speed sensor replacement

jon-nsx · 5 May 2015

hello all, I did some research but couldn't find any article show how to replace this sensor. my car is an auto and I need to replace this sensor asap, thanks in advance.

Larry Bastanza · 5 May 2015

Need more info. Wheel Speed Sensor? Vehicle speed sensor? Please be specific

nsxspdfreak · 5 May 2015

jon-nsx said:
hello all, I did some research but couldn't find any article show how to replace this sensor. my car is an auto and I need to replace this sensor asap, thanks in advance.

Wheel or Vehicle Sensor (VSS)?

Jinks · 6 May 2015

nsxspdfreak said:
Wheel or Vehicle Sensor (VSS)?

Are you talking about an issue with your speedometer? I too need a new v.s.s. Sometimes my speedometer goes to zero but very few often of times. It does this on 3 of the gauge clusters I have owned. It's extremely rare for me. So it's the least of my worry but is this the same problem you are having?

nsxspdfreak · 6 May 2015

Jinks said:
Are you talking about an issue with your speedometer? I too need a new v.s.s. Sometimes my speedometer goes to zero but very few often of times. It does this on 3 of the gauge clusters I have owned. It's extremely rare for me. So it's the least of my worry but is this the same problem you are having?

It happened one time a week earlier during a hard acceleration. At the time I didn't notice the speedometer going to zero because I was paying more attention to the loss of power due to the TCS engaging and the check engine light coming on. I shut the engine down and after restarting the problem disappeared. A week later I went to drive the car and this time I noticed that the speedometer was at zero and after a few minutes the check engine light came on and the TCS engaged. I tried several times to clear it by shutting the engine down, but to no avail. I checked the OBD I code and got a 17 (VSS Low Voltage). I replaced the unit, which solved the problem. Cost was about $40 and took about an 1.5 hours to do. Not too difficult, but it is located in a somewhat tight area.

If your check engine light came up you'll need to pull the code. Even if the check engine light is now off it saves the codes.

Jinks · 6 May 2015

nsxspdfreak said:
It happened one time a week earlier during a hard acceleration. At the time I didn't notice the speedometer going to zero because I was paying more attention to the loss of power due to the TCS engaging and the check engine light coming on. I shut the engine down and after restarting the problem disappeared. A week later I went to drive the car and this time I noticed that the speedometer was at zero and after a few minutes the check engine light came on and the TCS engaged. I tried several times to clear it by shutting the engine down, but to no avail. I checked the OBD I code and got a 17 (VSS Low Voltage). I replaced the unit, which solved the problem. Cost was about $40 and took about an 1.5 hours to do. Not too difficult, but it is located in a somewhat tight area.

If your check engine light came up you'll need to pull the code. Even if the check engine light is now off it saves the codes.

Mine never gave me any code, stalled, or did anything abnormal. Maybe I just have a short in the connector somewhere. But it only happens so very rarely.

nsxspdfreak · 6 May 2015

Jinks said:
Mine never gave me any code, stalled, or did anything abnormal. Maybe I just have a short in the connector somewhere. But it only happens so very rarely.

That's a pain! If it was the sensor you should have had a check engine light. I've been told that it's a good idea to remove the instrument panel and clean all the connections. Hopefully that's all it is and not a speedometer that's on its way out.

Jinks · 6 May 2015

nsxspdfreak said:
That's a pain! If it was the sensor you should have had a check engine light. I've been told that it's a good idea to remove the instrument panel and clean all the connections. Hopefully that's all it is and not a speedometer that's on its way out.

It wouldn't be the first time I had bad or loose connections in my car. These things are very old. My door hinge, ICM, reverse connector, ect ect all were loose.

nsxspdfreak · 6 May 2015

Jinks said:
It wouldn't be the first time I had bad or loose connections in my car. These things are very old. My door hinge, ICM, reverse connector, ect ect all were loose.

I hear ya. This is the first time my car has been really driven on a somewhat regular basis in over 14 years so I expect I'm going to be seeing things like this pop up now and then.

jon-nsx · 6 May 2015

sorry I was referring to vehicle speed sensor which located somewhere on the tranny.

