Randall Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 1998 Forester S, 5 spd, 102 K My speedo jumps top 40 mph and stays there, pretty much regardless of the speed. It never goes over 40. I suspect speedo the innards are the problem. Could it be the cable? This is day 4 with the car and I am new to Subarus. Any ideas or have any of you seen this before? Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 1998 Forester S, 5 spd, 102 K My speedo jumps top 40 mph and stays there, pretty much regardless of the speed. It never goes over 40. I suspect speedo the innards are the problem. Could it be the cable? This is day 4 with the car and I am new to Subarus. Any ideas or have any of you seen this before? Randall there is no cable. its electronic. FIrst check the VSS sensor, as this gives the spedo its signal (usual cause). Then if that is good replace the spedo head. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted March 8, 2006 Share Posted March 8, 2006 If you need the speedo head, I have the complete gauge cluster for way less then the Speedo Head from the dealer. Lmdew@hotmail.com 80K on the OD I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 Subbies 1998 Subbie Forester SE. Speedo says 40mph all the time. I have measured the voltage at the connector just up from the speed senor 2 at above 12 mph (took some nifty doing to get the wires into the cabin where I could read the voltage). no volts AC. (at 200V on the meter) .113 volts DC (at 20VDC on the meter) Sensor measures .419 Ohms at 2K on the meter According to my shop manual, if there is less than 5v (AC range) at the connector I should replace the sensor. Do you agree? Or should I clean the sensor (if it can be done) first? Next thing would be how is the sensor held in? I can't see it very good. Is it threaded in or...? Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 I believe you want the forward sensor on the passenger side. It's a 17mm fitting to back it out. Same place as the older subarus with the speedo shaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Subbies 1998 Subbie Forester SE. Speedo says 40mph all the time. I have measured the voltage at the connector just up from the speed senor 2 at above 12 mph (took some nifty doing to get the wires into the cabin where I could read the voltage). no volts AC. (at 200V on the meter) .113 volts DC (at 20VDC on the meter) Sensor measures .419 Ohms at 2K on the meter According to my shop manual, if there is less than 5v (AC range) at the connector I should replace the sensor. Do you agree? Or should I clean the sensor (if it can be done) first? Next thing would be how is the sensor held in? I can't see it very good. Is it threaded in or...? Randall was this an analog or digital meter? would be interesting to see if its got a heartbeat with an analog. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 It's a digital meter and the signal was steady at all forward speeds, no signal in reverse. Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 It's a digital meter and the signal was steady at all forward speeds, no signal in reverse. Randall Reason i ask is that it is a hall effect sensor. Everytime a tooth passes the sensor it makes a pulse. That pulse is translated into a mechanical movement of the spedo. there have been alot of bad spedos in this year, and usually just cleaning the connetcions where the head slides into the assembly fixes it, but this is the first time iver heard of it holding 40mph. a bad sped sensor should throw a code. You may try to clean the head first (its free) then see if it works. After that then feel free to attack the sensor. The haynes manual says to use a AC meter that is analog and look for needle movement as the sneder is slowly rotated. i just dont want to see you spend money when you may be looking at the wrong end. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 Nipper First thanks for taking the time to help me out. How tough is it to pull the back of the speedo off? Can I reach it without taking a bunch of trim off? What does clean the head look like? I am not sure what the "head" is, either. Yopu dont mean the cylinder head right? :-\ I see from the wiring diagram that there is a block connector feeding the speedo/tach/an indicator light. So I have that much I understand. Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 If he is getting a steady signal that could explain showing 40 mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 Nipper First thanks for taking the time to help me out. How tough is it to pull the back of the speedo off? Can I reach it without taking a bunch of trim off? What does clean the head look like? I am not sure what the "head" is, either. Yopu dont mean the cylinder head right? :-\ I see from the wiring diagram that there is a block connector feeding the speedo/tach/an indicator light. So I have that much I understand. Randall in my legacy i was shocked, it took me all of ten minutes to pull the instrument cluster out of the car, another 5 minutes to disassemble the cluster, 2 to re assemble and 15 to