98 Escort bad speedo? your opinion please

[cogsncogs]

Hello everone,

This is my first post. I've done a search, but couldn't find anything that matched exactly my prob and/or solutuion. Right now I've come to two conclusions and would like the help or opinion of some of you fine experts!

Symptoms as follows:
Odometer: Still functions (tested, accurate), cruise control functions at set speed but somewhat difficult to lower speed by coast button, accel button seemingly works normally. This is when the speedo acts up which is always after car warms up.
Hot car interior, cold engine (car setting in direct afternoon sun): When pulling out speedo goes quickly to 47mph reverse or forward, sticks. Hitting dash has no effect while moving. Hitting dash while stopped, speedo drops to 30mph and stays there, then upon moving again goes back to 47mph. Always repeatable.
Cold interior, cold engine: No problems until interior/engine warms up or bumps, speedo goes to magic number; 47mph (moving, not idle). Once or twice suddenly stared working for thirty miles or so. Long trips on 4-lane, 60-65mph, air conditioner on at full blast. Hitting dash or tapping speedo face (bezel) while stopped, drops to 30mph. Then upon moving again, quickly goes to 47mph. This is always repeatable.
Cold interior, warm engine: Hitting dash while stopped speedo drops to zero or 30mph depending on interior temp (dash lights etc.). Always repeatable. Once instrument panel is warm, never drops to zero.
Starting cold engine and cold interior (45 deg at night here lately), letting car idle, heater on: Speedo slowly climbs to 30mph (idle, not moving) in about 20 - 30 minutes (depending on outside temp.), odometer is normal (not moving). Then hitting dash speedo drops to zero. Always repeatable.
In all cases when speedo is acting up, turning off ignition speedo slooowly drops to zero. Then upon restarting engine, speedo at zero. Then upon letting car idle for a few minutes, speedo slowly climbs to 30mph, hitting dash has little or no effect (occasionally goes back to zero), then upon moving it quickly goes to (you got it!) 47mph. Or upon moving directly after re-starting.
My thoughts: Bad circuit board directly behind speedo, which drives the speedo and odometer, inside the instrument cluster. Probably a bad electrolytic capacitor, broken solder connection, or possibly bad speedo unit itself... Not the VSS, because if that were defective, odometer and cruise control would not work. CCOD would also fail to function properly and hitting dash would have NO EFFECT!
Did find a pink lubricating fluid leaking inside the steering wheel column (not tranny fluid, impossible! No speedo cable, no direct connection to transmission, all electronic! And I know what tranny fluid smells like!) onto the wiring for the air bag and cruise control. This is where the wiring from the air bag and cruise control leave the steering wheel. Seems to be soaked in it! This could be a (the) problem here, as twice moved the tilt steering and the speedo went to zero. Dunno, not always repeatable as I've seen this happen without doing anything! Remember car is at idle! Removed and inspected instrument cluster, the outside and back, (I'm a very experienced electronics tech, 30 yrs, still could've missed something though), did not go inside. Did not want make my situation worse! No problems were found. Wiring ok, no corrosion as far as I could tell.
I also thought it may be the cruise control unit when it gets hot but why would banging the dash have anything to do with it? Plus I can set the speed and it will keep that speed as it should, but register a stuck 47mph on the speedo? (Always exactly 47mph!) Any thoughts as to my problem? Am I correct in my assumptions? Would this be the problem or do I have to look elsewhere? Have you seen or heard of these symptoms before?
Thanks a bunch in advance!

Cheers
Wayne

[cogsncogs]

oooops!

Somehow I didn't post the info about my car, so here it is:
1998 Ford Escort SE, 2.0L SOHC, 4 speed automatic with CCOD.

Wayne

[Jet-Lee]

My Haynes manual says there's a cable that runs into my transmission for the speedo...'99 LX

[cogsncogs]

Originally posted by Jet-Lee
My Haynes manual says there's a cable that runs into my transmission for the speedo...'99 LX

Is that a '99 Escort LX? According to my understanding from and here:
http://www.autopartsgiant.com/demox34a.cfm
Couldn't find a speedo cable for a '99 Escort, just a VSS.
And also from looking at my car there is no speedometer cable, they use a Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) that's mounted on the transaxale. From 1996 IIRC and upwards. Now there's a couple of wires tho that go to the VSS. If I could post a pic I could show you what I'm talking about. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, if so correct me.