Matt Knight · 7 May 2015

nsxspdfreak said:
It happened one time a week earlier during a hard acceleration. At the time I didn't notice the speedometer going to zero because I was paying more attention to the loss of power due to the TCS engaging and the check engine light coming on. I shut the engine down and after restarting the problem disappeared. A week later I went to drive the car and this time I noticed that the speedometer was at zero and after a few minutes the check engine light came on and the TCS engaged. I tried several times to clear it by shutting the engine down, but to no avail. I checked the OBD I code and got a 17 (VSS Low Voltage). I replaced the unit, which solved the problem. Cost was about $40 and took about an 1.5 hours to do. Not too difficult, but it is located in a somewhat tight area.

If your check engine light came up you'll need to pull the code. Even if the check engine light is now off it saves the codes.

I had the same problem under similar conditions last month. It was creepy to see the speedo launch to 90 and back to 0 while the tach was going from 6000 to 7000.

The speed sensor connector (on top of the trnasmission) was loose. Clicked it back into place and has been fine since (about 500 miles).

Best of luck,

Matt

Larry Bastanza · 7 May 2015

jon-nsx said:
sorry I was referring to vehicle speed sensor which located somewhere on the tranny.

The vehicle speed sensor is located at the top of the trans, just above the dif. The assy is held in with one bolt. Remove the entire assy, then change the sensor and replace the assy. Pretty easy repair. Look this up in the service manual and you can see the exact position.

HTH,
LArryB

jon-nsx · 7 May 2015

^^^ same location as for automatic tranny?

Jinks · 8 May 2015

Larry Bastanza said:
The vehicle speed sensor is located at the top of the trans, just above the dif. The assy is held in with one bolt. Remove the entire assy, then change the sensor and replace the assy. Pretty easy repair. Look this up in the service manual and you can see the exact position.

HTH,
LArryB

Thanks for the info Larry. Something else I can check.

nsxspdfreak · 8 May 2015

Jinks said:
Thanks for the info Larry. Something else I can check.

If you end up having to replace the VSS:
Remove the air box to gain access to the area. Some guys also dismount the control box (has all the vac lines going into it), but I didn't find that necessary. The VSS is held in place by 2 10mm bolts. There is one larger bolt on the left side, but do not remove that one. The bolt on the right side is difficult to see and you'll need a flex socket or universal to get to it. Remove the 2 bolts, disconnect the wire plug and the unit will pull straight up with the heat shield. It may require a bit of a pull to break the rubber o-ring seal. The drive shaft may stick in the the tranny, if it does just leave it there for now. The new VSS has a new shaft. Now you'll need to align the new VSS with the tranny. Place the drive shaft in the tranny (unless the old is still in the tranny), note it's position in relation to the engine, then take it out. Place the new drive shaft in the new VSS and rotate the drive shaft to approximately the position it will be in to match the tranny's alignment. Once you do that place the new drive shaft in the tranny and then install the VSS. Make sure it's seated all the way down (if the alignment is off you won't be able to properly seat the VSS) before bolting back into place. That's all there is to it.

Larry Bastanza · 8 May 2015

jon-nsx said:
^^^ same location as for automatic tranny?

Yes....

davidf · 8 May 2015

Great write up.:wink:

nsxspdfreak said:
If you end up having to replace the VSS:
Remove the air box to gain access to the area. Some guys also dismount the control box (has all the vac lines going into it), but I didn't find that necessary. The VSS is held in place by 2 10mm bolts. There is one larger bolt on the left side, but do not remove that one. The bolt on the right side is difficult to see and you'll need a flex socket or universal to get to it. Remove the 2 bolts, disconnect the wire plug and the unit will pull straight up with the heat shield. It may require a bit of a pull to break the rubber o-ring seal. The drive shaft may stick in the the tranny, if it does just leave it there for now. The new VSS has a new shaft. Now you'll need to align the new VSS with the tranny. Place the drive shaft in the tranny (unless the old is still in the tranny), note it's position in relation to the engine, then take it out. Place the new drive shaft in the new VSS and rotate the drive shaft to approximately the position it will be in to match the tranny's alignment. Once you do that place the new drive shaft in the tranny and then install the VSS. Make sure it's seated all the way down (if the alignment is off you won't be able to properly seat the VSS) before bolting back into place. That's all there is to it.

nsxspdfreak · 8 May 2015

davidf said:
Great write up.:wink:

Glad to help.

speed sensor replacement

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