'90 Accord Speed Sensor/"S" Light

LX Coupe - Automatic - 97K

The speedometer stopped working, but the odometer and trip meter were
accurate. My dad did the electrical test and all gurus said: speed sensor.
I changed it out today... errr, I tried. If you've been there, you know
it's a little cramped and hoses/pipes criss-cross the area. It appeared
that the wires from the sensor show up at a clip, so I pulled everything and
installed the new sensor. Uh oh. The new sensor doesn't match up with the
clip. Upon further inspection, it appears that the wires from the factory
sensor go into a bigger harness, not straight to a clip. It's difficult to
see, but the original doesn't want to feed its way out of there. Either
it's stuck, or it does feed into the harness.

Stop me right there if that's wrong.

It also appears that the clip I thought was the right one leads into the
same harness. The sensor I installed is hard wired at the sensor end. The
original had a clip at each end. Out of time, I taped the ends of the loose
clips to protect from dirt and moisture. Now, of course, the odometer and
trip meter go dead too.

Driving along, the "S" light is flashing. I've never seen this before, but
it's no surprise, since I don't have the speed sensor hooked up. I am
semi-screwed, in that I need to take this car on the road. I can live
without a speedo/odo/trip, but I want to be certain this won't cause any
further problems. Book says if the S light flashes, have the tranny checked
right away... har har. I'm driving it 1400 miles Friday/Saturday.

Anybody know this one cold?

TIA

 

If the odo was still working, it wasn't the speed sensor. Hook all the
"clips" back up and get a new speedometer (junk yard should be a good
source).

The flashing S light means the transmission control computer is confused
about something. Most likely it has noticed a signal it expects from the
wiring you disconnected is missing. Once you get everything hooked back up,
if the S light doesn't go off by itself, check all the wiring you touched
and make sure you didn't pull something else loose.

 

Thanks. I threw the original sensor back on, odometer works, no S light.
I'll be figuring out RPM = "X" MPH on the way down I-5 this AM.

 

Update:

I put the old speed sensor back on, regaining the odometer and trip meter,
and braced myself for a 1400 mile drive without a speedometer. Arrrgh.
About 40 miles down the road, I hit the first 70 MPH zone. My best guess
was 3000 RPM = 70 MPH. Boing! The speedometer needle suddenly flips up to
70 MPH. Good guess, eh? Worked fine the rest of the way. That was a good
thing. We make this trip often, and sometimes, we never see a cop, or very
few. This time, traveling the day after TG, I counted 19 speed traps
between Olympia, WA, and I-10 in California.

Yeeesh. They didn't get me. Pretty lucky break, that speedo fixing itself.
Anybody need a '90 Accord speed sensor?

Unc