1992 Honda Civic VSS(?) problem

Hi,

My speedometer needle had recently been going wild and I'm assuming,
after looking around, that it's my VSS that's gone bad. Additionally,
my Check Engine Light finally came on and the needle is now stone cold
dead.

First, if this is in fact the problem, does anyone have any available?
I'm currently overseas and will be for the near future, so it's been
difficult locating stuff like this. (Additionally, if this isn't the
problem, does anyone have any other thoughts).

Second, is this something that someone like me could do easily ("like
me" meaning a novice when it comes to car repairs).

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Pull carpet back in passenger's footwell until the computer's red LED is
exposed.

Turn ignition ON (but not to START).

Count the blinks of the red LED. There will be a sequence separated by a
long pause. The sequence may consist of any combinaiton of short and long
blinks.

One long blink means "10", one short blink means "1", so
long,short,short is error code 12.

There may be more than one code stored, so watch for a while.

Report codes here.

 

Hi, I'll try that later today - is it as easy as pulling back the
carpet or is there something more involved?

Sorry for the questions; never done this before.

Thanks for your reply and help

 

Previouly my 94 civic got the same problem. I changed the VSS and the
speedometer returns to life. After that I unplug the back-up fuse to reset
the engine check light. By the way, I followed the Haynes manual to do that.

 

TeGGeR, are you sure the '92 had the LED on the ECU? My '94 (same
generation) does not, it has the service check connector that you short
to read the codes out on the MIL in the instrument cluster.

 

"Pull carpet back in passenger's footwell until the computer's red LED is
exposed."

Pretty simple.

 

No I'm not sure. I had thought '93 was the changeover year.

In that case:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#retrieve

 

Hi,

I pulled what I could of it back, but couldn't see anything remotely
resembling a LED or even any flashing lights. I went by a mechanic and
he said it's most likely the VSS that's gone bad, so I'm go to go with
that theory for now. Also, is it safe to drive - safe meaning will the
car be able to shift properly, etc (this is an automatic), in other
words can I take it out on the highway.

Also, future reference, to find this computer LED display, should I
have tried ripping the carpet out further? I hesitated when it got to
the point where the carpet was tucked into the plastic molding (if this
is the right term).

Also, thanks for the info Zebra, now I need to locate one of those out
here!

 

Do you have any recommendations on how I can obtain a replacement VSS?
I checked websites like http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com but there
is no part listing for a VSS. Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Do you have any recommendations on how I can obtain a replacement VSS?
I checked websites like http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com but there
is no part listing for a VSS. Thanks for any help you can provide.