My car’s speedometer needle jumps, One day you are driving your car and you notice that the speedometer needle on the gauge moves suddenly, it goes up and down without staying stable according to the speed at which you are driving, the car keeps moving and maybe you think it is a fault very minimal, but it is better to solve it in time to avoid awkward moments. Here you will find the reason and the solution, because it is an experience that some of us have already had with our car.
In short, it is a fault that when perceived is not so serious, but that must be corrected in time, It happened to me that I was traveling on the road at a stable speed, I had just bought my car 7 months ago, a second-hand car that was still discovering and making some improvements (little details) something normal.
My car’s speedometer needle jumps:
Detecting the Problem:
At one point I notice that the speedometer needle is changing, it goes up and down without maintaining a constant in relation to the speed that I was traveling, then I lowered the volume of the radio (it is the first thing to be able to detect any noise or vibration in the car) I did not perceive any noise, I turn off the air conditioning and not noticing any signal I stop little by little and get out of the car, everything seemed normal, after a while the needle remained normal.
I thought it must be some fault of the needle simply and I continued on my way, until I reached my town, but the next day on my way to work it did the same thing again, the needle went up and down suddenly, but this time the maintenance check (check engine) also turned on.
in that moment I also began to feel that the transmission, when making the gear change, made the change in a somewhat abrupt way, even from one change it returned to the previous one, now I understood that it was not something so simple.
I contacted the mechanic, he already had an idea of what caused this situation, but even so, he connected the computer (scan) and obtained the code (P0501) as a result, which refers to the Speed Sensor.
This problem occurs in relation to the speed sensor (Speed Sensor),
- The first thing is to check the wiring that leads from the speedometer gauge to the sensor connector, see that the cables are in perfect condition, that they are not broken, peeled, or burned.
- If the wiring is correct, then the connector part should be checked, check that those metal filaments where contact with the sensor occurs are not sulfated or oxidized, if they are, they should be cleaned with a suitable cleaner.
- If none of the above have worked, then it is definitive, the sensor is faulty and must be changed immediately.
In my case the sensor was broken, so we proceeded to buy one in a local store, the installation of the new sensor only takes about 15 or 20 minutes and the cost of this sensor (in my case for a 97 Honda Civic) is RD $2500.00 Dominican pesos, equivalent to US$50.00 Dollars on the current date, something affordable.
Thanks.