Hey guys, so my speedometer is not working, I have the check engine light reading p500, No Vehicle Speed Sens Signal. Now, ive been doing some research and Im confused so i made a thread. I have a 97 Ram 1500, 5.9 auto tranny, i just got it. While traveling sometimes the speedometer will jump around, which leads me to believe the sensor is either faulty or not plugged in all the way or the wire is frayed. Rather than a bad ground in the circuit because then there would never be a reading. However, which sensor am I looking at the one on the differential or the one of the transmission. Thanks in advance!

 

Check both. And it could be a ground issue, although intermittant.

 

I'd start with the one on top of the rear diff housing.

 

Im going to check once the rain passes. I should also note that, I found in the engine bay a braided ground the frayed, I used alligator clips and hooked it to the battery ground but no difference. I recall from my old camaro that the braided ground controlled the gauges. What would you guys recommend to repair that? Just buying another braided ground right?

 

I would repair/replace any ground that is damaged. Check to make sure connection is clean and secure. I even added a couple extra ones to be safe.

 

On the 97, the one in the trans drives the speedo. It's a gear driven signal generator.

 

Thats where I was confused. So, its the one behind the filler neck? Or its a mechanical speedo?

 

Just checked the voltages going to the sensor as per the haynes manual. Im reading 5.1, and 5.4, so theres powering reaching the sensor however, I should be reading 5 and 8. So it could be a bad ground causing less voltage.

Just took the sensor out cleaned both the sensor and pigtail terminals and going to see if theres any changes. It looks like on the sensor while the gear is intact one of the prongs is corroded and blue heres the pics

 

Clean everything up good, and stick it back together, and see if it all works. That IS the correct sensor for the speedo.

 

No difference unfortunately. Looks like ill take plunge and replace it, less than 30$ not bad at all.