Hi folks, I have a 92 pickup 4wd 5-speed manual 3vze and my speedometer is having problems. After not driving for a day or so the speedometer doesn't work (stays at zero) until the engine begins to warm up a bit, then it jumps up to speed and everything's fine.

I searched this issue and read to check the speedometer sensor cables on the transmission, so I looked at the transmission and it seems like there's a fair amount of oil that has leaked, definitely more than before. It looks like the oil is being sprayed out from the u-joint at the output of the transmission, but it doesn't look like transmission oil would come out of there.

I think I may have damaged something when I bottomed out a few times wheeling out at slickrock trail in the sierras, but everything seems to be running just fine, so I never suspected anything. I did hit the cross member a few times and I hit the little skid plate that covers the U-joint in the middle of the driveshaft. I hit that skid hard enough that it was pressed into the driveshaft, so I removed it on the trail, drove home, re-bent it, and put it back on. I'm wondering if the place that it attaches to got misshapen as well and that's causing problems with the driveshaft going into the transmission.

So question 1) Is the speedometer issue a problem with the sensor or something else?
2) What do you guys think is the problem with the oil and is it something to be worried about?

Pictures:
Some cable coming out of the passenger side of the transmission with oil around it:


The back side of the transmission with the speedo sensor wires looking towards the front of the vehicle from the rear passenger side. The two cables are very covered and look a little corroded, too:


The U-Joint skid that I hit hard:


Any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

This is the classic symptom of a failing VSS1 (the sensor in your photo showing the back of the transfer case). There is a testing procedure in the 4Runner manual which was recently online (but no more). But it will just get worse with time and you'll need to replace it. RockAuto has them, but they're not much cheaper than the dealer.

The grease on the under side around the first universal could be a leaking rear seal on the transfer case, but it could also be the result of someone being too diligent about greasing the universal. I'd start with cleaning it up, using some paint thinner in a spray bottle. Then make sure the transfer case fluid is full, and don't grease the universal. Drive 30 miles and take a look.

 

I thought that was the case, but I wasn't sure what to do with it. I read somewhere that you just grease the cable, but that's for a cable sensor I think, not an electrical one.
Is there a reason to go with the RockAuto one? Is it better in some way?

Thanks! I will check that. I know that the mechanic has liberally greased the U-joints because all of them have some grease splatter, but this front u-joint seems to have some different, lighter oil or something that's not the grease that I haven't noticed before, which has me concerned.

Thanks for the input!

 

If I recall, the speedometer and the odometer and the trip meter all run off the VSS. If the speedometer is not working, but the odometer is working, then the VSS is not the culprit. You may want to check this before you shell out for a VSS.

 

Hmmm...I'll check. My trip meter doesn't work at all above the ones digit, but I can check the tenths to see if they spin. I think the speedometer starts going again before I've traveled a mile, so the odometer might be difficult to check. Thanks!

And I just looked at RockAuto. I've never used them before, so I thought that they were some aftermarket brand that sold different stuff, but I didn't realize that they just sell oem replacements. I will definitely check them out some more!

 

Another way to tell is see whether cruise control works. If VSS1 is out, cruise won't work (of course, as jreb10 suggests, there is never one cause of a symptom).

I don't think RockAuto sells Toyota OEM, so comparison shop with your favorite dealer (ask for the part number; you can also check online Toyota Parts dealers like http://www.toyotapartszone.com). Be sure to use your VIN when you ask about the part; if you look closely at RockAuto's site you can see the photos of the various parts are close but not the same. You can remove the one you have so you can actually compare it to RockAuto's pictures.

 

My cruise control has never worked....haha my truck sounds so sketch, but yeah it hasn't worked for as long as I can remember, and this truck has been in my family since I was born when my parents bought it new.
The brakes seem particularly grabby when I first drive it after a while, so maybe that's the ABS not working, which I read is a symptom of a vss problem. That could also just be because the drum brakes are damp since it's getting cold outside at night now.
I also read that power steering is funky with the vss out, but I'm not experiencing any trouble with that.
I'm going to check the oil problem before I even think about removing the VSS because, like you said, I'll need to drive to check for a leak.

 

Alright, so I did my best to wipe the grease off of the underside of the cab, then drove it for 25-30 miles, and looked again. It looks like there is some oil splattering coming from the plate that the U-joint bolts to on the transfer case side of the joint.
Before driving (I was too lazy to scrape off the black dried grease, but I think I did enough):


After driving (you can see a tiny bit of light colored oil in between those two tubes on the right and also just below the black dried grease that I didn't remove):


Before:


After: You can see a light colored oil drip coming down the body


Any tips would be great!

Also, I didn't see any problems with the speedo today because I had the engine running for a bit before I started to drive, so it was probably warm already. I'll check again next time I drive.
Thanks!

 

Evening bump!
Should I just tighten the bolts on the U-joint? not sure if that's the problem...

 

Tightening the bolts on the U-joint won't do anything; the connection to the companion flange is dry. (Well, if those bolts are loose, tightening them might save your life. But I assume you haven't seen any indication of looseness.)

Here's the page for replacing the seals. http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...22oilseals.pdf It looks like a big job to me, but YMMV.

 

Yeah the first thing I checked was the tightness off all of those bolts. Nothing's loose, thank goodness. So you're saying that I have to replace that companion flange oil seal at the very end or the one between the companion flange and the extension housing? I have a 3vze, and that pdf is for a 22re, so I'm assuming that the companion flange area of the transmissions is the same or similar for both.
Thanks for your help!

 

Oh, and how soon should I get this fixed? Is it something that I can drive with for 100 miles or should I fix it before I drive it much more?

 

I just drove again this morning and the speedo worked just fine. I don't think I did anything to it, and it's been a few days since I drove last, so I expected it to not work. Now I have no idea what's going on with that...

 

Just found this thread after searching for a long time: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...90/index2.html
Excellent step-by-step instructions for replacing the rear companion flange oil seals.

 

I drove this morning and the speedo didn't work but the odometer did work... Would it still be the VSS?

 

No. Your problem is in the cluster.

 

same here. what did you figure out?

OK....been searching this problem for a few weeks and, honestly, before a few minutes ago, did not know if I had an electronic or cable driven speedometer.

for the record, mine is confirmed as electric.

SCOPE....I've seen that answer before, but is that the fatal blow for the cluster? is there no fix for this? I got a different cluster from a very generous member here but, it's for a 5-speed, so it has a tach etc ....lots of stuff I don't currently have.

don't want to start a new thread but it seems like I keep hitting dead ends.

and THIS is the worthless page in my FSM

 

I didn't even bother checking it out. I got into finals week, then drove home to have my mechanic back home replace the oil seal, then had fun during winter break and now I'm back up at school. I remember trying to take apart the dash once before and it was a ginormous PITA, so I left it because I figured it wasn't really that big of an issue.