deyoungc

I'll take a look when I first start it up in the morning...although it seems like the "smoke" is actually coming out of the exhaust pipe.

Yet another problem with my '99 OBW. Recently, when starting my car, I have noticed a strong smell of exhaust. I don't smell it while in the car with the windows up, but if I have the windows down and back up...I catch a whiff. In addition to the smell, I frequently, on cold morning where the vapor is visible I see a hint of blue in the exhuast fumes. This leads me to believe that it is burning oil somewhere??? About 10,000 miles ago I had a leak in the crankshaft case. I had the seal replaced and my timing belt as well as a few other things fixed at the same time to save on labor costs later. Does anyone see a connection to this and my above problem? I don't recall or know if I had stinky exhaust before the leak. Any ideas on what the issue may be?

I will see if I can get a reading from the sensor first....plus I will try and pull out on the odometer reset pin.

The AWD is working, so I guess it wouldn't be the VSS. I did try another head (well, a whole new instrument cluster taken from a '98 OBW), that didn't work.

As many of you have relayed, the intermittant failures of the speedometer (predominanty on the '99 OBW, as far as I can tell) are a pain in the rear. I have been driving mine for about a year now and for the most part have gotten used to it. I have read many of the posts in regard to it and determined that mine is a failure of the speedo head (speedo and odo stops working, but tach and cruise are fine), while the washer/wiper trick worked for awhile...it doesn't any longer. Recently, I bought a used instrument cluster off eBay. Purportedly in "good working order"...I slapped it in today and took off for a drive. No luck, its still not working. I didn't drive it long enough to give it time to work...if indeed it would??? So, I cleaned the contacts on the back of my original instrument cluster for the speedometer (which they looked good already) and slapped it back in. Still nothing right off the bat. Probably is still working intermittantly. Since my cruise control still works...from what I have gathered it is not likely a VSS concern. Are there any other diagnostics I can try before to make sure that if I do need to purchase a brand new speedo? One last thing...If I do try and replace the VSS on my 2.5 manual tranny. Is it the one on the drivers side of the transmission? Thanks

Many of you have provided great information, hopefully leading me to believe that I too need to replace the speedo head in my 99 OBW. I have just shy of 80K and recently replaced my original battery (I know, I probably waited too long!). Since it happened just after replacing it (within 200 miles), and the speedo failure might be an electrical issue...any ideas of possible connections between these two events?