Well about 2 weeks ago I got a CEL 17 VSS abnormal or unplugged so I swap out the sensor and it works great for about a week. Now it does the same thing CEL 17 speedo dropped down to 0 and doesnt move. Here is what I have done;

1.Switched the VSS out with another new one from Honda....nothing
2.Honda swapped out the ECU with another......nothing
3.Honda sent a pulse up through the wire at the plug and it moved the speedo
4.The plug has power and ground which I checked and Honda also checked
5.I put my stock Gauge cluster back in and....nothing
6.Checked the fuse and its fine

So I payed Honda the $71 an hour to test the thing and they are telling me that they have no idea but they would be happy to chase wires for $71 an hour until they figure it out I really dont understand how I can have power,ground and a signal running from the plug but not when the the plug is plugged up to the sensor, any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

<--- Jonny, who is begining to get really annoyed.......

 

Chase wires......cross talk burnt through shielding.....bad pin in the plug....it's in the wiring.

 

Should I try hard wiring 3 new wires to the sensor itself (just bypass the plug) or run wires around the plug? Also the plug has 3 wires on it one power one ground and ond pulsed signal, where exactly does the pulsed signal wire go to (I havent got my manual yet) is it the speedometer in the gauge cluster?

 

The pulse signal comes from the Sensor to the guage.

You can look at running lines two ways.
1. You can prove that is it the wiring and still have to follow the wiring through the car.
2. Just follow the wiring through the car and if you don't find anything still wonder if it is the wires.

Thinking about it now, I would run the wires even if it takes more time. Try and run them through the plug that way if it works, you trash the old wires and it works.

 

you ever thought that it might be your differential gear which feeds the speedo gear ?

greg

 

doesnt the VSS signal run to the ECU first and then the speedo, its not a direct connection from the VSS to the speedo. So if thats true, running a wire(s) straight from the sensor to the speedo wont work. I discovered this when fitting a kmph-mph convertor on my JDM integra, i found that when i connected the convertor in-line with the sensor in the engine bay, my speedo stopped working and i got a CEL, but when i connected it in-line from the VSS signal wire at the back of the cluster it worked perfectly. So you need to figure out if its the wiring from the VSS to the ECU or the wiring from the ECU to the cluster thats at fault.


[Modified by mugenracer, 9:59 PM 10/29/2002]

 

I will take one thing for granted. "Your VSS gear on the diff is good." According to your post you changed it out for another sensor and it worked. The easiest solution would be to hard wire the connection b/n the sensor and the cluster/ECU. Make sure you get a good ground and run the wires so that you can remove them easily. There is no sense in routing these wires nicely if you are only testing the circuit.

If this is failing, the you may want to consider having the VSS ring gear inspected. It may be "chewing" up your sensor.

mario-

 

Check your alternator fuse under the dash...I know that it sounds odd, but that's the problem that I was having...it was due to the secondary O2 sensor shorting out and blowing the fuse.

Austin

 

Thanks for all the help guys, I will try to run wires to the sensor direct tommorrow and test the circuit. If it works I will just run three new wires and call it good. I will post up with the results of the tests. Thanks again for the ideas (every one of them better than my local Honda dealer).

 

Before you chase wires and stuff, I've got one thing to say.. KISS.... Keep It Simple Studpid.. That's a rule we have at school..

Anyways.. Instead of stabbing in the dark.. Have you tried to pull up a wiring diagram of the circuit that's causing your problem?.. If so, post it up and I can trace it for you and tell you how to better test the circuit..

If it's a sensor that you need to test, there's one simple way of doing it. Well at least according to class that is.. I remember learning that every sensor is a Variable Resistor.. And all it does is vary the resistance and the ECU sees a voltage change does its thing..

So if I were to test this sensor, I would get a Variable Resistance Meter and dial in the resistance required to make the Load work..

But the best way to test if the wires or the sensor/Load is bad is to jump/bypass it. Just connect the wires to and from the Load and that should make it work..

Hope that somewhat helps..

 

Pull the plug off the sensor. There are 3 pins. Make sure they are coming all the way to the bottom of the plug. People have the tendancy to pull the plug off the sensor by the wires. This in turn makes the pins start to receed from the connector.

If you did everything you did ....I bet this is your problem. I had an old d16y7 in my garage and just cut off that plug and wired it to the existing wires.

 

I didnt see if you mentioned whether your speedo still worked when the ecm set the code? that wire comes off the vss and splits in the harness, one to the speedo head, one to the ecm. whether or not the speedo still worked eliminates at least 1/3 of that circuit.

 

The speedo does not work either nor the odometer. One thing that I found, when I test the 3 wires going into the sensor both my ground and my positive wire both will ground my test lite. So I ran a jumper to the positive directly (assuming that it has a short somewhere) and still nothing.

Now I need to know if the sensor can be shorted out because of the positive wire grounding itself or is the sensor just a mechanical part that only breaks and cant actually short out? I need to know before I go to Honda and drop another $150 on a third sensor

 

ttt

 

it could be a small problem like poor contact on the vss pin in the plug, it happaned on my icm pin before.............

 

i had the same problem as you also. My speend would not move and sometimes jump all over the place. replaced vss and ecu also nothing. Did the checking witha n ohm meter and it came out good. So, what i did was take three wires equal lenght about 2 to 3 inch and put a plug on the end. I than striped the other end and stuck it in the plug coming from the wire harness. Finally i took the other end the side with the pins and stuck them on the vss. Than i put the vss put into the tranny and my speed worked again. I had loose connectors fromthe plug to the vss. You can try that instead of running wires from the ecu, to see if it works fiirst.

 

that also mean both end, the sensor side and the ecu side. my problem of the icm is becuase the pin in the ecu plug is loose, just take the pin out of the ecu plug and adjust it............

 

Well thanks for all the help and suggestions guys, I finally just ran three new wires to the sensor and out to all the locations (cluster, ground, power) and the thing works great now. I suppose I just had a shorted out wire in the harness somewhere. Again thanks for the help, way more knowledgeable than the local Honda dealer.

 

yeah, Bellingham Honda wanted to charged my room mate 500 bucks to diagnose his speedo not working along with numeroud other electrcal problems in his TYpe R because of aftermarket products. They didn;t "think" to ask us if we checked fuses. We went to Bellingham Auto Electric and they dude asked, and I felt like an idiot cause it was the dumb alternator fuse. Jamie at Honda is a good guy though!