I kid you not I clean up the contacts on my AT shifter and replaced my power steering pump and now my speedometer doesn't work.

Does anyone have any ideas?
I lifted the cruise control unit out of the way to get to pump but I reconnected the two hoses and the power connector for the cruise control.

In the console I unplugged the two connectors on the drivers side of the shifter that goes into the white and black board but I plugged those back in also.

Anyone have any ideas on what I could have done in those two areas to not make my speedo work?
I had my speed sensor replaced so many years ago when this came up before so that unit isn't that old.

No check engine lights and no blinking "S" light on AT.
Thanks

 

Did you disconnect your battery before disconnecting or reconnecting anything else?

 

I did not.
Wasn't working on anything power related so I didn't bother.

I disconnected neg over night to reset ecu though.
Going to test that and the cruise control here in a bit.

 

Resetting ECU was a no go.

Also, the cruise control works just fine.

Did the speedo in the cluster just so happen to go bad?

 

Maybe your VSS crapped out when you were cleaning everything up?

 

I was thinking that also.
Let me ask you a few questions:

Isn't the VSS on the tranny? I was working on the drivers side of the engine.

Also, does cruise control work if the VSS is shot?

 

The VSS is on the rear top side of the transmission (manual and auto), it should (as far as I know for your model/year) have a three wire pigtail coming out of it. I don't THINK the cruise control would work, but I'm not an expert in that subject.

 

Darn, I wasn't even working in that area and my cruise control is working properly.

:0(

 

Anyone else have any ideas or do you guys think the speedo cluster just happened to go bad after working on those few items I mentioned in the OP?

 

You'd be one of the few that have had a speedo on a 4th gen go out.....a 5th gen a whole different story.

Cruise works......does the odo and trip work? Please tell me when you were cleaning the contacts that the battery was not connected.

 

Speedo, trip and odo do not work.

I unplugged the shift sensor board and cleaned it up on my work bench.
It resolved the issue of the shifter not going back into park when the car is cold.
The end result was you could not take the key out of the ignition when this happened.

 

If your cruise control works then you're speed sensor is working properly. There's something wrong with the connection or wiring in the things you unplugged.

 

That's what I can't figure out, so far in my research nothing I unplugged has anything to do with the speedo.

That's why I created this thread in hopes that someone could shed some light on the speedo operation.
So far things point to the VSS and speed sensor but I never messed with that area.

The only areas I messed with is the AT shifter (Which works great) and the cruise control (which again works great).

 

Well if this makes you feel any better...

I replaced sparkplug oil seals and valve cover gasket on the weekend. Fired up the engine and got a CEL code 4 (crankshaft position sensor). Never had a CEL on this car in the few months we owned it (91 Accord). Replaced distributor last night and now all appears to be fine. What does one have to do with the other...nothing.

I tell ya it's frustrating when things like this happen for no apparent reason. I was beginning to think that this Honda doesn’t like me.

Review everything you did prior to the problem, which it sounds like you've already done then forget about it and treat this as a fresh unrelated issue.

Sorry, I wish I had better advice! Feeling better...I doubt it. Good Luck!

 

Well I guess misery does love company.

I'm glad you were able to get your issue resolved, unrelated issues when working on something else has to be the worst situation to be in when working on a car.

I'm trying to get all the little things taken care of on this car because my daughter will have her licenses this summer and I took care of a bunch of small things that day (stuff I've been putting off for a few years) and now the speedo doesn't work.

Like you said I think my car doesn't like me anymore.

I may have to start picking the brains of a few local mechanics I trust.

 

Blazinmiller,

There's about 400 threads about speedometer issues. Get a spare cluster and see if it works - if it does, swap out the speedometer portion.

 

I have some new info.

I drove the car to pick the brain of a trusted mechanic I know and the entire way there the speedo was working. On the way back it wasn't working at all.

After talking with the Honda tech he verified that the VSS must be working correctly if cruise control works while the speedo doesn't work.

So it looks like it's the actual speedometer in the instrument panel that's going bad.
Hopefully that's an easy swap, would like to match the miles up also, my 90 has pretty low miles.

So in the end, it was just coincidence that it stopped working around the time I was doing other things.
Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

OK, you're making headway! That’s good to know and please report back with the resolution when you get it figured out, may help others...