My speedometer is having spasms. If im cruising at about 50 it will drop down then pop back up (Drop down and get your eagle on). Kinda like someone is turning the power to it on and off. Or kinda like a tach would behave. It happend after i was going fast on the highway. I checked the connector near the tranny, thats cool. What to do? Cant find much info.

 

Just buy some rims...that should fix it.

 

Hahahaha, tru.

 

well if it's not your speed sensor its the speedometer itself. i had the same problem. i got a speedometer from another cluster, put it in and it's worked perfect ever since.

 

Were the speed reading off before yours went out? I think mine is off by at least 5 mph.

 

as far as i know it was still reading accurately. that's when the speedometer was actually working of course.

 

anyhow, is the VSS connected tight?

 

pull the speed sensor from the tranny and check the plastic pinion. do the meshes looked stripped?

 

It is either the Vehicle Speed Sensor, located on the top of the transmission directly behind the engine (about $75 from most suppliers) or the speedometer itself.
I purchased a new VSS from Rockauto.com and replaced it only to find that wasn't the problem (but, I have a VSS standing by for the day it DOES go). Bought a new cluster on eBay, switched out the speedometer (to keep the odometer true) and it's been fine since. Since it's intermittent, smart money is on a bad speedometer.

 

Disconnect the speedometer then you won't get as much miles and can rip off the person you sell it to.

 

WTF? Don't give people crap advice Dave.

 

Yeah im with you on that one. I was thinking the same thing. Man my bezel is giong to be hard to get off to swap.

 

I had the exact same problem with an intermittant working speedometer. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes when it wasn't working, I could tap the accel pedel a couple times and the speedometer would start working for awhile, but would stop working soon afterwards. There is a very simple fix that cost NOTHING. Try it, it was something I picked up here on the .org.

These are instructions for the VG engine, your VE may be set-up differently:

The VSS is located in the bottom of the engine compartment, near the rear of the engine. It is small, black shaped cylinder with the top being a little larger than a quarter, with a wire coming off of it. It is just below the oil filter on the VG engine.

The VSS over time (12 years?) has shifted upward, partially out of it's housing, and is gradually losing electrical contact internally. You can verify this by feeling the top of the VSS with your fingers. There should be no gap between the top of the VSS and the rest of the housing body. If you're having speedometer problems, the top of the VSS is about 1/16th of an inch higher than the housing (or even less). HERE'S THE SOLUTION: Just tap down on the the top of the VSS with a hammar to push it back in. There's not a lot of room for maneuvering behind the engine, so I used a socket extender (or any solid bar) to tap down on the VSS with the hammar. Just a soft tap or two with the hammar will push it back into place. Now your done! Just drive it to confirm that it's working again. If not, then you can pursue what these other guys said. Takes about five minutes, including finding the hammar.

It seems so simple (and free!) that I was amazed that it worked. But it's been nine months now, and my speedometer (and odometer) continue to work fine. Really amazing tip, which I can't take credit for. But it worked!

 

I would tap on the VSS VERY, VERY gently. If it's NOT broken that's one way to break it...

Perhaps a rubber mallet or a rubber-tipped implement. The VSS seemed to have a ceramic or other non-metal sealant on the top and you don't need to crack that and have water getting in there.
You can always just take it out -- one screw and a plug connection. Inspect it for wear. The nylon gear should have nice sharp 'teeth' and move freely. It's a quick check.

One aside for anyone changing a VSS: when you get the new VSS you'll have to change over the nylon gear. BE VERY CAREFUL when removing the spring retaining clip for that gear. I wasn't and it 'sprung' merrily out into the woods adjoining my driveway, never to be seen again. I then had to search high and low for another spring retaining clip of suitable size. Better to just be careful removing the original, eh?

p.s. I'm still betting it's the speedometer.

 

Anyone know where the VSS is on the VE30DE 5spd? Bought a new cluster, it no worky.

 

top of the trans

 

Mucho thanko