YACT

[dabuddha]

Car:
1994 Honda Accord LX

Problem:
The speedometer is always stuck around 20mph. When I first start the car, the needle will jump up to like 40ish or so and quickly settle back to 20mph. Then whenever I'm driving, it'll hover around 20mph only. Once in awhile, the needle will start working properly.
I also noticed that whenever this is happening, my odometer stops rolling as well. Same with the tripometer.
The gas gauge has never worked properly in this car. It's always been about 1/4 tank off (too low).

Solution?:
One mechanic I talked to told me it most likely is the instrument cluster. He wants to charge me $95 labor to replace it. I found used clusters on ebay for ~$60.00
I looked at my Haynes Manual for this car and saw that it doesn't seem too difficult to change.

Question:
Does that sound like what the problem could be? I figure I can try it out and if the new cluster still does the same thing, I'll just throw it back on ebay.

TIA 🙂

EDIT: Oh also I forgot to mention. The RPM needle seems to be working just fine.

 

[Shawn]

Sounds like the speedometer cable to me.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Shawn
Sounds like the speedometer cable to me.

Would that cause the odometer to fail as well?

 

[HiTek21]

I'm not sure if your car is similar to mine but if it's automatic it could possibly be a bad vehicle speed sensor (VSS). On the acura legends it's a comon problem, usually the D4 light blinks and the the speedometer & tachometer fluxuate erraticly

 

[OrganizedChaos]

i can pull the instrument cluster in my explorer in less than 20 min. there not hard id you've done it before

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: HiTek21
I'm not sure if your car is similar to mine but if it's automatic it could possibly be a bad vehicle speed sensor (VSS). On the acura legends it's a comon problem, usually the D4 light blinks and the the speedometer & tachometer fluxuate erraticly

Hmmm well the speedometer doesn't really fluctuate I suppose. Well I dunno. It's always hovering around 20mph and when I'm going over 20mph, it doesn't really move at all. Only when I'm going slower than it kinda wiggles around 20mph.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: Shawn
Sounds like the speedometer cable to me.

Would that cause the odometer to fail as well?

yeah. at least that's how it works on my car.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Shawn

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: Shawn
Sounds like the speedometer cable to me.

Would that cause the odometer to fail as well?

yeah. at least that's how it works on my car.

What does the cable hook up to? Like from the cluster to...
This doesn't sound like a simple repair to me anymore 🙁

 

[dabuddha]

Oh also I forgot to mention. The RPM needle seems to be working just fine.

 

[NutBucket]

There's no cable. If the car seems to be driving fine then replace the cluster.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: NutBucket
There's no cable. If the car seems to be driving fine then replace the cluster.

No cable?

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: NutBucket
There's no cable. If the car seems to be driving fine then replace the cluster.

No cable?

don't listen to anyone.

it depends on the car, whether the speedometer is electronic and gets its information from the ECM, or it has a speedometer cable.

 

[Ktulu]

Shens, its a HONDA so its unbreakable

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: NutBucket
There's no cable. If the car seems to be driving fine then replace the cluster.

No cable?

don't listen to anyone.

it depends on the car, whether the speedometer is electronic and gets its information from the ECM, or it has a speedometer cable.

Pepsi Is correct, but most cars starting in the early 90s had electronic spedos.
Find a Haynes or Chilton's manual to see what type your car has and how to take it out and replace it.

 

[KokomoGSTmp]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: dabuddha

Originally posted by: NutBucket
There's no cable. If the car seems to be driving fine then replace the cluster.

No cable?

don't listen to anyone.

it depends on the car, whether the speedometer is electronic and gets its information from the ECM, or it has a speedometer cable.

Pepsi Is correct, but most cars starting in the early 90s had electronic spedos.
Find a Haynes or Chilton's manual to see what type your car has and how to take it out and replace it.

Right, some cars have devices on/in the trans to determine speedo signal. Some just wheel speed sensor... pick up that manual and hopefully it will have the info you need. You might actually be able to find a Honda service manual for the car on Fleabay as well... for backup purposes of course.

 

[dabuddha]

I've got the haynes manual right in front of me 🙂 What exactly do I need to search for?