Hey folks,

 

I'm working on a fixer-upper 1997 outback sport (2.2L automatic).  So far it has a new axle and all new timing components.  Runs pretty well.  Next problem is that the speedometer hasn't been working, tach works intermittently, odometer doesn't work.  Previous codes were P0122 (throttle position sensor) and P1540 (vehicle speed sensor). 

 

I pulled the vehicle speed sensor tonight.  I expected to find an electrical setup, but it appears to be cable driven.  The little "tooth" on the sensor appears to be broken, so I guess a replacement is in order.  That said, I want to confirm that this car should actually be cable driven and that the previous owner doesn't just have some shenannigans going on in there.  There is an empty sensor plug against the firewall (taped up on the harness) that I'm somewhat suspicious of as well.  Not sure what that is for yet

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

The Imprezas had cable driven speedometers until 97 or 98 IIRC.

Those little drive blades are not very tough, and can be broken by a dragging or worn out speedometer cable. You should probably replace the cable as well.

 

That won't fix your tachometer problem, but should get the speedo/odo working.

 

If someone has been monkeying around in the dash and had the instrument cluster out at some point the plugs on back could be loose. Check for that and any visibly damaged wiring. If that looks OK the tach problem is probably because of a broken solder joint on the circuit board.

when you have the speedo and tach out of the car

check the screws on the back side of the circuit board.

some are actual ground points

and loose screws can lose the circuit.

Thx folks.  I didn't have time to pull the cluster out last night.  It was hung up a bit as the existing speedometer cable was short enough to not allow it to come out.  I've pulled the speed sensor out the trans now so it has slack, and it also looks like an OEM speed sensor should have a cable "pigtail" for a bit of extra slack that the existing sensor doesn't have. 

 

I'll check connections behind the cluster over the weekend.  I definitely need a new sensor since the one in there now is visibly damaged.  A cable is another $50 or so, would be great if that's not needed.

 

Ebay has parts for $77.  I have some good contacts for tracking down newer junkyard parts, any good places out there for these older vehicles?  No decent pick-n-pull places where I am.

That speed sensor shouldn't be more than $20/$25 and the cable around $40.  

 

Here's the speed sensor on the transmission:

http://parts.subaru.com/p/Subaru_1997_Impreza/CABLE-SPEEDOMETER-TRANSMISSION/49283360/737411752.html

 

List price: $13.43

 

I'm not sure on the cable to the dash, but I could swear it was like $37 list as well.

Thanks.  For part numbers I have 37410aa061 for the sensor and 37410aa151 for the cable.  Fredbeans is $37.06 for the cable and $26.53 for the sensor ($76.54 shipped to my location).

 

Not sure why the parts you show there seem a good bit cheaper (and have different part numbers).  Mine could certainly be the wrong parts.

Other part numbers look to be:

 

37410AA171 (cable, $29.75)

737411752 (sensor, 10.08)

 

The sensor above (737411752) is JUST the sensor with no pigtail on it.  That's whats in the car now, so should work fine.  Not sure why the different cost / part number for the cable.  Looks like there are a number of different part numbers listed with fitment, with varying prices.

The manual transmission has the pigtail, not the automatic.  It's two different parts for two different setups.

^^thx.  dealership couldn't even pull up a part number or give me a price.  Waiting for a call back.

OK, so what the heck is holding the cluster in place.  Removed the screws and it's definitely loose, but it doesn't really want to pull out far enough for me to inspect the back.  The speedo cable was definitely creating resistance but that's loose now.  Feels like something else is back there on the left side.

 

I have a habit of pulling on things until something breaks and I'd rather not do that here.  If there is something connected back there that I can't currently reach I certainly don't want to pop it out of place...

Problem solved for about $12.  New speed sensor, kept the cable after removing speedometer and inspecting behind that with everything looking OK.  Speedometer now works!  Thx for the help here.