Hello... any ideas of what might be causing these to problems, and whether they are related? 99 Legacy Wagon, 122k, 2.2L, Annivers. Edition....

 

1) Car won't turn over when key is turned... just get a 'click'... then after several tries, it turns over at regular speed and fires right up. Battery check at Sears came back fine. Cable connection is tight and clean.

 

2) Speedo and Tachometer stop working occasionally.... speedo drops to zero, and Tach pegs at a constant rpm. A few minutes down the road and they both come back.... one clue: when they came back, the trip odometer had reset to zero.

 

So... are they related? Any ideas about causes....

Thanks!

Mike

i think the speedo/tack problem will be you need another speed sensor, but someone more familiar with it will hopefully chime in.

 

as for starting, if the battery and cables are fine then i'd start to suspect the starter/solenoid.

 

has the engine ever been out (clutch, etc) or any major work done to engine/trans?

 

hey, i live in morgantown!?!

99 models have a known bug that only applies to that year instrument cluster speed. Yours is most likely about to fail.

It did not affect any other years besides 99, so when you search the junkyards for replacements get one from a 97 or 98, for sure stay away from yr 99 instrument cluster, as it is a feature.

Your starting problem is most likely the copper contacts gone bad in your starter solenoid. Relatively easy and cheap fix--lots of writeups and links on here, try a search.

 

Good luck.

the starting issue sounds like the starter...hit it with a hammer

the spedo issue is a 99 only problem( i have several 99s and they all have this issue) the earllier ones won't work Earlier (95-98) vehicle speed sensors have a two wires and the spedo cluster has two wires. the 99's have a single wire vehicle speed sensor and spedo. I am going to see if the 2000 up spedos will work a or at least some of the parts. Don't bother trying to mess with it i spent hours running extra grounds etc and nothing worked. Ill be posting something with in the next week.

A side note-

With all of mine only the spedo fails(tach is fine) so you might have a different issue. I use a obd II scanner to check the speed sensor and tach outputs from the computer.

Thanks for the replies! Had the car looked at by the folks at the Sube Shop in Morgantown... Copper contacts in the starter were worn and he replaced them.... so 10 points to all who said starter!

 

hey, i live in morgantown!?!

 

Always nice to hear from other Morgantowners! Ever see the Auto Expo mag? That's us!

 

So after driving the car for a while longer, I've seen that the tach is working fine.... speedo just cuts out every so often and then comes back. Also, seeing as how the odometer is not digital.... it was just a coincidence that it cranked over to 000 just as my wife looked down at it.... so unrelated.

 

I've got a brake issue as well, but I'll start a new thread for that issue.

 

So.... with this '99 speedo issue, do I need to replace the instrument cluster, or is it the sensor at the tranny?

 

Thanks1

Mike

You need to replace the spedo assembly only with a 99 only. no used ones will work 80-90% failure rate. lots of $ for new at dealership.. i think when I asked it was $200-$300...ouch. Ill post up if i can get 2000 up parts to work.

If the 2000+ work, there are a couple of them in the yard in town. $45 I think and shipping from CO.