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Speedometer stuck at 0 - 5mph?


bucd

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Hello,

 

So i recently picked up this 2006 Ridgeline RTL (3days now). Has ~144k miles.

Yesterday morning as i'm driving to work. Speedo stuck at 0 - 5mph, kinda clicking up and down in between 0-5. About 20mins later it went back to normal. Had to stop and then go again for the needle to reset i'm thinking since it started to kinda work when i was cruising. So i get to work and all is well. After work, it was back to normal. So i did some searching on the ridgeline forum. It seems that it's either one of these 3 things.

 

1. Battery going bad

2. Speed sensor

3. Cluster

 

So i head off to advance auto parts, testing battery. He said it's good. (couldn't really do a load test, but tested voltage from alternator with everything turned on and max.) Not sure if that's a good way to test.

 

So come this morning. Same thing. This time it started working a little bit sooner, maybe after 10miles. And then back to normal.

 

Oh...one note as well - Cruise control does works, so does that rule out speed sensor? And if it was speed sensor, shouldn't that kick off a CEL?

 

I'm tempted to just replace the battery, any thoughts on this?

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

thank you,

 

-D

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Just throwing the wild card option out there, could it have been damaged due to some type of odometer fraud?

 

The odometer still works when it does this. Just speedo doesn't. And it only does it for that first 10-20mins of driving in the morning. Of course i've not had the truck long enough to get a good consistent pattern.

 

Will have to keep an eye on it and see.

 

thanks,

 

-D

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See if you can find someone else with a ridgeline and swap clusters just for a test drive to see if it still happens.

 

This is a good thought, however most vehicles will not allow the swapping of calibrated components and is not a good idea to try.

 

Sounds like a cluster issue to me since your cruise and such works, the only way to know for sure is to have the dealer test it and even thats not fool proof since it acts up intermitantly.

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I'm still stuck in the 90's where obvious shit like that was doable/easy.

 

What is calibrated about them that doesn't allow them to be swapped?

 

I can speak for GM cars, and I'm sure Hondas are similar, the VIN and mileage are programmed to them usually causing them to error when information between modules doesn't match.

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Ok so update this morning. Did the same thing with new battery.

 

But i'm pretty sure i found the problem. First things first, never let advance auto parts install your battery, or at least watch them.

 

Old battery had a screw put in fill in the part there the bolt tightens up, because the terminal connectors were loose on the positive side.

 

So went and got new connectors, install on both sides and nice and tight now. So far so good. Seems to only happen in the AM though.

 

First day car sat for about 7hrs before starting when it did it. But when i was at work it sat for over 9hrs and it didnt' do it. Come home and it say for about 8hrs and then in the morning it did it again. But at work, same thing and it was fine. I would say because it's cooler, but temps were like low of 75 and high of 100, so it's not been very cool even late at night.

 

So i'm thinking with these new connectors they should be good. Will keep on eye on it for the next few days. Will report back.

 

Rookie mistake on my part. Thanks everyone for the help!

 

-D

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You are most likely looking at a cluster problem. If you had a speed sensor issue, you would get a DTC light and the other speed sensors would give the cluster the correct information. Along with that you would see abs/traction control(if equipped) off as well.

 

I had a '98 Explorer that I bought off of Alex(was El Borracho for a while), It was a great little beater, but occasionally it would freak out and the tach would go way north of the scale. I have a video of it somewhere, it would actually smack the speedo needle at times... lol.

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You are most likely looking at a cluster problem. If you had a speed sensor issue, you would get a DTC light and the other speed sensors would give the cluster the correct information. Along with that you would see abs/traction control(if equipped) off as well.

 

I had a '98 Explorer that I bought off of Alex(was El Borracho for a while), It was a great little beater, but occasionally it would freak out and the tach would go way north of the scale. I have a video of it somewhere, it would actually smack the speedo needle at times... lol.

 

well you may be right. it did it again this morning. after new battery and new terminal connectors. but what's weird is that its been consistant for first time driving it in the morning. 4 days straight now. times vary from 6am - 10am. but it will work the whole day, even after sitting at work for 9+ hrs. so kinda odd that it only happens in the morning. i would say cooler, but it hasn't been very cool here even in the middle of the night.

 

if anyone have any thoughts or able to test something out for me. please let me know.

 

thanks,

 

-D

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I'm thinking cluster now. Since cruise control works when the speedo acts up.

I found an old thread on a civic forum where the Guy has the exact same symptom as mine.

link here: http://www.civicforums.com/forums/36...-car-warm.html

 

I joined that forum to bring that thread back. Hopefully I get a response.

 

Next question is. If I get a used cluster off ebayy, any one has a way to recalibrate the odometer to the original cluster? Or a way to maybe swap the "memory" piece of it? Not sure what it's called.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

thanks,

 

-D

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I think on that year I can have a tech flash mileage with our computer....ie our hds. Ill check tomorrow

 

Kevin,

 

That would be awesome man. Let me know, then i can order one off ebay. Also, any difference in cluster from 08 and 06? I think I can get an 08 one cheaper, didn't know if the plugs were different.

 

 

thanks again! :)

 

-D

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