Chrysler Repair: 2000 Chrysler Concorde: Failed Speedometer, chrysler concorde, 2000 chrysler concorde

Question
Ok ive got a 2000 Chrysler Concorde, used,  had it for about a year. Havent had many problems, but just a few nights ago, overnight, the speedometer stopped working. All the lights are still on, the other meters work fine, but the speedometer is stuck on zero. Could this be a fuse that just needs replacing?

Answer
Hi Jason,
I am a little beyond my manuals in dealing with a 2000 model year, but let me give you a couple of suggestions. It is not likely to be a fuse. It could either be the speedometer unit is faulty or is could be that the output speed sensor on your transmission has failed. That sensor not only is needed for the speedometer to function but it also is needed by the electronic automatic transmission to shift properly. So if you notice that the trans is not shifting out of its starting gear (which will be second if this it true) then that indicates that the sensor is bad.
You can perhaps do a self test on the instrument cluster as follows:
press and hold the odometer/trip reset button, then turn the ignition key from lock, to off, to run position. Then release the button and watch for a series of test illuminations of the cluster. If the speedometer reads different values of speed then that means it it working. If a lot of other things happen to the cluster display but the speedo never participates in the tests then the speedo is not working.
The output speed sensor is located on the driver side of the transmission at the very rear of it. It has a two wire plug (light green/white, dark blue/black) which has a lock tab on the side. Gently lift the tab and remove the plug. Then you can unscrew the sensor and screw in a new one. It is to be tightened to about the same tension as a spark plug (20 foot-pounds). If you want to verify that the sensor is the problem its failure would usually set a fault code in the transmission controller memory. If you can get a free readout at an Autozone store that includes checking the trans memory that would avoid unnecessarily buying the sensor which cost close to $100.
Those are my suggestions. Please let me know if you learn something I can share with other owners.
Roland