Hello, last summer my 1989 Trans Am GTA was t-boned in an accident New (old stock) drivers door was put on at the body shop and they had to straighten out my quarter panel.

Problem is when I got the car back, the speedometer was acting really flaky. It started to flutter back and forth from 5 mph to 20 mph no matter how fast I drove. the next day it made one flutter, and now is completely dead.

This may or may not have anything to do with the accident, and what was repaired. Obviously nothing in speedo has to do with door, but I figured any info might lead to a clue or help. They also re painted the entire car, so I know parts were disassembled.

Ground for speedo on the back of the engine is tight still. Gear in the transmission along with surrounding parts are still fine and in tact.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't like to drive the car with out the speedomoter/odometer working, check engine light comes on after a few minutes of driving for speed sensor, and I believe torque converter does not lock up with speedo not working.

Thanks!

 

It is possible the vss went out. Mine did exactly what you are describing when it went out.

 

The "fluttering" is usually because the cable is dirty and needs cleaned/lubed. The driven gear in the tail housing is plastic and may have wallowed out the square hole for the cable under the extra stress. Possibly a broken cable. If the gear checks out, hook a drill to the end while you have it off and see if the speedo works.

 

Great thanks a lot for the troubleshooting tips. I will check out the cable first thing tomorrow after work and see if I can get it working with a drill. I am also doing some research on vss

 

If your SES light is coming on, then it has to be the VSS signal to the ECM. That's the only thing I know of that sends the ECM the signal for road speed. Could be a loose wire, could be the VSS itself.

 

Hi Charlie , you will find no cable in our speedometer , in 1988 ALL of our Firebird/TAs went to a full electronic setup . You will need to pop the VSS out of the transmission and look at the plastic gear . For a handy reference as to what the parts look like I have a sticky in the transmission subforum "pictures of every part of a 700R4" ...

 

Sorry for the wrong info. I was under the impression 90 was he first year for VSS in 3rd gens. Apparently just Camaros? I literally just did the clean and lube of my cable last week for the same erratic display.

 

Hi Joe , Yea , you would figure that "sister" cars like the Camaro/Firebird would have the same evolution WRT their mechanical systems , but little things like the speedo drives seem to be a world of their own . I had a 1987 TA that was cable operated , and have as spare parts the transmission from a scrapped 1988 Firebird that has the electronic VSS . I always wondered why it took two more years to bring the electronic system to the Camaro since it worked plenty well enough in the Firebird ?

 

Init4fun, thanks a lot for clearing that up. Great I will check out those pictures!

 

VSS was in fact the problem. Thanks for the help everyone!