Changed my oil this weekend and looked for the VSS. After qhite a while searching under the hood, I finally found it. I am going to need go-go-gadget arms to get to this thing from the top, and it doesn't seem possible from the bottom either (maybe if I had a lift...but not with the car on jackstangs and lying on my back crammed under the car in 100 degree heat). Looks like I'll be able to remove the intake tubing and move some wires out of the way and maybe I will be able to reach it...

My battery had a mountain of green corrosion around the positive terminal, so I took off both connections and cleaned them well and rubbed vaseline on there. Of course, that reset my CEL which stayed off for a while. Car ran fine until the CEL came on after about 10 miles (estimated since odometer doesn't work now either.) Now it smells like it's running rich and the idle is all screwed up. Looks like the stupid ECU is throwing the car into "closed loop mode" or whatever since the CEL is on because of a lousy speed sensor.

None of the auto parts stores nearby stock the VSS, so I'll have to get them to order me one. Gonna go with the Duralast form autozone since it has a 2 year warranty and AutoZone has always treated me right.

I don't see how in that prior thread I posted, the guy said he used a long screwdriver. Mine is held on by a nut - looks like 15-17mm or so.I'll probably have to use every socket extension I can find in my toolbox to get to this thing. Looks like I'm going to need about 2 feet worth. I forsee lots of dropped tools and cursing in the near future...possibly some bloody knuckles and a headache as well. I'll have to have the toddler away from the house when I attemt this since she now repeats most of what I say haha. Bought a fan at Wal Mart so hopefully I wont drench the entire engine compartment with sweat since it is 100 degrees here.

 

I got to thinking about this again this morning and a thought crossed my mind:
Shouldn't I check the fuses before going any further?

I looked in my trusty owner's manual and the only fuse I see that could be related to the VSS is fuse # 6 in the driver's side interior fuse box. The manual says it is is a 15 A fuse for "ECU (ECM/PCM), Cruise Control"

I highly doubt the vehicle would even FUNCTON if the ECU fuse was blown. However, I am still curious: Could it screw anything up if I remove this fuse to check it?

 

Remove & check that fuse; that can't screw anything up. But like you said, if it were blown the engine wouldn't start.

 

Yeah I was also thinking that a blown fuse would not have allowed the speedometer to work intermittently for a day either. Seems to me like it has to be the mechanical portion of the part. But I'll check the fuse anyway - would be dumb of me not to.
Now I am wondering if my neglecting to change the MTF played a part in ruining the VSS. Until now I had no idea that there was a mechanical portion that dropped down into the transmission.
Needless to say I will be changing the MTF soon. I have had the car for about 52k and never changed it. Not sure if it was ever changed before I owned it either...

 

For the MTF, you should make sure you can open the fill plug BEFORE you drain it... So just check the level before you drain. Seems like the VSS might be hurt by very low fluid level, but it might tolerate old/dirty fluid pretty well. It's not a highly stressed part.

 

TexasHonda wrote this in one of his post. If you like experimenting, you may want to try cleaning the sensor pickup.

 

The VSS for your car appears significantly different than the ones I referred to in my post. It may not be accessible for repair.

The one I worked on had 3 screws on the top of the VSS that could be removed to access the internal parts; magnetic rotor, small spring in center top of rotor, and ball that sat atop the spring and turned against a flat plate. There may be a thin shim underneath the rotor. The "sensor" is on one side of inner cavity where the magnetic rotor edge passes very closely. Clean rotor and sensor face. I added a tiny amount of grease to underside where rotor shaft turned and to the top side of rotor; the spring/ball/plate bearing surfaces.

Although I cleaned and reassembled the VSS, I had already purchased a new VSS, removed the rotor and sensor segment, which I transferred to my 2.5TL body for use. The old 2.5TL parts were used to create a "refurbished" VSS, which has not been tested and sits in my garage for a possible future use.

good luck

 

^ If I had the time and patience, I would try something like that. If it was winter I would try it. It's just too dang hot here to do all of that work and have it possibly not solve the problem. I would be pretty ticked.

But I really do appreciate the input.

Still haven't pulled the fuse yet but NOT getting my hopes up.
Driving home yesterday sucked. There was a 3 car pileup and traffic was backed up for miles. My idle is all screwed up because fo the CEL so I kept having to give it gas to keep it around 1k RPM (AC was running on 3). Sometimes it'll drop almost to 0 and the car will almost stall if I don't watch it
After trying 2 different routes to get home, I finally found one that was clear -waaayyy out of the way, but I still got home quicker than my wife did. She just sat in the traffic until it cleared.

 

Pulled the fuse and it was good (not surprised)

Replaced the VSS today. The speedometer and odometer work now and no CEL

I did the whole job without uttering a single cuss word and only skinned 2 knuckles!

I did a write up with pics in the DIY section. I think uploading the pics for the writeup took longer than replacin the VSS did.