speedo problem

slickrick812

New Member
Jan 16, 2006
4
0
0
Alabama
My speedo quit reading millage on my 96 mustang gt. i was told it was the speedo head and would cost a lot of money to replace. can i buy an aftermarket speedo head and cluster and set the millage to what my car reads?
 
slickrick812:

If you are handy, you can replace the little speedo gear yourself. The pre-98s had a problem with too little grease on the gears leading to premature failure. Check "carradio.com" for new gears -- they are pretty helpful.

edit/// OK, if it is just the odo or speedo, then it is probably one of the little internal gears. If both are not working, you can check the vehicle speed sensor (VSS). Crawl under the car and you will see the VSS plugged into the transmission at about 10 o'clock on the driver's side. It is held in with a single bolt (don't over tighten it when you reinstall the VSS!!!). Unplug the connector, remove the VSS. Plug a voltmeter in on AC (yes, alternating current) and spin the gear by hand. The voltmeter should register voltages (+/-). If nothing, then you know the VSS is shot. It may just be the driven gear on the VSS. If it is toothless, replace it. The stock gear is orange (21 teeth, if I recall correctly) for a 3.08 rear. The 'carradio.com' guys will fix the cluster for you, if you send it to them (they are in Richmond, Virginia).
end of edit///

HTH,

Chris
 
merc123 said:
it would suck if he tried to sell the car though.

Depends how you look at it. Putting aside the ethical and moral dilema of odometer tampering, here's an example...

The previous owner of my foxbody told me the odo was wrong.. the title said it had 119,000 miles, but the odometer said 66,000 something or other.

I swapped instrument clusters 3 or 4 times before I sold it, and when I did, the cluster I put in last was showing around 30,000.. probably about the correct number of miles according to the title (assuming I drove it around 20k which is probably correct.)