Vehicle Speed Sensor P0500 Replacement (Guide)

[lazerbacon]

Hello All,

I recently had this issue. I was about 200 miles from home a poooof! No speedometer. Had to use a speedo app on my phone for the rest of the trip (plus no overdrive sucked). Here is how I approached it. Took me about 3 hours but if I had to do it again prolly 30 minutes. I will work on getting some photos to add to this guide.

Diagnosing the problem:
Hooked my cheap bluetooth code reader up ($20 on amazon) using the Torque app on my phone. Opened up the acceleration gauge then drove the vehicle to see if the computer was getting speed information. I wanted to rule out the speedo gauge cluster being the problem. It staid dead ) with nothing at all so I moved focus to the VSS.

I replaced the VSS without jacking up the vehicle or lowering the transfer case.

Location of the VSS
The VSS is located on the passenger side of the transfer case. You have limited working room but its doable. Hardest part for me was getting the damn thing to come out since its almost impossible to get any grip from plyers, vice grips etc.. on it. But I came up with a good redneck solution.

Step 1: Heat Shields
To start you will need to remove the heat shield that covers the wire / plug from the VSS. This is right under the rear passenger door. A smaller heat shield is attached to this one which you will remove first (2 bolts). Then the main heat shield covering the wires (3 bolts). All are 10mm.

Step 2: Wire Holders
There is 2 wire holders that need to be un-done. The first one is a clip design... just work it with a flat head screwdriver, its a bit of pain but no biggie. The other one is a straight 10mm bolt and it just comes off.

Step 3: The plug
The VSS plug comes back to a group of other plugs. The VSS plug is on the top left of the group. I had to remove the bottom 2 plugs so I could get access to the VSS plug. They are all your basic push the clip down and pull off. Slight pain but no biggie. Once disconnected you can now completely pull down the wire coming from the VSS and have it hang down.

VSS Removal
This is what took me the most time until I figured out at easy solution. Remove the 10mm bolt holding the VSS on. You can use a flat wrench or a socket with a long extention. In my case the VSS was definitely locked in pretty good. Tap on the flange with a drift or flat head so it rotates. Be careful as its somewhat fragile. Tap it so the flange hole is pointing straight up.

Now my secret weapon!! A hose clamp. Run a hose clamp over the wire then over the VSS and tighten it. Now you can take a flat head screwdriver or cold chisel to knock it out. Place the flat head on the metal band of the hose clamp. Just that little bit of metal gives you something to bite on. Few good taps and the VSS should pop right out. If you try tapping on the piece that tightens the clamp it will mostly likely slide off.

Installation
Your in EZ mode now, crack a beer. In my case the plastic gear was shot and mangled so I needed a new VSS and a new Gear. The gear is held on with a small C-clip that I re-used from the old sensor.

~Jason

[chipahoy]

Speedo, odometer, and mileage related functions of the head unit (radio) quit working. Connected OBDCII and got code P0500, defective speed sensor. Replaced speed sensor and nada. thought sensor was defective as i was getting the same code. so, i exchanged, installed new one, and still no speedo???? Anyone out there have any ideas?

[qx4_girl]

Where did you find and buy the gear?!?