Hello Team,

I appreciate any direction you can provide.

2001 Ram MaxiWagon 3500 15 passenger van, 5.9L, 4-speed automatic, 98K miles.

The Speedometer, the fuel gauge, cruise control and odometer do not work. Every other gauge works.

The Fuel gauge and Speedo are bottomed out below zero and do not fluctuate. The only DTC code is 0500 A - Speed Sensor. I replaced the speed sensor in the rear diff and in the tail on the transmission. Speedo still not working. I dropped the tank, cleaned it out and replaced the entire fuel pump. Fuel gauge still not working.

Are there any other speed sensors?

The ABS and parking brake lights are on in addition to the check engine light. Even when parking brake is not engaged.

The vehicle starts and runs great. I just drove 300 miles.

When scan tool is connected the fuel gauge worked?! But when I remove it, it goes back to not working.

This van sat for a very, very long time before it was recently donated to our church from another church. So I don't have a maintenance history.

 

I'm going to hazard a guess and say it's either an ecu or instrument cluster problem. May be a ground issue on one or both.

 

PCM gets its cue for vehicle speed from the sensor on the rear diff. May wanna check the wiring back to the sensor.....

 

Start by testing the cluster. With the key Off, hold the odometer trip reset button down while turning the key to the On position, not Start. Then release the reset button and watch the cluster, as it will turn every light on and off and test each gauge. Due to the vehicle sitting for so long, I suspect the fuel level sensor in the tank is the issue with the fuel gauge and it might or might not clear up with use. The rest of the issues can be related to a bad speed sensor. With respect to "HeyYou" the speed sensor on top of the differential is just for the rear wheel anti-lock (RWAL) system. The vehicle speed sensor for the speedo and CC is on the rear driver's side of the tranny. It is a 2-wire sensor and basically reads the output speed of the driveshaft. Just so you don't change the wrong one, be aware there might be a 3-wire sensor in the same area, which is for the neutral safety and backup light circuits.