2001 Chrysler T&C Speedometer quit

[carrta]

I have a 2001 Chrysler T&C the other day it stopped working. Not sure why. All the other instrument panel gages look like they are still functional. What would the problem be and how do I fix it. What do I need to Check?

[RIP]

Several components can be the culprit; Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS), Body Control Module (BCM), instrument cluster printed circuit board, or the speedo itself. If you're not getting any driveability issues like hesitation, stalling, or a Service Engine Light (SEL) on the dash, then I would suspect it's not the VSS. To verify which of the other components could be at fault you need to take it to a dealership or well equiped shop where they will connect a scanner and test the system.

Short of that, you could try pulling the IOD fuse in the fuse box next to the battery. This will "reset" the BCM. You could check all the connections in the system for security and corrosion. You could check continuity from one component to the other using a multimeter.

I've never troubleshot this system so there may be other ways to approach it without dealing with a dealership. For instance, there may be a way to bypass the BCM and induce a voltage directly to the speedo and get it to move. If it moves then that would point to a BCM. I'd hesitate doing this until I knew exactly what voltage to input and on which contacts. Maybe somebody knows of a trick or two.

[Bernard Feltzer]

Smack the top of your dash board with your hand while driving, if the speedometer starts working, you have bad connections on your printed circuit board.

[carrta]

Rip, thanks for the input. I talked with a friend of mine and he had a friend that worked on cars. I told him what was going on. He said to do a self diagnostic on the vehicle and it will correct it self. This can be done one of three ways depending on your vehicle. 1. Turn key to on position, push in the trip button and hold, turn key back one click-this didn't work on my vehicle. 2. Turn key to on position will holding in the trip button-this also didn't work for me. 3. While holding the trip button in turn the key back to accessory postion-this worked-all the dials adn gauges started moving about and where the odomenter reads alot of stuff flashed on it. when everything was done, everything had reset itself and now the speedometer works fine. So all I needed was to recalibrate, cost - a little flushstration, and time to find someone that new what to do, saved me about 150.00, this is what the shop said it would cost to hook up to a computer, see what the problem was, labor and a part that it probably didn't need.

[RIP]

Great news. Glad to hear it was a simple fix. Yup, forgot about that trick. I'll have to put it back on the top shelf of my toolbox. Thanks for the fix. Cheers.

[EA6BMECH]

Does this work with the older early '90s models??

Originally Posted by carrta

Rip, thanks for the input. I talked with a friend of mine and he had a friend that worked on cars. I told him what was going on. He said to do a self diagnostic on the vehicle and it will correct it self. This can be done one of three ways depending on your vehicle. 1. Turn key to on position, push in the trip button and hold, turn key back one click-this didn't work on my vehicle. 2. Turn key to on position will holding in the trip button-this also didn't work for me. 3. While holding the trip button in turn the key back to accessory postion-this worked-all the dials adn gauges started moving about and where the odomenter reads alot of stuff flashed on it. when everything was done, everything had reset itself and now the speedometer works fine. So all I needed was to recalibrate, cost - a little flushstration, and time to find someone that new what to do, saved me about 150.00, this is what the shop said it would cost to hook up to a computer, see what the problem was, labor and a part that it probably didn't need.