Speedometer stopped working

1991 NISSAN PATHFINDER
268,000 MILES
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MATTHEW CUNNINGTON
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  • 1 POST
I have been driving my vehicle (five speed transmission) for a few months now and my speedometer went out this morning. The odometer is tracking correctly now. I put it in 4WD yesterday for about one mile and it was working then. It has been my daily driver. Thank you
Dec 6, 2018 at 10:28 AM
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JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • CERTIFIED EXPERT
  • 110,175 POSTS
Hi and thanks for using 2CarPros.

This vehicle uses two things. First, a speedometer cable and second it has a vehicle speed sensor which is located in the speedometer head (instrument cluster). I suspect the speedometer cable or drive gear has failed. Check the speedometer cable first. It attaches near the transfer case output. If the cable appears good, see if the speedometer responds if you manually spin the inside part of the cable that plugs into the back of the instrument cluster.

I attached a picture of the drive gear. If the gear on the cable is good when you remove it from the transfer case, take a flash light and inspect the drive gear.

Let me know what you find. If the cable and gears are good and turns at the cluster, you may have a speed sensor issue related to the cluster itself.

Here are the test directions for checking the sensor. Picture 2 shows what you are actually checking based on the model (SE, E, XE)

Let me know if this helps.

Take care,
Joe
Dec 7, 2018 at 8:24 PM