I bought this Larado, 4wd, autoomatic, 1997, from my nephew. Speedo stayed at 0mph when started. I repla ed the transmission speed sensor. Then the speedometer stayed at 30mph when started. Found out thats not the sensor for the speedometer No VSS was in it! I put one in, clipped old connector off and wired in the new one. Same thing. Sits on 30mph when running or even when ignition is on but not started. Any ideas?

 

I want to see what you guys come up with before I start ripping stuff apart.
Thanks

 

Why in the hell did you clip the connector?

 

The old connector was different than the new one that came with the sending unit that I installed. I'm pretty sure I wired it correctly.

 

I'm pretty sure you have the wrong sender. If you have to modify parts, you have the wrong parts.

 

I just replaced a speedo sensor on mine, I also had to clip the old harness and wire up the new one. 97+ I believe went to a flat connector, 96 - had a circle.

 

Why not get the sensor for the correct year?

 

I bought it at Autozone and they said that was the correct replacement for a 97. Yeah, it was odd that it came with a different connector but I'm guessing maybe Jeep changed production mid-year or something. I'm going to check with advanced and Napa to see if they carry the same part or if they have the direct replacement. I don't know if I even saved the old connector.

 

Chrysler changed the connector. Napa, advanced, o'reilly, will all look like the auto zones. I put the duralast in mine. I have a 96, my dad has a 01, it has the new connector on it from factory.

 

Okay guys. The speedometer still isn't working though. All the other gauges work okay. Do you think the gauge could be bad?
I also found another connector just hanging. The wires for it split off the same bundle the vss wires are in. It is hanging over the back of the tranny with no apparent place to connect to. I can't find this one in the repair manual and can't figure out what its for. Gotta love following up on someones botched repair jobs!

 

Do you have it lined up? I took my rear driveshaft off, had it in first, and turned the vss till it kicked the speedo. Have someone in driver seat watching.

 

I'm not sure what you are telling me.

 

There is supposed to be a notch on the tcase, and there are numbers on the vss housing. Turn the housing till the numbers are lined up with the notch. My tcase doesn't have the notch, so I just turned the housing till the speedo started working.

 

what he means is it needs to be clocked properly in the hole

 

Yes.