Speed sensor or ?

I have a question concerning my 96 Honda Civic DX.
1.6 5 speed manual transmission.
My speedometer works when it wants i.e.
somketimes I'll get in the can and drive off and the speedo works.Other days
I'll be driving up the road and it won't work for say 10 or 15 miles.Would
you say it's the speed sensor that goes into the transmission or the
indicator in the dash itself.Either way it's not good because the part in
the dash has to be either obtained from a Honda dealer or a junkyard.The one
that goes in the transmission I priced at an auto parts store for better
than $150.00
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Will
Will

 

My educated guess is that the speed sensor will trigger the "check engine"
light if it fails. My focus would be on the dash. If you have some nerve and
circuit board experience, resoldering of the speedometer and/or replacement
of the electrolytic capacitors in the speedometer would be a cheap and
likely fix.

Mike

 

I had the same problem on my 99 LX... It was the perfect oportunity
to replace it with one from an EX. Now I got a tach... whole thing from
a wreck for $100cnd... Worked perfect ever since.

 

I agree with Mike, a bad speed sensor (VSS) would turn on the MIL. When
your speedometer fails, does the odometer still work? If so, you can be
certain the VSS is fine, as the odometer uses the same VSS signal as the
speedometer.

 

:
: OICU812 wrote:
: >
: > I have a question concerning my 96 Honda Civic DX.
: > 1.6 5 speed manual transmission.
: > My speedometer works when it wants i.e.
: > somketimes I'll get in the can and drive off and the speedo works.Other
days
: > I'll be driving up the road and it won't work for say 10 or 15
miles.Would
: > you say it's the speed sensor that goes into the transmission or the
: > indicator in the dash itself.Either way it's not good because the part
in
: > the dash has to be either obtained from a Honda dealer or a junkyard.The
one
: > that goes in the transmission I priced at an auto parts store for better
: > than $150.00
: > Any help would be appreciated.
: > Thanks in advance,
: > Will
: > Will
:
: I agree with Mike, a bad speed sensor (VSS) would turn on the MIL. When
: your speedometer fails, does the odometer still work?
Nope the whole thing gives up.

If so, you can be
: certain the VSS is fine, as the odometer uses the same VSS signal as the
: speedometer.

 

: : > I have a question concerning my 96 Honda Civic DX.
: > 1.6 5 speed manual transmission.
: > My speedometer works when it wants i.e.
: > somketimes I'll get in the can and drive off and the speedo works.Other
: > days
: > I'll be driving up the road and it won't work for say 10 or 15
miles.Would
: > you say it's the speed sensor that goes into the transmission or the
: > indicator in the dash itself.Either way it's not good because the part
in
: > the dash has to be either obtained from a Honda dealer or a junkyard.The
: > one
: > that goes in the transmission I priced at an auto parts store for better
: > than $150.00
: > Any help would be appreciated.
: > Thanks in advance,
: > Will
: > Will
: >
: >
: My educated guess is that the speed sensor will trigger the "check engine"
: light if it fails. My focus would be on the dash. If you have some nerve
and
: circuit board experience, resoldering of the speedometer and/or
replacement
: of the electrolytic capacitors in the speedometer would be a cheap and
: likely fix.
:
: Mike

I'm thinking of replacing the speedometer itself bcause in my original post
I forgot to mention that when I'm driving the vehicle and the speedo's not
working if you reset the trip meter sometimes that jogs the speedo into
working for a second but quits again.That'swhy I was more inclined to
believe it is in the dash.
Oh and because I need a new catylitic converter the check engine light has
been on fof about a month,it's not the oxygen sensor valve I replaced that
and the check engine light came back on after like 200 miles or so anyway
but but that's another can of worms I really don't want to get into right
now,cat converters are not cheap.........anyway ya'll see what I'm sayin'.
Thanks for your input everyone.

 

Good clue - I'd place my bets on solder connections in the dash, especially
on the connector where it attaches to the circuit board.

Mike

 

Although the following may not be helpful it may be inciteful. or even
relevant.

I had the same problem on a Rodeo which I now describe.

The speed sensor is attached to the transmission. Inside the speed
sensor is a nylon gear that petrudes into the transmission. When the
gear spins, a magnet spins and sends a signal to the Engine Control
Module(ECM). The gear is cheap and easy to replace. You just remove
the screws that hold the sensor to the transmission - it will be
obvious if that is the problem. You only purchase the nylon screw -
not the entire sensor. (In my case the failure occured at 100K
miles).

The sensor has a cable to the ECM. From the ECM is a computer like
ribbon cable that goes to the instrument panel. Just like in a PC, the
ribbon cable terminates at the back of the instrument panel. The back
of hte instrument panel is basically like a printed circuit board that
routes the signals to the various instruments. Each instrument is
fastened to the printed circuit board. (I got involved in the
instrument panel for a tach problem - not the speedomenter problem).

The instrument panel is relatively delicate and if you start fussing
around with the speedometer or tachometer - there is a high likelihood
that it will be damaged. These instruments are expensive to replace.
Its hard to find matching parts in the junk yard - in fact everyone I
found seemed to just sell the entire panel.

In terms of the most likely of problems - moving parts usuall fail.

 

My buddy did the same thing and the check eng light didn't come on and it
was: you guess it speed sensor, got one off ebay and works great now, by the
way we changed just the sensor not the gear in the tranny

 

You have a 96 civic? Your cat convertr might be covered under the
extended emission warranty which would mean you can get it replaced for
free. Do a quick search on Honda extended emission warranty on google.

Good luck.