VSS replacement 98-02 4cyl Manual Trans Accord

[00AccordLX5spd]

Speedometer not working and cruise control not working either? Check engine light with code P0500? Here is a write up of how to replace VSS on a manual transmission 4cyl 2000 Accord. First: Disconnect negative battery terminal. Check fuse. Driver side inside car fuse box. Fuse #6 (15A) on right side. I used the fuse puller from within the underhood fuse box. As you can see below, the fuse is good. Now for the location of the VSS. This is the most difficult thing about the whole job. It is located on the firewall side of the transmission. about 20 inches down from the blue arrow in this pic: I took off the intake tube and tried to shove my camera in there. The VSS is circled in blue: That bolt takes a 13mm socket. I had to use two 10 inch socket extentions to reach it: Socket extension attached to the bolt: Getting the bolt loose is the easy part. Extract the bolt (it's ok if you drop it - I did - it will just fall to the ground if you drop it right) Now for the hard part. I didn't take pictures of this because I couldn't even see what I was doing far less take a picture of it. You have to reach down in there and try to pull the VSS up and out. I did not take the electrical connector loose before i pulled it out - I could not get it loose until I got the unit out. Try pulling up on it first of course. This did not work for me. Here's how i did it: I jacked up the front passenger side so the wheel was off the ground. Transmission is in neutral. I spun the wheel with my left hand while pulling up on the VSS with my right hand and it popped right out. The electrical connection has enough slack that you can pull it up with the unit so you can actually see it to get it loose. It took me prying on it with a screwdriver to get it free even after I could get both of my hands on it. Here's a pic of the connector pulled up so you can see it: Here's a pic of the old VSS on the left and the new VSS on the right: Now hook the electrical connector to the VSS (you could do this after you get the VSS back in the transmission, but i opted to do it first thinking it would be easier. Now you have to try to get the VSS back into the hole in the transmission, and line up the holes for the bolt to hold it in. This was not incredibly easy is you can't see what you are doing. You have to feel it with your hand. In the below pic I didn't have it lined up exactly right. I was trying to tighten the bolt but it wouldn't go down. I had to twist the assembly just a tad, then the bolt went in. Now hook the battery back up and crank the car. Let it warm up for a minute, then take it for a spin. Hopefully your speedometer will work now. Mine does.

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[JimBlake]

Nice job. I'll move it into the DIY answers section.

[00AccordLX5spd]

Haha woops. The DIY section still confuses me on where to put things....

[JimBlake]

Yeah, it seems to confuse everyone. Most threads here really belong in General Tech.

[alvaland]

Disconnecting the battery cables erases the error code, it you don't disconnect the cables you will still have the code after you put in the new sensor. Here is another article on this procedure with more pictures: http://ldsdates.com/blog2/2008/01/18...-honda-accord/

[00AccordLX5spd]

Originally Posted by alvaland

Disconnecting the battery cables erases the error code, it you don't disconnect the cables you will still have the code after you put in the new sensor. Here is another article on this procedure with more pictures: http://ldsdates.com/blog2/2008/01/18...-honda-accord/

Please go back to my original post and read the first step where I advised to disconnect the negative battery terminal. I assume most people capable of doing this procedure would know how to reset their ECU, and would realize you should disconnect the battery before performing any engine repair.