chevy s10 1991 pickup speedometer out

[stevemay]

My 1991 chevy s10 speedometer is not working - my son started the car and smelled strong electric burning smell and noticed the speedometer was not working. He pulled the panel out and the speedometer, however it doesn't look burned. any knowledge on this one?

[Crasen]

Try checking your fuses, I am not sure what fuses you would want to check first but that is the first place I would always check if I smell a burning smell, if nothing else it might tell you what circuit is overloading so you can look at a wiring diagram. If you look at a wiring diagram and can see what components are powered through the circuit what I always do is start unplugging as many components as I can get to for the circiut. If you can find a particular component that blows a fuse when it is plugged in but doesn't when it is unplugged you just found the problem. As for the speedometer your vehicle might use a Vehicle speed sensor to measure vehicle speed and a blown fuse could very well keep that from working. btw if you use a 12 volt test light you can check a fuse real fast , they are only like 4 bucks and take two seconds for each fuse, you connect the alligator clip to ground, unpainted metal under dash works good ussually, turn key to run position and place tip of tester to the metal contact point on the fuse next to the amperage rating. if the tester only lights up on one contact point the fuse is bad if it lights up on both it is good, neither no power to the fuse