1995 LX Speedometer repair
 

Hello all,
been almost a year since I checked in here for a variety of reasons. Today, I decided to tackle a random speedometer indication issue I've been having. Ever since I bought the car back in 2014, it has had random speedometer fluctuations. Typically it would indicate 5 MPH faster than what I was actually going (checked on GPS) or alternately, it would indicate 5 MPH slower. Occasionally, it would fluctuate from one reading to another regardless of actual road speed.(also checked by GPS) More recently, it would indicate speed, then indicate 0 randomly. In stop and go traffic, it would pick back up again after a stop, but on the highway, it would go to zero until I changed gear to get off the highway and seemingly indicate fine on the off ramp.

Originally, I thought it was the speed sensor which I changed about two months back. Things were fine for about a month, then returned to the previous issues of 5 over or under, random fluctuations and finally zero indication. I resolved that I might have to buy a new speedometer head but then, we got a bunch of rain. The random fluctuations increased in frequency, as did the zero indication. I thought maybe I had some kind of connector issue or solder trace issue. So, today, I pulled the instrument cluster and removed the speedo head. I didn't notice anything on the main circuit board nor in the connectors.

What I did notice was there is a microprocessor on a card attached to the back of the speedo head. After I removed the 4 screws to remove the speedo head, that is. The card is sandwiched between the main circuit card , the cluster back and the speedo head. Turned out, it was in fact a removable card. Once those 4 screws are out, the card just unplugs from the back of the speedo head.

Luckily, I had a complete instrument cluster from my son's '96 Civic that I replaced with one from a '97 due to the inclusion of a tach on the '97 cluster. I think I paid like $20 on eBay for it. I'd swapped the speedo heads so the new cluster retained the old speedo and odometer but my kid's Civic had a tach. (really, who gets a 5 speed without a tach?)

After disassembling the cluster, I found the '97 Civic speedometer had the exact same card on the back of it. I swapped the cards and then cleaned the pins with contact cleaner as I reassembled the cluster for the Accord. Once I got it together, I took it out for a test drive and compared the readings to GPS indicated speed. It is now bang on the money. The entire process from start to finish of the test ride took about 2 hours of my time. The best part is, I didn't have to spend a dime and I can share the experience with the forum....after nearly a year away. Hope this helps someone..........sean

No pic's ?????

I do miss some of the other pic's you posted in the past :)

Glad you were able to figure things out.