hey guys, i need help badly. im on vacation in gulf shores and on the way here my 2000 ram 1500 4x4's abs AND brake lights came on somewhere around montgomery Al. THEN when i got on gulf shores pkwy my speedo quit working at speeds under 45 or 50. everything else seems to be working fine. what in the world is wrong with this truck? any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

speed sensor on ur axle. for some reason everyone is havin this problem lately. many threads about it.

 

thanks for the quick reply. is this an expensive/difficult part to replace?

 

no more than 30-50 i think, and no its not hard to replace at all.

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The disconnection of the negative battery cable may interfere with the on board computer function. Upon reconnection, the computer may need to go through a relearning process.

 

thanks for the info man, you're a life saver!!

 

just a by the way - as long as your brakes are working and its running ok and you can drive w/o speedometer, its not urgent that you fix that.

it can wait until you get home. enjoy your vacation.

its possible, just possible, that when you go to remove the sensor off the top of the pumpkin, that it can break off. then you might have to remove the cover to get out the broken part. so if you do change it down there on the beach, be very gentle removing the old one. the part is often listed as rear abs sensor, rather than rear speed sensor. its rectangular shaped and available at any parts store. the part listed as speed sensor is round, and goes in the output housing of the transmission (2wd) or tcase (4wd).

 

yup, my dad's been drivin his with the exact same problem as yours, he hasn't replaced that VSS on the rear axle yet. Like dvaughn said, as long as your brakes are working fine you'll be ok.

Isn't that a bad spot to be vacationing these days?

 

Truck is sad about all the oil being wasted that it could drink.

 

well i just couldnt stand it any longer, so i went into town and got an abs sensor and installed it in the parking lot. i didnt disconnect the battery cable till i got back to my condo. i DID leave it disconnected about an hour tho. this didnt seem to fix the problem. the engine light went out, but the abs and brake lights are still on, and the speedo still dont work. anyone have any more ideas as to whats wrong with my truck? thanks in advance.

 

ABS sensor? Did you get the sensor that goes on top of the rear diff or something else?