Speedometer needle won't budge after new sensor and cluster

[alexandermf]

my speedo hasnt been working for literally over a year now... luckily i can tell my speed by gear and rpms but itd be nice to have working again so other ppl can drive my car too if i cant. Ive replaced the speed sensor on the tranny and ive been through 2 entirely different gauge cluster units... so its not the gauge cluster it has to be something electrical/wire related im guessing? can anyone point me in the right direction to fix this... when I got the car the needle worked fine and i knew about the issue from researching and finally it just went, miss my working speedo, plz help

[Huffer]

Have you tested for electrical continuity at both ends of your harness?

[alexandermf]

^exactly what we were about to do. i just bought a tranny off a 98rs so as soon as we get my tranny out, we will check the wires and harness, give ya an update tommorrow!

[alexandermf]

ok so after swapping a 98rs tranny into my car and swapping all the sensors over, we checked cont. from wires/harness/plugs to and from sensor and they checked out good. my mechanic says he researched that the middle(blue) plug that fits into the back of our cluster is known for going out so he is going to take apart my cluster to check for that cont. and check the cont. from the harnesses behind my cluster. ill let you all know when we get an update

[Teaf]

That is similar to my prob... I swapped a 1997 gt cluster for my 1999 30th ann cluster that blew out... are the pins the same? Are they in the same spot? Please let me know because my speedometer and odo STILL DO NOT WORK... PM ME PLEASE OR POST ANY ELP... both of the wires are green single wires into a blue connector... but the new one is not working... PLEASE HELP!!!

[httrdd]

Best I can do is take a picture of the back of my 99 LGT cluster for you on the weekend.

[Perdue]

I'm having similar problems, and I'm frankly getting aggravated. The speed sensor on my transmission is brand new. I've tested my car with a known working cluster (I literally drove the car up beside mine, swapped them, and it didn't work in my car). I even spliced new wire in between the two harness connections to rule out a short because I don't have the tools to test the wire, and that didn't work. I'm stumped. I know the female part of the speedo plug on these has a problem with going out, but neither cluster worked, so I don't think that's it. I wonder if it's not the plugs themselves, but I'm not sure how to go about getting new ones and replace them.

Does anyone know how to test the plugs? I'm stumped.

[Perdue]

I'm reading around on Nasioc and elsewhere and have found that there is apparently a small, PLASTIC gear inside the transmission that drives the speed sensor. This apparently breaks, or chips teeth off the gear, frequently. Anyone have a FSM to be able to confirm this?

According to what I'm reading, It's is a $1000+ job for the dealership to fix it, mostly being labor, as the parts cost is only about $20, which covers the PLASTIC gear and the gasket it hides behind. Apparently it's all about dropping the tranny, fixing it, and putting it back in. I'm tired of this damn 4500rpm rev limiter, but it might have to wait until I need to do the clutch and flywheel.

[Matty2Hotty]

See I was thinking of my sensor or teeth going out in my 99 legacy, my cluster works most of the time and then randomly driving or cursing the MPH needle dies and falls to 0 while everything else works. I might have a bad connection am assuming ??

[Perdue]

Maybe, but that is also how people describe the beginnings of the gear breaking as well. I haven't taken my sensor off yet to try and inspect the gear, but I'm going to assume that is the issue on my car...I have replaced pretty much everything else.