1995 Ford Ranger Electric odometer troubleshooting

CTCLINESMITH

MEMBER
1995 FORD RANGER
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
110,000 MILES

I have an all electric speedometer/odometer. The speedometer works just fine, but the odometer is dead. I replaced the whole instrument cluster with another one from a salvage yard with exactly the same results. I tried a third one -- ditto.
1. Can I assume that the VSS is OK since the speedometer works?
2. Can I bench test the odometer to make sure I don't have 3 bad ones in a row?
3. What else could be causing this problem and how would I troubleshoot it or find it?

3 Replies

2CARPRO JACK

MECHANIC
11,533 POSTS

You may need to take this to ashop that specializes in electrical or possibly even thedealer. All Mitchell says is that if Odo inoperative, replace speedo. Hard to believe you would get 3 bad ones in a row, did you check all connections at the back of the dash? Do all dash lights work?

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Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 AT 7:44 AM

CTCLINESMITH

MEMBER
3 POSTS

I agree that it is hard to believe that I got three bad ones, but I am starting to agree with that premise. There are 4 electrical connections to the speedo. One is ground, two seem to have 12v when the truck is running, and one has voltage that varies with speed. Not sure why the two have 12v, but nothing appears dead. All lights on dash work. Wish I could find a wiring diagram for the speedo.

My original cluster had an intermittent odometer (worked maybe 25% of the time). Neither of the replacements from the salvage yard ever worked at all. So I am thinking that I actually got two totally bad ones from salvage. Maybe time to spring for a repaired one.

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Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 AT 8:08 AM

2CARPRO JACK