Speedometer doesn't work!!!
 

Hello,

My 1992 Maxima's speedometer is not working, all other gauges are working. Someone told me that there is a sensor on the transmission that needs to be changed. But I remember older model cars having a cable controling the speedometer. So I would like to know if anyone has a write-up on fixing/troubleshooting the speedometer.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

I took the time to read through the 13 pages posted in this forum, since I can't use the search feature, and I guess this is a common problem.

I don't have an owner's manual for this car, so I was wondering if someone can post some pics to show me the location of the speedometer sensor? Is it easily accessible?

I guess I would try to see if there is a loose connection first and maybe purchase a new one to swap out. Now I just need to find the cheapest one.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

what you want to change is the speed sensor, I have an 89 tranny and if you have a manual tranny its no different than yours its where you fill the tranny with transmission fluid. The sensor just pops out and is the sending unit for the speedometer. On an auto im not sure where it is...

my speedometer needle actually fell to the other side, when the car reaches
35 mph the needle sitts at 80 mph.......my sppedometer is going crazy.....

The transmission is automatic with 137K miles.

Another piece of the puzzle that I did not mention is that the speedometer works when cold or at least for a few miles, then it dies.

Is the RPM gauge tied to the same sensor? The RPM gauge works.

Thank you.

Ok, looked in a 92 service manual and here is how you check the speed sensor. Basicly it is just a small a/c generator which increases voltage the faster it spins, so take the unit out and disconnect the termanals. Spin it quickly with your fingers and take a volt meter and put it on the termanals, you should get around .5v AC. Make sure voltmeter is on AC not DC. If nothing replace it.

Lacation:
Looking at your car from the front on the right side all the way in the back where the shifter linkage ties in you will see a round unit about 1 and 1/2 inches in diameter. It will have 1 bolt holding it down and only 2 wires coming out of it.

another thing you might want to check just to pinpoint the problem is see if your cruis control works. If it does work then it is not your sending unit it is actualy in the needle guage its self.

My '92 GXE had a dead RPM. The car was sitting in a garage for about a month, and getting rained on (next to an open "window"), and when I started it, the RPM jumped around like crazy before it died.

I got an '91 SE speedometer cluster from ebay, but the jerks sold me one with dead speedometer, and working RPM.

Because my working speedo had orange GXE needles and the SE speedometer had white RPM needle, I decided to take another chance on ebay and got another VG SE speedometer (this is before I foundout that I could use the VE SE Cluster).

I then opened up the cluster, swapped the odometer with the correct one, and even added an electroluminescent gauge (without the ricey "halo"). The proudest part on my car is the cluster. I'll try to post a pic.

By the way, my cruise control is dead, so symptom-wise, it could have been a sending unit, but it turned out to be the cluster itself...