[Bob Lincoln]

His setup is different. Speedometer cables were eliminated sometime around 1988 or so. On your car and my 93, the speed sensor generates a digital signal via Hall effect pulses, which is converted to an analog signal for our analog gauges, at the cluster. And so ours are not 'purely digital' because the end display is analog, as is the signal. His is purely digital, he has a digital dash. However, the factory manuals show a speedometer cable from transaxle to cruise servo, and another cable from servo to dash - regardless of whether it's automatic or manual, and it doesn't distinguish between analog and digital dashes. So that's why I wonder if he as a car that had an analog cluster, and someone wired a digital cluster in, with homemade wiring.

 

[valiant67]

The digital dash would be a factory option in the "premium" cars and the New Yorker should be one of those. I don't know how the setup works though I did have a friend with both two similar cars (a LeBaron Town & Country converible and another) with the digital dash in both and he had similar issues which as far as I know he never got resolved.

 

[RRToadHall]

hanks for the continued input folks. Oh I have no doubt that I have the wrong part for my car but the correct part for every other car out there. Trouble is there is no hint what the correct part is. As far as someone "messing with the car" there is not a hint of a chance. I know the history of the car from day one and I am the second owner. The old girl will FINALLLY be rolling over 50K this weekend. I will be doing a full wiring trace eventually to find this bugger.

Anyway, after spraying down engine compartment and undercarriage Sunday the speedo is working again. It is jsut postponing the eventual need to figure this out, but at least she is road worthy again. Feel free to keep the ideas coming. I am not at all afraid to play guinea pig and gut this thing to find a resolution so that someone in the future will have an answer.

 

[B10alia]

Be very careful about parts stores-- a lot of times the people working there aren't quite firing on all cylinders. I was once told that the Hall effect sensor for my Spirit was no longer made, and I had to go back and forth with the guy for a good five minutes, explaining what it was, other names it could have been, etc. When he tried to sell me a reman distributor after concluding that's what I, in fact, needed and that I had no idea what I was talking about, I asked him if I could take a look on the computer. Found the Hall under a different category in 45 seconds, part was in stock, and I went on my way. Just last week, when I needed a strut mount, the "sales associate" assured me it would be in next-day. Next day comes, no part. Response I got was, "Oh, you had (name). We're sorry. He does stuff like this all the time. We can have it in by tomorrow..." Get a phone call later on (after I had already gotten home and started eating dinner, of course) that someone had put the part "someplace stupid" and that I could come retrieve it. If you can't keep track of a box with a huge label with my name on it, I wouldn't put it past you to give someone the wrong part.

 

[RRToadHall]

I agree totally. THat's why I cross research a few sites for a part before calling and asking for a part number vs a part for "X". In this case everyone and every source (save for the shop manual) all point to and say the same unit Bob describes. Sadly the shop manual does not provide enough info for an alternate part or give a location outside of the vague note in the ETM. Oh well, her 50K mile oil change and air filter are done. Washed, vauumed and ready for her tyre rotation this weekend.

 

[BlackSheep01]

This is why my repairs come in two flavors:
1. Drive it to McWhorter's and tell Mike what the symptoms are. Leave it with Kevin and get it back good to go shortly. This is painless and guaranteed to be right when I get it back and stay that way.
2. Take the old piece (fastener that holds the door panels in, e.g.) to a NAPA store and tell the counter man, "I need a new one of these." Nine times out of ten, this is not going to be easy, never mind painless.

 

[B10alia]

What you really could use in this situation is an IPL, or an illustrated parts list. I have no idea where to get these for cars, unfortunately, but back when I did small engine repairs, they were indispensable. They typically give you an exploded view of the parts, which gives you a general reference for where things are located in relation to each other, as well as an OEM part number. Maybe someone on here who has a dealer connection, like ImperalCrown or Valiant67, can help you out here. I know they exist, I've seen pictures and scans of a page or two, but I've never seen a physical one.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

A quick googling of the Chrysle e-fiche for 1984 shows the VSS in line with the speedo cable. The VSS itself is shown to be in a round housing... it'll either be in line with the cable to the transmission, or off on its own cable coming out of the cruise control servo. The e-fiche is a bit confusing on that point.

 

[RRToadHall]

Correct. That is what is shown in the shop manual electrical section. I only found that by going page by page through the harness diagrams. However I have no such item. As noted above I have a simple cable from the tranny to the cruise. The output from the cruise is capped off from the factory.

 

[RRToadHall]

Dang IE update HATES this site.

So as the old girl FINALLY rolled over 50K miles I am running through her midlife service and tune up. Oil and filters, rotate tyres, repack bearings, clean brakes etc. I got brave and fully removed the speedo cable. As expected there is no sensor to be found at either end, in the middle or anywhere near it. I have however removed cable from sheath and regreased it.

I am still up for ANY hints. Not at all opposed to yanking apart bits for an answer to help the next unlucky guy with this issue.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Found a diagram that may be useful:



It's occurred to me that your cruise servo may actually have no connection at all to the speedo cable, and your servo is in fact actually the sensor. Or the two are combined. Just going by a process of elimination, if the sensor isn't bolted to the tranny, and isn't in the speedo cable, it has to therefore be at the end of the speedo cable. The digital dash isn't just guessing how fast the car's going

 

[RRToadHall]

Yea I ahve seen that diagram in a few variations. Trouble is I have no such thing in my cable. There is also no such part listed with NAPA, Oreilly's or Autoparts Warehouse. I did stumble onto a few drawings showing the speed/distance sensor as being a seperate unit mounted to the transmission close to the starter. I haven;t checked for that yet.

 

[RRToadHall]

Howdy EEK fans. It's been another year and the old girl is up to her old tricks again. Erratic speedo anywhere from 0-85 regardless of speed. it seems to be something temperature related in that it only acts up when it is over about 80 outside. It never acts up first thing in the morning, always in the afternoon on hot days.

 

[GLHS60]

1984 Cars have a very unique electrical system and I asked an internet buddy who has 0ne where the SDS is located.
Rockauto has an illustration under part #SC11 or 554679
Below is his reply.
Thanks
Randy

"I found the speed sensor on the 1984 turbo . Its in the cable between the trans and the cruise unit . Right under the master cylinder. Hope this helps!