90 Accord EX, auto trans. 162,000 miles.

Today the speedo quit working. Needle does not move at all. All other dash items work fine, including the tach and odometer.
Last year I pulled the entire speedo/gage cluster to replace a burnt out light bulb and everything was working fine since.
Any suggestions what might be causing this or how to troubleshoot?
Is the speedo itself bad and if so can it be repaired?

I do have the 90 Accord factory manual but did not look at it yet. I plan on pulling the gage cluster to check the connection at the speedo.

Is this a common problem? Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gary

 

Somewhat common-I thought the 4th gens did better.

Since you have a manual there are some test that can be done. If the odo/trip and cruise work when the spedo does not, king of leans towards the PCB on the speedo. Once confirmed (testing) you will have to decide on the repair. There are a few options, each has pros/cons.....junk yard, some shops repair, new.

Let us know what you find.

 

The 4th gen Accords are different than 5th gen Accords for the circuit board for the speedo. IIRC, 4th gen Accords are more like a single mother board. 5th gen Accords are more like a mother board for the instrument panel and a separate daughter board for the speedo.

Edit: Although the 4th gen instrument panel is different than the 5th gen, from looking at the parts diagram you might still be able to replace just the speedo portion and get it to work.

 

While running an errand I tapped on the dash with my hand and the speedo came to life. Been working OK so far. If it quits again I will pull the cluster to investigate. The speed sensor was replaced about 3 years ago so I doubt if its the cause. Will carefully inspect all the pin connections during the cluster removal and will follow the manual troubleshooting chart.
Thanks for the replies.

 

Since rapping on the dash made it work, I suspect a loose connection that's just barely loose. So if you dismantle it, check all the connections, clean & tighten what you can.