Speedometer & VSS

[T3aM 83rD]

CAR: 90 lx 2dr Manual

Last night while driving around i noticed the speedometer at 0 while I was cruising. Continue driving and all-of-a-sudden it jumps up to my speed, it reads accurately for a couple of minutes then goes back to 0, after being at 0 for about 3 mins. the check engine light comes on.

Get to my destination shut off the car, start is back up, No check engine light; drive it, No speedometer. But the same thing, after being at 0 for a couple if minutes the check engine light appears.

I have been reseaching this problem since this I woke up and I came to the conclusion that is could be the Vehicle Speed Sensor. But I have a few questions before I replace it.

(1) Yesterday before the problem I installed my radio and ran all the wires for my system, could that have anything to do with it?

(2) Does VSS failure effects happen right away, like when its broken doesnt work at all, or could it be faulty where it works sometimes and doent work sometimes?

(3) Most of the cases that I found on here, people had automatics. They all stated that the VSS is located on the back of the tranny, towards the firewall. Is it the same location on the manual?

[jhondayaaj]

yes it's at the same location. and most likely it is your vss. I don't think that with you installing your system will have an effect on it.

[T3aM 83rD]

I noticed today that when the speedometer isnt working, the odometer (mileage) isnt working either, neither the main one or the trip one.

Is this also a sign of a dying/dead VSS?

PS: While driving today the Speedometer did read correctly for about 2 seconds then it fell back to 0 for the rest of the day.

[Leung]

you know i've noticed my odometer wasn't working either which leads me to believe that there probably isn't just only 138K miles on there...

i've got an automatic btw.

[jay78]

from when i bought it in 05, i never had one time where the speedo on your car didnt work.

being a 420 man, i keep everything legal and never ever drive a car where i cant tell how fast im going.

[jhondayaaj]

if your vss is not working, then your odmeter does not know if the vehicle is moving or not. therefore, your vss may be the possible cause. that's just my guess though.

[T3aM 83rD]

bump, i havent had time to order a new VSS or play around with the current one but I tried to locate it and couldnt find it,
Does anyone have a picture of where it is under the hood? I have ebay pictures to show me what the part looks like but I just cant find it.

[jhondayaaj]

look behind the trans. there should be two hoses coming out of it to the power steering rack.

[T3aM 83rD]

UPDATE:

So I ordered a VSS from ebay and paid a little less thatn $30. Finally put it on yesterday and everything works fine.

The only thing was, it was a major pain in the ass to get the old one out and the new one in.

[UrDoneSRH]

if you take out your intake it should be really freakin easy its straight down from the thermostat housing. just look for a couple of coolant hoses about 1 1/2 inches that bend over towards the intake manifold, straight down from there is the transmission and on top of the transmission is the VSS. 2 screws hold it on, unplug it and put in the new one.

[nycpatron]

i have the same problem but on my EH2 i went to the junk jard and grabed one replaced it but still the same i checked the wiring behind the cluster but it all looks good but someone told me that you can clean your vss and it will work 99 of the times but i dont know how to. my budy told me to do it with a q tip but that makes no sence...

[nycpatron]

did you have to drive to get it back where it suposed to be or as soon as u turned it on it whent back to place?

UPDATE:

So I ordered a VSS from ebay and paid a little less thatn $30. Finally put it on yesterday and everything works fine.

The only thing was, it was a major pain in the ass to get the old one out and the new one in.