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Ghost Speedo


Dave64
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Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well and busy.

I have an issue with my toyota corolla 1.3 1999 T plate 5 door hatchbacks speedo.

The speed is at zero when ignition is off,which of course is normal but when i switch the ignition on(not as far to start the engine) the speeedo needle jumps to 20mph. :no:

I am not even moving,nor is the engine running.I turn the ignition off and the needle drops back to zero.

The same happens when i do turn the ignition and start the car.

Now the tacho needle stays as it should when ignition is turned on,this only moves when engine is turned over and ticks at just under 1000rph which i think is around normal.

Now when i am driving the speedo does start at 20mph and does move to indicate speeds but at a reading of always over by 20mph(my sat nav varifies this for me).

Anyone have this problem or does anyone have any ideas,is the speedo faulty or is there anyway to reset this.

Thoughts and ideas would be great.

Regards

Dave

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I asked my brother in law about the same problem I was having, I was having Battery issues also and he said that my car had registered a low Battery at some point and has stored this, mine stays at 5mph, I have to get an ignition switch for mine as I have narrowed it down to this part, try removing your Battery leads for half an hour then reconnecting as a start?

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Cheers Scooterchip,

Thanks for the advice,i will try this tomorrow and see if i get a result.

Since posting this a friend of a freind did actually say as you mentioned it could be a ignition fault,or something to do with not earthing corrrectly.

Not been that technically minded with cars i fear a visit to a garage might be needed(have to save some pennies first)

I will try the Battery method and post the results.

Anyway thanks again, :clap:

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Hello, I have the same problem with my corolla, I was told that it might be the speed sensor that is bolted to the gearbox. That is expensive to replace. I'll try the Battery method first.

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Hi Knosher65,

It's a niggly problem that gets on my nerves.

I have some time tomorrow so will try the Battery,let me know if you have any luck.

Hopefully we can get this rersolved without too much cost involved.

Hope you get it sorted

Regards

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Hello, I have the same problem with my corolla, I was told that it might be the speed sensor that is bolted to the gearbox. That is expensive to replace. I'll try the battery method first.

Your correct, whoever has told you this is correct.

Two types of Speed sensors,

1- geared speed sensor

2- electronic speed sensor.

I am assuming your car is newer than 1999/2000 and will only focus on electronic speed sensor

The electronic sensor create pulses that the ecu/dash sees and the mph moves up and down.

The rev counter has nothing to do with the speed sensor, it reads its signals from the fuel pump / crankshaf combined.

The speed sensors is normally located ontop of the gearbox. It has free wires attached to it.

Wires are

Postive

Postive pulse

Negative

Step 1

Inspect the wiring loom and connector.

Look for snags in the loom, any damages ?

unplug the connector, use a bright torch and look at the copper pins / silver pins. Do they have green substance on them? any water type substance in the connector or the speed sensor ?

If you have answered NO to the above and everything looks normal move on to Step 2

Step 2

leaving the connector unplugged start the car move the car back and forward does mph counter move ?

IF NO move to Step 3

If YES - you have a wiring loom issue / short.

Step 3

Get your tool kit out, with a bright torch look at the speed sensor on the gearbox.

It is normally be held in with a 10mm or a 12 mm bolt.

undo the bolt, and the speed sensor with pop out, or will slide to one side and come out.

Inspect the speed sensor... Do gears look evenly worn, any side to side movemnt on the gears.

When I refer to gears, should be 1 or 2 cogs on the speed sensor.

1 Move them back and forward

2 plug the wiring loom back in but leave the speed sensor out of the gearbox.

3 get a helper, plug the wiring loom back into the speed sensor. with your helper in the driving seat turn the ignition on, no need to start the car.

4 move the cog backwards and forwards, speedo / mph should go up and down, is it resting at 0 ?

if it now rests at 0, reinsert the speed sensor and try the car.

My normal experiance tells me the faults that you are all decribing are to do with water ingress into the wiring / connect or a faulty speed sensor.

Please understand, becareful dont break your car and come abck to me.

keep the area your working on clean

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Hi Cmia

Firstly i tried the Battery method but unfortunatly the speedo is still the same.

Anyone else had better Luck.

A big thank you to cmia for his detailed post,hopefully this wil help the others.

The info you posted cmia,will any part of it help me with my 1999 T reg corolla?.

The part about water damage within the connector seems feasable for my 1999 model.Is this still something i still should investigate,not sure if i have a geared or electronic speedo.

Many thanks for taking the time to post a detailed answer.

