Looking for assistance on problems with the odometer & speedometer on my wife's '90 SE. It has the standard dash. For several years we have noticed the odometer occasionally stopping for several miles, then re-starting. Recently the speedometer is doing the same thing. On start up it will work fine. Then very often, the first time we stop briefly for any reason, when we get rolling again the needle stays at the bottom. It normally will not work again until the car has been turned off for awhile. Is this an electronic dash, and circuits are going bad?

Also have a problem with the OEM Bose stereo system. We get sound out of rear only, bad crackling when moving the volume ****, and an occasional very loud noise. Sounds like the head unit may be bad in additional to at least one amp???

Paul R

 

I have the exact same problem with my speedometer.but I just give it a hearty smack on the dasboard and it usually stops...gotta show your car whos boss...

 

often, it's the speed sensor that goes bad. they're about $60 from the dealer, if I remember right. pretty easy replacement. it's on the top-back of the tranny, just below the brake master cylinder.

the Bose is just crap.. sounds like you've got a couple of bad amps and the head unit is going down with it. the scratchy volume can be fixed by cleaning the ****- that's pretty typical with rotary *****.. if you can't get cleaner to fix it, just turn the radio off and turn the **** from full volume to off really fast about a zillion times to wear the dirt off the contacts. I've "resurrected" several that way.

 

so if you replace the speed sensor. will it fix the odometer problem... i'm having the same problem in my car as well.

 

I searched for a very long time but I founf the fix for this. Take off the speedometer sensor. there is a black cap at te top where the wires go in. Press the cap back into the metal casing. there is a notch where the wires go. I just put it is a vise and pressed it in. Hope that helps. And for the amps you can go to radio shack and get new capasitors and replace the bad ones on the amp. I just put in a new deck.

 

My previous maxima was a '91 SE, had the same problem and the same solution. I used to get mad at it, because I didn't like missing miles on the odo (for maintenance reasons), so I would really give it a hearty tolchok, and often it worked. The condition was worse in summer, when it was hot and humid. Also, rainy weather almost always upset it. Mine used to shoot up past 125 mph to the stopper, and that's the only time the odo didn't work - the times when the needle just fluttered, or stayed on zero, the odo ticked-off the miles (how accurately I don't know). The last time someone ran a thread like this (it's a pretty common problem), someone put up a link to a page with instructions on cleaning your odo unit, indicating that the speed sensor was not always at fault. This makes sense to me, given the effect of temperature and humidity on mine.

 

Thanks for the helpful info on the speedometer. I have been experiencing the same problem and now the speedometer only works below 40 MPH and only when I have my foot on the gas. When I step off the needle drops to zero.

Concerning your Bose. Check out http://willmanselectronics.com/ My front passenger speaker was making popping noise with no sound and they repaired the amp for $75 and it sounds like new. I sent out the other front speaker because it sounded anemic compared to the repaired one.

 

Sounds like dry joints in the speedo unit. Easily fixed with a soldering iron or a new / secondhand speedo unit.

Brent.

 

The old VCR trick. (VCRs were what they had before DVD players)

 

Before you go out and purchase a new speed sensor, try cleaning it first. Two screws gets the sensor off the tranny if I remember correctly, and you can pull the magnetic pickup assembly inside off. Clean it with some brake cleaner fluid first (you'll see that a good amount of the inside of the sensor is submerged in transmission fluid, so clean it good), and then reassemble to see if that works. That's how I solved my bad speedometer problem on my '89 SE when I bought the car 3 years ago, and now, 50k miles later, the speedometer is still working.

-Alan

 

Thanks for the help.