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Followup To
Question -
I just bought a 1989 Newyorker Landau everything in the dash works and everything lights up when I start it, but the speedometer reads 0 all the time, and the trip computer doesn't calculate milage. Also the Oil presure guage is always low and the info button says check oil. Everything is mechanicaly sound with the car. My questoin would be are my problems due to a faulty speed sensor and oil presure sensor or is there a central computer somewhere that is malfunctoining. If it is the speed sensor would it be the output sensor or the input sensor? Thank you
Adam
Answer -
Hi Adam,
I need some more information. Where on the cluster is the trip computer mileage displayed? Does the regular odometer show the mileage being accumulated? Do you see a small asterisk (*) flashing on the display or not? Which engine/trans combination do you have?
There is a body computer located on the passenger side kick panel just in front of the door opening. So it may be involved too. But let me know the answers to my questions.
You can do a cluster self-test:
Press the trip and reset trip buttons simultaneously and hold them in, then crank and start the engine, then release the buttons. If it says Chec in the odometer window you are in the test mode. Just keep pressing the us/met button and see what comes up in the display. If you don't get a chec displayed, tell me what is displayed. We'll go from there.
Roland
I have a 3.0 v6 with i think the 4 speed, it has OD drive and low available to me. The trip computer for gas milage distance travled, etc is on the overhead panel above the rear view mirror. and no milage is being acumulated on the odometer. I did the check you metioned and it gave me a code 999 and then ran throught a bunch of other stuff but never gave another code. thank you for the help. i will be awaiting another answer. thanks a bunch
AnswerHi Adam,
According to my '89 diagrams there is both trans output sensor (that is wired to the trans controller and is used to QA the trans and shift it properly) and a distance sensor mounted on the transaxle extension housing's top side. That latter sensor is the one that presumably runs the speedo/odo/trip mileage. If you look behind the engine from the driver's side you should see the top of the transaxle housing extension (that is the part of the trans which drives the half-shafts). There is an oval object held in place by one bolt (10mm head) and a two wire lead disconnect from the object and that is the distance sensor.
The wires on the harness side of the disconnect are white/orange that goes to pin 47 of the 60 way plug at the engine controller mounted on the left inner fender, and black/light blue that goes to pin 4 of the same plug. If you want to check the sensor, just put an ohmmeter across its wires at the disconnect and lift up the front end so the front wheels can rotate and see if you get 8 resistance pulses for each rotation of the right front wheel. If you do, then the sensor is o.k.; if you don't then the likely reason is that the gear on the sensor was damaged in the past when a mechanic pulled the right side half shaft out of the extension housing without first removing the distance sensor. The gear is replaceable with a part that should be available from a dealer. So once you either determine that the sensor is not being turned by the half shaft due to a stripped gear, or if it is pulsing that the wiring to the 60-way pins is somehow open, and make the repairs, you should get function of the speedo/odo/ and trip mileage. Let me know if what I have described is not consistent with what you find. The data to run the odo, etc is digitized at the engine controller and sent to the cluster and the overhead console on 2 data buss wires along with other info that is also shared with the body computer. But because the rest of the data seems to be getting around it appears to me that the problem is only with the distance sensor proper.
The 999 code and subsequent testing of the cluster shows that you have no problem with it. That is fortunate.
Roland
