it stays at zero but soon as i adjust gas it jumps all over the place and my odometer is registering the KM prperly as i drove 40 and it registered that i drove 8. doubled checked all the fuses and they were fine

any ideas would help thank you

 

When your speedo goes out theres only one thing that could be wrong. Its your VSS, Vehicle speed sensor, Its really easy to reach and replace.

It could be a wiring issue though but its not very likely unless you car has electrical issues.

 

Unfortunately there is definitely NOT "only one thing that could be wrong," especially considering the multitude of other electrical issues you mentioned. This is a pretty common problem on a 5th and 6th gen civic. Search it on Google and find a never-ending list of forum posts asking "what is going on with my speedo?" I've checked out A LOT (like, maybe ALL of them) of postings on this topic, because MY Civic is doing it, too. Most people have speedo/odo problems, fuse # 15 is constantly popping, check engine light/O2 sensor issues, and other problems start to pop up over time, like the dimming headlights you mentioned. One guy (who noticed, like I did, that the problem goes away when the heater is on for a while) claims he fixed the problem by re-soldering his cluster. Others say that swapping the cluster worked. Those people were in the vast minority, while the majority are left scratching their heads after several expensive part replacements that yielded no results.

NOT ONE person of all the posts I saw found a problem with the VSS, as strange as that sounds. It is possible that you are the exception and your issue IS a bad VSS, but it CERTAINLY isn't the ONLY thing it could be, and it doesn't come close to explaining the other issues you are having.

Here's what MIGHT explain your problem: Far and away the fix that seems most successful (according to the forums) is to check for and repair any bare wires found in the area between the firewall and the intake manifold. The bare wires may be touching each other or grounding out inside your engine compartment, which would explain BOTH the weird electrical disturbances, AND your blown #15 fuse, and would also account for the other problems that accumulate over time as the insulation wears further and further away. I haven't had a chance to fix it on my own car, but again, according to the forums that solution seems to work every time.

I will say as a caveat that most of the postings about this topic did not have the EXACT kind of speedo issues you are describing, so keep your mind open to other possibilities, but I hope this helps.

Let us know how it goes for you.


Modified by NJEK at 12:09 AM 6/11/2008


Modified by NJEK at 12:16 AM 6/11/2008


Modified by NJEK at 12:24 AM 6/11/2008