shin Posted December 25, 2010 Share Posted December 25, 2010 cruising down the road and suddenly the speedo just dropped to zero... btw its a 98 gtw 5spd.. about a mile later the cel went on and since i was on my way to my shop... i put the scanner on it and got a p1540 something about a speed sensor, witch makes sense. and if i remeber right a p1100 something about a starter circuit.. so i just cruised around the parking lot with the scanner and it wouldnt pickup the vehicle speed... is this just a classic case of a vss... just want to make sure before i go spend $100... thanks and merry christmas... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted December 25, 2010 Share Posted December 25, 2010 After checking the code P1540 it does appear that the sensor may need to be replaced. Some codes refer to circuit problems so the circuit to the sensor needs to be checked rather than replace the sensor. But that isn't the case here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bheinen74 Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 SOA should foot the bil to al these reports, they failed loyal customers on the blown head gaskets and the blown speedometers. no reason this should be so prevalent....soa please step your quality back up to pre 1994 status. call me at 641-528-209 if ypu need some help on engineering i need a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 Blown spedos are 1999 so no they shouldn't for this car. You lost both VSS sensors. I would chek the cables. Usually when one dies the other takes over running the spedo, just you loose AWD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 Nipper has a very good point. I didn't realize that the sensors were cable driven so first making sure the flexable cables are ok before blaming the sensor itself makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 my 95 lego L is a sensor and wire setup. i think 90 - 94 were cable driven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shin Posted December 26, 2010 Author Share Posted December 26, 2010 i think there is only one sensor since it is a manual.... can anyone verifiy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 26, 2010 Share Posted December 26, 2010 i think there is only one sensor since it is a manual.... can anyone verifiy Maual is one since it has a more basic AWD system. Did I miss it being a manual? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleman77 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Shin, My son has a 98 OBS 5 speed manual and we recently replaced his speed sensor. His symptoms were his speedometer needle began jumping up and down a bit then totally went out falling to zero. His odometer was out as well as this sensor runs both. When the sensor totally failed his check engine light came on as well. His sensor mounted on the side of his tranny with two wires coming out of it and a plug on the end. It just needs to be unplugged and the sensor unscrewed (his was a 17mm wrench). There is a notch inside the tranny that the metal piece on end of the sensor needs to line up with when you install the new one. Once lined up just tighten it up a bit (his wasn't that tight), plug her in and you should be good to go... It was super simple to change out and you should be able to reach everything from up top in the engine compartment. The part isn't stocked by some parts stores but could be ordered (ours was $110 at AutoZone) and some parts stores don't even carry it. We ended up getting it from Subaru for $130, they had it in stock. Good luck to you, hope this was helpful.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shin Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 Shin, My son has a 98 OBS 5 speed manual and we recently replaced his speed sensor. His symptoms were his speedometer needle began jumping up and down a bit then totally went out falling to zero. His odometer was out as well as this sensor runs both. When the sensor totally failed his check engine light came on as well. His sensor mounted on the side of his tranny with two wires coming out of it and a plug on the end. It just needs to be unplugged and the sensor unscrewed (his was a 17mm wrench). There is a notch inside the tranny that the metal piece on end of the sensor needs to line up with when you install the new one. Once lined up just tighten it up a bit (his wasn't that tight), plug her in and you should be good to go... It was super simple to change out and you should be able to reach everything from up top in the engine compartment. The part isn't stocked by some parts stores but could be ordered (ours was $110 at AutoZone) and some parts stores don't even carry it. We ended up getting it from Subaru for $130, they had it in stock. Good luck to you, hope this was helpful.... was help full... appericated it... wierd though my cel turned off.... and sometimes when i press my clutch in to go coast and then downshift the car shuts off... yea i went to the dealer and ordered it today... they said hopefully wednesday... and yep $133 gone... somedays i miss the cable speedo's...thanks for all the help... i will report back to see if the sensor fixes it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shin Posted December 30, 2010 Author Share Posted December 30, 2010 yep new sensor fixed it... wierd though cause the old sensor was within spec... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 Thanks for the update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 yep new sensor fixed it... wierd though cause the old sensor was within spec... Electricity is an evil and confusing God ... it has to be spun in the car to really check it and read the AC pulse. Glad it is fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleman77 Posted December 30, 2010 Share Posted December 30, 2010 yep new sensor fixed it... wierd though cause the old sensor was within spec... Glad it's fixed....thanks for the update... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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