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speedometer quit

Old Jun 9, 2004 | 07:15 AM
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Question speedometer quit

Recently my speedometer just quit while I was riding down the interstate. It jumped around a little, then just went to 0. A few days later it came back to life and worked OK until yesterday. It's done this off-and-on routine a couple of times over the past few months. The odometer also stops, but everything else seems to be working fine. Any comments or suggestions?
 
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Old Jun 9, 2004 | 07:35 AM
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Not much to those. Perhaps the little gear in the tranny is missing teeth and it's slipping.
 
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Old Jun 9, 2004 | 05:27 PM
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Originally Posted by fatbob
Recently my speedometer just quit while I was riding down the interstate. It jumped around a little, then just went to 0. A few days later it came back to life and worked OK until yesterday. It's done this off-and-on routine a couple of times over the past few months. The odometer also stops, but everything else seems to be working fine. Any comments or suggestions?
Not sure what vehicle you are talking about, but the many PSD,s have the speedo sensor located on top the rear differential. The electrical plug could be disconnected, or corroded.
 
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Old Jun 9, 2004 | 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by fatbob
Recently my speedometer just quit while I was riding down the interstate. It jumped around a little, then just went to 0. A few days later it came back to life and worked OK until yesterday. It's done this off-and-on routine a couple of times over the past few months. The odometer also stops, but everything else seems to be working fine. Any comments or suggestions?
Not sure about the early models, but on the Superduties there is a VSS (vehicle speed sensor) mounted in the top of the rear pumpkin that controls the speedo. It's about $20 from Ford and takes about 10 minutes to change....probably the problem if you have one (I think that you do).
 
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Old Jun 10, 2004 | 06:03 AM
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thanks, guys. I'll go after these leads. I tend to agree that it acts more like an electrical problem than a mechanical one.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2004 | 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted by TJC1989
Not sure what vehicle you are talking about, but the many PSD,s have the speedo sensor located on top the rear differential. The electrical plug could be disconnected, or corroded.
No spider gear in the tranny on these??
 
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Old Jun 10, 2004 | 10:32 AM
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Originally Posted by SirHailstone
No spider gear in the tranny on these??
The older Ford tranny's used to have the mechanical gearing coming off the tranny for the speedometer, but the newer ones are electrical. My Toyota 4 Runner is electrical, coming off the tranny, but my Ford PU is electrical, coming off the rear end.
 
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Old Jun 20, 2004 | 08:48 PM
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Originally Posted by fatbob
Recently my speedometer just quit while I was riding down the interstate. It jumped around a little, then just went to 0. A few days later it came back to life and worked OK until yesterday. It's done this off-and-on routine a couple of times over the past few months. The odometer also stops, but everything else seems to be working fine. Any comments or suggestions?
same happened to mine, ended up being the left rear ABS sensor, $60 bucks, free labor, at local ford dealership.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 07:33 AM
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It's come and gone a few times over the past few weeks, but has been off for the past week. I'll try the ABS sensor. I've tried every other lead I could find, and nothing seems loose, dirty, etc. My ABS light has been on for a few years, and I was told by three different dealers that this only meant the sensor was probably dirty and the brakes would still work OK, sans the anti-lock function.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by fatbob
It's come and gone a few times over the past few weeks, but has been off for the past week. I'll try the ABS sensor. I've tried every other lead I could find, and nothing seems loose, dirty, etc. My ABS light has been on for a few years, and I was told by three different dealers that this only meant the sensor was probably dirty and the brakes would still work OK, sans the anti-lock function.
They told me, if the ABS light is on, not to pull any loads, and is they may or may not work.

also, thinking back on it, my speedometer didn't work until I got up to a certain speed, then it kicked on. I think it was around 20mph, but I cannot remember exactly. I was told this was because the ABS sensor and speed sensor are the same.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 12:55 PM
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The ABS not working would only impact the ability of the system to control wheel lock-up in a hard braking situation. I've pulled many miles with up to 10K lbs in tow, with no problems. I'll also note here that i've got 148K miles on the original factory brakes, and periodic inspection indicates that there are many miles left on them. My speedo works fine, or it doesn't work at all. It makes sense that the ABS sensor and the speed sensor may be combined, and perhaps mine just finally reached that point of not being able to read anything. I've been driving by tach, but I'm starting to get a little nervous...they like to write speed tickets around here!
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 02:55 PM
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Bad fish, could you tell me exactly what sensor was replaced? A friends 2000 psd is doing the exact same thing, wont read till 20 mph. thanks.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Hossy
Bad fish, could you tell me exactly what sensor was replaced? A friends 2000 psd is doing the exact same thing, wont read till 20 mph. thanks.
They told me it was the left rear.

But I think if anyone of them goes out, as does the speedometer at low speeds.

Go up to ford and get them to plug it into the computer, or borrow a buddies superchips tuner.

Where are you?

If you're near me, you can use mine.

I am in North Alabama.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 04:24 PM
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As I recall, on the 96, the ABS fuse will also cause a speedo to quit working.

mike
 
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Old Jun 21, 2004 | 04:32 PM
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After further thought, and based on the information in this thread, and ford's historic issues.

I would say you have a bad ground somewhere within you ABS system.

I forgot to mention, at point I was going through a whole host issues, all electrical, I got fed up and started grounding at random to the frame, cleared all electrical issues except the ABS light intermittently coming on and the speedometer no working below 20mph, which was of course the rear ABS sensor which I had replaced.
 
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