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1994 Chevy suburban speedo issue

9

91chevyburbbeast

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so last night my wife's suburban decided to have a panic attack and the speedo started bouncing about like it was having a seizure. It has done this before but the caveman method usually works (hitting the top of the dash) to make it stop. This time however it dropped to 0 and stayed there. I tried shutting it off and restarting but it still doesn't work any ideas? I have replaced both the vss sensors and the ignition switch. My wife said that this started recently but I don't know how much I trust that. Since I was working on it last weekend and was supposed to work on my burb this weekend.
 
My first guess is the stepper motor failed, since this has a VSS and not a Bowden Cable.

I have a box of new stepper motors as I sit here, looking at me for a job I'm doing on Tuesday. Are you up to this task?

It's printed circuit work if it turns out I'm right about yours needing steppers.
 
If - like I believe until told otherwise on a '94 GM - you have those digital stepper motors that drive (motivate) all your gauges, and the speedo one is dead or dying.

If you take the whole dash panel out and flip it over, you'll see the units soldered onto the pc board itself and your job - should you chose to do it - it to safely remove the little solder blobs that hold those motors to the board and re-solder the new ones in.

Another IF: if you are replacing one, replace them all or you'll be in there soon again anyway. I am also putting in LEDs too for the old incandescents which are prolly also hanging on a bandaid.

There is more than one stepper motor and I have bought a box of 20 of them on Amazon.
 
Ok so I took it out and in the 94 suburban they are running kind of a large motor almost the size of what I would put in an extra car and they are screwed into the panel
 
I've had the wires between the vss and trans cause issues more than once. On the 91 they are a twisted pair, and when untwisted you could see bare wire.

Worth checking out. If the plugs are still good, clip them off and replace the wires.
 
I'd guess the problem is a failed stepper motor as well. My old 96 used to have a couple gauges that would get into sword fights with each other on occasion haha
 
dhcomp said:
I've had the wires between the vss and trans cause issues more than once. On the 91 they are a twisted pair, and when untwisted you could see bare wire.

Worth checking out. If the plugs are still good, clip them off and replace the wires.
Click to expand...

I agree. I still wonder about smacking the dash to get the gauge working again as the OP stated at first.

That points me to a problem more local to the head and not the wiring.

Surely though, the wires should be tested too, since your experience with them indicates either an ongoing future failure or something that's also a co-conspirator to this situation.

I learn so much from all of you here on the site, and I thank all of you heartily for that..... even though I find myself kinda lost on the newest tech....this is just trench auto repair warfare.
 
Ok so I finally got around to pulling it out and the connectors on the back of the cluster were loose so I took a pick and just lightly bent them out to make better contact and viola running fine now.
 
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