Wayne

[Jet-Lee]

my bad...ur right, it's the speed SENSOR. You have to remove it to check your tranny fluid on the manual transmission

[cogsncogs]

And also I beleive it's the same damn part too (1998-99). 1996 and 97's have been known to go bad early. I've heard/read somewhere that THEY supposedly fixed the problem from '98 and up, hmmm.

Wayne

[cogsncogs]

Went to the Ford Dealer yesterday were I bought the thing. After a few dumbfouded looks the service dept. manager seemed to confirm my suspicions. He didn't seem too interested until the words money and how much come up! He gave me an estimate of 296 USD for the instrument cluster and 170 USD for labor. 170 dollars for 20 minutes labor tops (that's including a cigarette break!) to swap out the unit, Geez! I've done it myself in less than 15! Twice! B'Tards! I think I'll buy a unit somewhere and do the work myself!

Wayne

BTW, My brother and I confirmed that it's not the Vehicle Speed Sensor.

[Jet-Lee]

take a trip to the junk yard. You may have to play with Odometer, but it's cheaper...

[cogsncogs]

Originally posyted by: Jet-Lee
take a trip to the junk yard. You may have to play with Odometer, but it's cheaper...

Yeah, you're prob right! God I was hoping it was somethin' simple and cheaper! And a lot less hassle! Oh well, either I get used to driving with no speedo or pay the price! Damn goverment! (odo, mileage shit!). Drove 60 miles today, speedo stuck at 47mph. Let car idle for 15 minutes when I got home. AC @ full blast, looked 15 min. later, just as I was opening the door to look at speedo; dropped like a rock to ZERO! You know I have to get my car flagged w/odo is not the actual milage sticker s*it even though I can provide proof with oil change receipts!
Well that's the way it goes! Good thing I posted here! Seem's to be a lot of KNOWLEDGEABLE people HERE! fffftttt!

Wayne

BTW: Please do not take this the wrong way!

[cogsncogs]

I just want make SURE Jet-Lee is not Ooo-ffended here! I appreciate his replies/input. Thanks! He's the only one that responded to a simple (complex) problem! Thank You!!! You ever do your own DIY Audio projects? Look for cogsncogs and many others! ENJOY!
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/index.php?s=

Wayne

[Jet-Lee]

lol...no offense taken at all! I actually do, do my own DIY Audio. Some pretty good setups too, IMO, and I'll be man enough to say I have also put together some really $hitty ones too, but for the most part, they turn out really good for dirt cheap.

[ctidwe]

my wifes car, 98 escort, the speedometer went crazy. the ford dealer checked it and said the sensor was bad. worng, then they said the 'head' was bad, wrong, turns out that the cruise control didn't have a good ground. just took the electrical connector loose , cleaned the connector and the 'pins' lubed it with some duralube and it works fine , you need a 10 MM socket extension wratchet and a 10 MMwrench, the whole proceedure takes about 30 minutes

[Jet-Lee]

how much $$ did you end up spending on their wrong solutions?

[cogsncogs]

Hello Every-one

Sorry I haven't replied with my fix, solution. Went to the Ford dealer and described my problem, told me that I had a "bad speedo gear", hehe! When I tried to explain to them that there were no "GEARS" at all in a '98 Ford Escort Instrument Cluster, that it was all electronic and used stepper motors for the gauges, all I got was some confused looks and they (he, the head mechanic dude) insisted the problem was the speedo gear. About 400USD for a new cluster and to install it.
Well to make a short story even shorter, I went to eBay (last October) and purchased a '99 Escort Inst. Cluster for 30 USD, swapped them out and BINGO I now have a working speedo! Of course the mileage is wrong, but hey! Later on I inspected the old Instrument Cluster and found a bad solder connection. I haven't tested it by re-installing the old one, but I'm pretty sure that is-was the problem.
As we all know they are out to make money and our bank accounts are there for the taking if we let them at it! So be careful and always get a second opinion (you're own) and do some research!

Wayne

edit: Well there are gears, they go to, are in the odometer and the trip-meter!