Speedometer Intermittantly Doesn't Work
 

Hi, I have a '94 Accord Wagon with 150K miles. Recently, the speedometer has randomly stopped working when I'm driving. It doesn't happen often, and usually comes back fine in a few seconds or minutes. There doesn't seem to be any pattern whatsoever to what causes it to stop working. I would say it stops working maybe 5% of my total driving time.

The last time it happened I was on the freeway and noticed that the odometer was also not working. I also tried the cruise control during this time, and it appeared to still be working OK. The tach has always worked fine.

My mechanic hooked up something to the wires under the glovebox and said that a code should have come up if the speed sensor was bad, but nothing did.

- Any ideas what would cause this type of behavior, and what type of place would be able to fix it?

I assume it might be difficult to diagnose being as it only happens randomly and not often.

THANKS!

The speedometer unit inside the cluster is going out (the odometer is attached to it.) If the cruise still works and no check engine light, it's not the speed sensor.
Try doing a search for "speedometer" or something like that and you should find a TON of threads about it.

OK, thanks! That sounds pretty expensive to pull the whole dash apart. Then it's probably a fix-it or replace-it issue, huh?!? Yikes.

Any chance it could just be a loose or shorting wire back in there somewhere, or is that hard to diagnose?

I imagine it will probably just get worse as time goes on too, right? Hmmmm. And I wonder what the legalities are of not having a fully functioning speedometer & odometer.

I'll also search for other threads. Thanks again.

If you take it somewhere they will probably put a new one in which will reset the odometer to 0. You could buy one on ebay and get them to roll the odometer over.
Other option would be to pull the cluster and send it to a speedometer repair shop.
eBay option or speedometer repair shop option will probably run around $100 if you pull the cluster and reinstall it yourself.
Apparently you don't have to pull the whole dash apart (this was new to me as of recently)
There is a free downloadable shop manual for a 94 Accord in the DIY section.
I doubt it's a connection. Mine was doing the esact same thing in my 95 Accord and it got worse and worse over time. i never fixed it though. Wound up trading it in when I bought the Edge.

There's always a chance for it to be a loose connection, so keep your eyes open for that as you're dismantling it. Some people have reported the strips on the printed circuit of the cluster have separated or damaged somehow.

But it's more likely to be a bad speedometer.

Does anyone know how to locate the vss? I have the very same problem on my 94 accord complete with flasing D4 & check engine light.

The VSS is inside the box labeled E-6.

But look closely for the line indicating where that speedometer pinion gear #2 is actually located. It's below the bolt labeled #15.
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...SV40_ATM07.gif
(this is a 94 LX auto-trans but most Honda 4-cyl auto-trans are the same).

Jim's picture is of the transmission (in case you didn't know). You can find the VSS about 2 feet down from the throttle body. You will likely have to remove the intake tube to see it.
Go look in the DIY section at my VSS replacement thread that has pictures. Your VSS should be just about in the same place.

[Jim] where you you get so many diagrams from? (it might be helpful to know)

www dot hondaautomotiveparts dot com
click PARTS then enter your car's information
I think those pictures are from Honda's electronic parts catalog, since other retailers seem to have the same set of pictures.