Regards

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Hi Cmia

Firstly i tried the battery method but unfortunatly the speedo is still the same.

Anyone else had better Luck.

A big thank you to cmia for his detailed post,hopefully this wil help the others.

The info you posted cmia,will any part of it help me with my 1999 T reg corolla?.

The part about water damage within the connector seems feasable for my 1999 model.Is this still something i still should investigate,not sure if i have a geared or electronic speedo.

Many thanks for taking the time to post a detailed answer.

Regards

Your speed sensor is electronic.

Part Number is 83181A

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Speed-Speedo-RPM-Sensor-LEXUS-LX-470-TOYOTA-Avensis-83181-12020-8318112020-/271388161403?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Cars+Type%3A1.3|Model%3ACorolla&hash=item3f2ffeb57b

If you call your local toyota dealer up and see how much they charge for a genuine part then pop into your local motorfactors and see what they want for it.

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Cmia,

Thanks for the rapid response and with the link aswell.

I will do as you suggest and compare prices from the dealers and local motorfactors.

After the research i will post and let everyone know how i got on.

Have a great evening and thanks again for your time.

Regards

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Cmia,

Thanks for the rapid response and with the link aswell.

I will do as you suggest and compare prices from the dealers and local motorfactors.

After the research i will post and let everyone know how i got on.

Have a great evening and thanks again for your time.

Regards

check the wiring loom, makes sure its ok. i suspect the speed sensor is faulty.

another word of warning, sometimes these speed sensors can drop off when they are dmaanaged. be very careful when you remove it.

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I tried the Battery method also to no joy, sorry if i gave out bad information this was something I was told, so do I need to start looking at a new speed sensor? also my rev counter is on 2 instead of 1 when I start the car, does this run off the same sensor?

Chip

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no the rev counter gets the signal from other sensor.

does your car have any CEL or error lights ?

could you take the trim off and take the cluster out ,inspect the wires and connections and look for any visiable corrosion / damage.

Maybe one or two pictures ?

Reseat everything as well.

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I am having my ignition switch replaced tomorrow as this seemed to be the start of my problems, I have to really give it some brute force to get the engine to turn over the key turns easily in the lock so I am guessing the barrel is ok? anyway its going to the garage and I will let you know if this resolves any other problems.

Chip

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I am having my ignition switch replaced tomorrow as this seemed to be the start of my problems, I have to really give it some brute force to get the engine to turn over the key turns easily in the lock so I am guessing the barrel is ok? anyway its going to the garage and I will let you know if this resolves any other problems.

Chip

It sounds like the plastic part behind the barrel is faulty.

Have you tried the ovbious, tried WD40 ?

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I tried the WD40 method when my problems first started with the ignition, I sourced a part via the scrap yard on sunday and with the help of a mate managed to change it, (lots of swearing and pinched fingers), the car starts like a dream now yet I still have the same problem with the speedo and rev counter, ie not settling on 0, I might try a new Battery later :-)

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Hi,

Thought i would just report back with my progress.

Hats of to cmia,he was right about the speed sensor it was faulty.

I first tried electrical cleaner on the connection hoping for a fast fix but no change,the speedo was still reading 20mp when ignition switched on.

So the next step was to source a sensor.

Due to a tight budget i opted for a used part and luckily a local breakers had one at a cost of £25 pounds.I would have liked a new one but just could not afford one not yet.

Anyway removing the part was a bit fidley with my stubby fingers but now with a bit of pateince the ghost speedo has now been exosised.

Again a BIG thanks to cmia for his time and input :clap:

Also cheers for the others for their suggestions and i hope you guys get sorted soon.

Regards

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Hi all, I managed to
resolve my speedo issue quite easily and more importantly, cheaply. A temporary
solution was using my tom-tom (other navigation systems are available) to
monitor speed. I needed dash bulbs and Halfords charge £2.50 each and I needed
at least 8. I found a great breakers just outside Dartford called Pick A Part. You
take what you need off the car yourself and their prices are very good. I
picked up a complete instrument panel for a tenner. As it contains at least 20
bulbs, it's a bargain. As I had a spare I took it apart and the speed
controller was easy ro remove. So I swapped them and found the same problem. So
I connected the panel without the glass and after turning on ignition reset the
speedo pointer to zero. Then went for a test drive comparing speedo with satnav
and kept making small adjustments until they both read the same. Now my speedo
is accurate, the whole panel lights up at night and I have a spare instrument
panel. Happy days.

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