Have a 1994 22re 4runner with 290k on it. Reliable as the day is long but the speedometer needle and the odometer stopped working yesterday. Every other gauge and all the temperature needles are working as normal. Question. Is it a mechanical or fully electronic speedometer? Anyone that has had this issue, tell me where to start. Thanks in advance.

 

Did the cruise go out too?

It's as simple as seeing if you have an electric VSS1 in the back of the transfer case:

If you have the cable speedometer, a cable will be there instead.

The usual symptom of a failing VSS1 is the speedometer dropping to zero, then back up again. The drops get longer and longer until one day zero is all you get.

Someone on this site claimed success by taking VSS1 apart and cleaning it, but I think that's a stretch. But for the price (around $150 at RockAuto), it can't hurt. (By the way: there are different VSS1's depending on, well, I don't know. RockAuto has pictures though, which you can match to your VSS1.)

 

Electronic for sure.
I second the motion on the VSS as the first place to start. On my 1992 4WD pickup the issue was the gauge itself, but in that case my odometer continued to work while the speedometer was dead - effectively ruling out the VSS.

Strangely enough my gauge has come back to life on its own (at least for awhile)
When it failed I used my iPhone and a Speedometer App

 

Cruise control, I wish. This is a basic model 22re 5 speed and doesn't have much when it comes to options. The odometer and spedo are both out and when I did work on the dashboard a few years ago, I only remember one large electronic plug in and no cable that lead into the spedo.
Thanks for the info and chart, the sensor is where I will start. Just didn't want to pay a shop $100 for them to tell me that it is the sensor.

 

I've had the same, or a similar issue for a while now. The speedo wont work for the first quarter to half mile after I crank er up, sometimes longer, but it always pops up eventually. However my odometer works all the time. Haven't a clue and haven't had time to dig into it.
Keep us posted on what you try.

 

Same thing happened to my truck's speedometer. The electrician said it was a faulty speed sensor.

 

^^^^^What he said also ^^^^

 

So now that it is a long weekend, want to get my spedo and odometer back up and working. Spoke with Toyota dealership, they gave a replacement part number of 8318112020 that crosses to an Airtex 5S4885 if that is the correct number. A 1994 4runner with ADD should have a G58 as a manual. So I am basing that for parts numbers. Every other site tells me different information and I honestly don't trust the Toyota dealerships around Portland Oregon to get it right. I need to research this and then I will order a new VSS. Replacement is very easy, it is located right on the back of the transfer case, secured with one bolt. Took like 15 min. to R&R today.

 

^^^ Thanks for the info. I have seen this once and think it was 91 or 92 that they went with the electrical driven speedometer.

 

Here

is a picture of the VSS1. Look for the three prong plug in and the one 12mm bolt holding it onto the transmission.

VSS001

 

Rockauto sells the Airtex for $123, and shows the same part-number cross-reference. More importantly, they have a picture of the part, which looks like the one you posted (you can turn yours to match the angle of the photo on RockAuto to be perfectly sure.)

Let us know if you find a better source.

 

FYI - For parts references I use toyotapartsdeal.com and use their OEM Part # listings. You'll need the VIN of your truck to get the most accurate list.
Then I'll plug the part # into Google and get the images of schematics to make sure I'm referencing the right part.

 

The electronic speedos came on in the 93-94 years so you probably have the electronic speedo in your 94.

I experienced this same exact problem with the electronic speedometer on my 1994 4x4 Toyota PU.....speedometer intermittentenly worked and just got worse and worse until it barely ever worked at all. I searched every forum and thread that I could but couldn't find an actual solution that had worked. Most said to change the speed sensor unit on the trans but seemed those that did that just wasted their money as it didn't work except in a case or two. So, I decided to take things into my own hands. I removed my instrument cluster, then I split the plastic cover in half at the seam and removed the mother board with the guages and speedo attached. I then removed the speedometer itself from the mother board (4 philips screws on the backside of the mother board) and pulled the speedo out which has its own board on the back of it. I then took an old toothbrush and sprayed the bristles with WD40 and proceeded to scrub the back of the speedo board with the WD'd bristles. I removed any crud that was there and sort of just scrubbed and polished all of the solder connections on the back of the board. Then I wiped it down as best as I could with a cloth. I put speedo back on the mother board and then the cluster back in the plastic case and reinstalled it all into the dash and buttoned everything back up figuring it was either going to work or not. Upon completionl, I started the truck up and drove off down the road and WAH-LAH!...the speedo worked perfectly and, it has continued to do so since. In that I already had the toothbrush and the WD40, my cost for this fix was zero $!!! I know this will sound hokey to some of you but this is not a joke and if you are having the intermittent speedo issue, I implore you to try this process on your cluster and see if it works for you.,,,I mean....what have you got to lose. Hope this works as well for you as it did for me.

 

I have not driven the 4runner often in the last years, can't believe how long the speedo has not worked. I have a car and another SUV that I drive, the 4runner is my hauler truck. I will try to clean the contacts and mother boards, I appreciate the process you took as I will do the same. This can't be the VSS sensor, I replaced it with two different brands and nothing changed. Took the spedo to my usual shop, they could not repair it so no charge but I do need it to work. I may be selling my 4runner soon, the speedometer and odometer need to work to sell it of course.

I will be tearing it apart this weekend in search of a fix. Going to start with cleaning every single contact on the boards and reconnecting everything clean. My truck sees a lot of dirt, not a huge 4 wheeler but it does get out in the woods often.

Thank you all for the replies.

 

You really should keep it on a leash. Could be dangerous letting it wander around in the woods alone.

Seriously, though, it doesn't take but a little dust under the electrical contacts to cause all kinds of problems. Definitely clean under any open contacts. Clean out the connectors, plugs and so on, too. If it's just a little dust/dirt, a squirt of electrical contact cleaner will do the job nicely. A small dab of silicone dielectric grease in the plugs will keep nastiness out.

There are also sprays that will seal up circuit cards that we used in the military. If this stuff will keep the gunk floating around, not only in an aircraft, but on the flight deck of a carrier, out, it will certainly keep them clean in your truck. I can see where they might be available, if you want. I just gotta root around in my brain's basement to remember the part numbers we used.

Have fun!
Pat☺

 

Bought a wrecking yard 1993 4 x 4 22RE 5 speed cluster from one state over, $150. Installed some VLeds bulbs for the face lighting, left the 74's alone for the idiot lights. Plugged it in, everything works perfectly. Damn speedometer failed on the original unit. Now I have 180K miles on the speedometer, the old one was at 300K. I have a few extra VSS sensors now, all of them work also of course. I did use Rock Auto, hard to beat the prices for brand name parts. That is a good site, I have used them many times for parts now that local parts stores and chains are not what they used to be.

Thank you everyone for the help, the diagrams were damn helpful when I was trying to back track the path of the sensors and the main electrical plug. On to swapping my 2003 Sequoia Hyper Silver wheels out for the stock 15" dinosaur wheels on it now. Need to replace the ugly running boards also with some decent smaller boards or nerf bars, seems like there are not many for a 27 year old Toyota.