2000 Rodeo Speed Sensor/Speedometer

[rjohnsonaz]

Speedometer has been fluctuating the last few weeks from 2 to 5 miles an hour which it turn affected the cruise control. Then it started kicking the cruise clear off. Over the last few days the speedometer started fluctuating in a major way and the engine would balk and hesitate. Did some research and everything pointed to the speed sensor on the tranny. Took it out and the old one seem to stick and the new one was smooth. (I only replaced the sensor @ $140.00, gear and all looked fine). Drove it 6 miles nice and smooth, no speedometer fluctuation, no hesitation while the cruise was on, everything seem fine, wrong. Next day drove 50 miles, lucky to get back home, speedometer was going from 20 to 100 and of course major engine hesitation. I'm thinking maybe its the speedometer head assembly or maybe a loose ground or broken wire. I never did get a CEL, which surprises me. By the way its a V6, 5 speed manual transmission. I would appreciate any suggestions or help. Thanks in advance. Update: thanks for the post I did check all that and it seem fine. I disconnected the speed sensor and drove it around and no problems. Reconnected it and I got a little bounce in the speedometer (2 to 6 mph). I still don't get a CEL, so now I wondering if the computer is bad.

[php]

I'm not going to claim to be an expert here. But, it seems to me that you may want to go back to the speed sensor wiring and make sure your not getting an inadvertent ground somewhere. When you replaced the sensor you may have moved the wiring from whatever was causing the problem and now after driving it the wiring it back into it's original position.
Not sure if this will help, but it won't hurt to look.