put back in (i forgot to plug in a harness). i would imagine the forester is the same thing. There are 5 harness that need to be unpluged and its out (4 obvious and one behind it). I know on my car there was screws for the trim bezel, then i think 4 screws for the cluster (dont remember). The plastic cover snaps off easily (these cars ARE giant leggos) then some screws in the back and the gauges come out. Be very careful, i found out the pin for the needle stop comes out easily, but also snaps in just as easily. Be aware of this nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 should we tell him about the virgin switch now or wait until his lights are on? does the forester even have a virgin switch? in my legacy i was shocked, it took me all of ten minutes to pull the instrument cluster out of the car, another 5 minutes to disassemble the cluster, 2 to re assemble and 15 to put back in (i forgot to plug in a harness). i would imagine the forester is the same thing. There are 5 harness that need to be unpluged and its out (4 obvious and one behind it). I know on my car there was screws for the trim bezel, then i think 4 screws for the cluster (dont remember). The plastic cover snaps off easily (these cars ARE giant leggos) then some screws in the back and the gauges come out. Be very careful, i found out the pin for the needle stop comes out easily, but also snaps in just as easily. Be aware of this nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 Nipper What does clean the "head" look like? I am not sure what the "head" is, either. You don't mean the cylinder head right? So what am I doing when I take the cluster apart? Do you have to remove the steering wheel ot access the cluster? I know on my 87 VW Fox I had to, but it was easy to do. Virgin switch? Is that like sending me to the hardware store for a "long weight"? Thanks! Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted September 18, 2006 Share Posted September 18, 2006 the virgin switch is the "p" light switch on top of the steering column. it turns on the parking lights. since all the lights go off when you turn off the key, the p switch will let you leave your parking lights on. the problem occurs when a noobie turns it on accidentally, and doesn't know how to turn them off. the "head" is the speedomete head, in affect it's the receiving unit of the speed sensor, or the speedometer it self. it's contained inside the instrument cluster. the cluster is easy to remove, as nipper said. i haven't neede to work on mine but it's easy. few screws for the trim, a few for the cluster , and some snaps .... ?? my guess is you need to clean the electric connections. Nipper What does clean the "head" look like? I am not sure what the "head" is, either. You don't mean the cylinder head right? So what am I doing when I take the cluster apart? Do you have to remove the steering wheel ot access the cluster? I know on my 87 VW Fox I had to, but it was easy to do. Virgin switch? Is that like sending me to the hardware store for a "long weight"? Thanks! Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted September 18, 2006 Author Share Posted September 18, 2006 Thanks! I will try this out and post my results. Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randall Posted October 1, 2006 Author Share Posted October 1, 2006 Nipper Finally got a chance to pull the instrument cluster out. It was simple enough. Drop the adjustable steering wheel console all the way. Two upper screws and two kinda hard to get to press down clips on the bezel, three screws to hold the cluster in, and then kinda tough to unplug three connectors (better if you have little hands). I took all three connector connections and cleaned them and then gently folded the cluster connectors out to change the connection points. Plugged it all back in and voila; speedo now works fine. Took maybe twenty minutes. Thanks, all! Randall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahoo Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 Similar problem in my '98 Forester... except instead of being pegged at 40mph, my speedometer just sits at 0. I pulled the check-engine code, and apparently I have a faulty "VSS 2" (vehicle speed sensor 2). Anybody happen to know where VSS2 is on a 98 Forester, and how likely I am to be able to replace it myself? Thanks for any help you all can provide! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahoo Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 Did a little searching and found this thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60255&highlight=speed+sensor There are some nice pics there of the VSS on a 98 Outback -- will the VSS location be the same on a 98 Forester? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookie Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 If they are both automatics or standards they will be the same. Otherwise it will look similar and be close by. I like to buy the part so I can match it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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