Solution - Rav4 (4.2) Speedometer Failure (Intermittent Then Solid Fau

[gcams]

Hi All,

I thought I'd post this solution here, in case it's of use to other folk on the forum. Recently, the speedometer on my 2002 Rav4 (4.2) VVTi 1998cc Petrol, failed. To begin with, I was driving down the motorway, and the needle went nuts, dropping to 0 MPH then coming back up to my cruising speed, on and off in quick succession.

After about 5 minutes of the speedometer needle bouncing up and down, it finally stopped altogether. After about 20 minutes of further driving, the Engine-Management light came on too, indicating a trouble code (no doubt due to the loss of vehicle speed input).

Most of the research I did on the internet pointed towards the fault being with the vehicle speed sensor, which is located in the gearbox (close to the firewall, towards the right hand side of the gearbox).

However, whilst trying to troubleshoot the issue, I inadvertently came across an article that suggested the problem could lie with water getting into a connector block, inside the vehicle. The connector block in question lives behind the driver's side kick panel, just to the right of the accelerator pedal:

Indeed, when I removed the kick-panel, and unplugged the very bottom white connector block, I found evidence of corrosion (green build-up visible in pic), and the cable was wet:

I believe in my case, the water is entering from the sunroof, and making it's way down the driver's side windscreen pillar, and down the wiring loom until it reaches this lowest point.

A squirt of WD40 into the connector, and some cleaning up of the contacts restored my speedometer back to full operational status. I was very glad I found the real issue before I spent considerable money on a new VSS!!

Here's hoping this saves somebody else some heartache too! :)

PS: Now I need to overcome the leaky sunroof! :D :D

[Red Yaris 54]

Thanks for your excellent post of the solution to your intermittent speedo problem

Good luck in your search for a repair to your leaky sunroof :)

[gcams]

Cheers Red Yaris! I have a feeling the sunroof might prove a bit of a challenge! :)

[crofter]

This is a great piece of infomation that is illustrated which leaves no doubt of the steps taken.

Congratulations gs (Graham?)

May I request that this is moved to the RAV4 section,please as this is the model it refers to.

Del

Oops senior moment there.sorry all

[Raistlin]

This is a great piece of infomation that is illustrated which leaves no doubt of the steps taken.

Congratulations gs (Graham?)

May I request that this is moved to the RAV4 section,please as this is the model it refers to.

Del

Oops senior moment there.sorry all

Finger on the pulse as always

[ffej]

HI Thanks for this info as help me alot .went through everything .started to work then stop again.so as i was moving i gave the the kick panel a knock with my hand and it started to work .and i think the car go,es faster now wop wop lol thanks again .(it was green in the connector )

[jg92]

Hi All,

I thought I'd post this solution here, in case it's of use to other folk on the forum. Recently, the speedometer on my 2002 Rav4 (4.2) VVTi 1998cc Petrol, failed. To begin with, I was driving down the motorway, and the needle went nuts, dropping to 0 MPH then coming back up to my cruising speed, on and off in quick succession.

After about 5 minutes of the speedometer needle bouncing up and down, it finally stopped altogether. After about 20 minutes of further driving, the Engine-Management light came on too, indicating a trouble code (no doubt due to the loss of vehicle speed input).

Most of the research I did on the internet pointed towards the fault being with the vehicle speed sensor, which is located in the gearbox (close to the firewall, towards the right hand side of the gearbox).

However, whilst trying to troubleshoot the issue, I inadvertently came across an article that suggested the problem could lie with water getting into a connector block, inside the vehicle. The connector block in question lives behind the driver's side kick panel, just to the right of the accelerator pedal:

Indeed, when I removed the kick-panel, and unplugged the very bottom white connector block, I found evidence of corrosion (green build-up visible in pic), and the cable was wet:

I believe in my case, the water is entering from the sunroof, and making it's way down the driver's side windscreen pillar, and down the wiring loom until it reaches this lowest point.

A squirt of WD40 into the connector, and some cleaning up of the contacts restored my speedometer back to full operational status. I was very glad I found the real issue before I spent considerable money on a new VSS!!

Here's hoping this saves somebody else some heartache too! :)

PS: Now I need to overcome the leaky sunroof! :D :D

excellent heads up cured mine to-day exactly as you describe , however I would suggest disconnecting the - Battery before hand !

thanks .

[appsmartvn]

This is a great piece of infomation that is illustrated which leaves no doubt of the steps taken.

[AlMac99]

Brilliant post & solution. Had exact same problem.Like most people I hate, loathe, detest & don't really understand car electric problems. Chats with mechanic friends came up with various options, lots of chins being scratched and mostly technical & probably expensive ideas/guesses. Searched the TOC site & eureka! Remembered we had left the sunroof tilted one night when there had been a downpour (we're in the NW Highlands so it was a good soaking!). Car mats out, kickplate off, hairdryer & WD40 on the connector block. Couldn't believe so much wiring hidden away! Speedo now back and working.

 

Many, many thanks gcams for this gem of wisdom.

[gcams]

I'm really pleased the info helped you Alastair!! Thanks for taking the time to post.. it's always really great to hear when others have managed to fix their speedo's through this post!

For some reason, the pic links are no longer working in my original post, so I'll post them again here as I don't seem to be able to edit my original post.

 

[Jerry BB]

great info, my 52 plate leaks through the sunroof and today the speedo had stopped overnight and then an engine management light came on about 40 miles into my journey, seems like it is this problem

[Olly Robinson]

Hi all, I found my speedo and central locking both decided to stop working overnight. I did this method to fix the speedo, however it fixed my central locking and speedo still not working. Any ideas?

[zstar]

On 3/11/2014 at 12:45 PM, gcams said:

Hi All,

I thought I'd post this solution here, in case it's of use to other folk on the forum. Recently, the speedometer on my 2002 Rav4 (4.2) VVTi 1998cc Petrol, failed. To begin with, I was driving down the motorway, and the needle went nuts, dropping to 0 MPH then coming back up to my cruising speed, on and off in quick succession.

After about 5 minutes of the speedometer needle bouncing up and down, it finally stopped altogether. After about 20 minutes of further driving, the Engine-Management light came on too, indicating a trouble code (no doubt due to the loss of vehicle speed input).

Most of the research I did on the internet pointed towards the fault being with the vehicle speed sensor, which is located in the gearbox (close to the firewall, towards the right hand side of the gearbox).

However, whilst trying to troubleshoot the issue, I inadvertently came across an article that suggested the problem could lie with water getting into a connector block, inside the vehicle. The connector block in question lives behind the driver's side kick panel, just to the right of the accelerator pedal:

Indeed, when I removed the kick-panel, and unplugged the very bottom white connector block, I found evidence of corrosion (green build-up visible in pic), and the cable was wet:

I believe in my case, the water is entering from the sunroof, and making it's way down the driver's side windscreen pillar, and down the wiring loom until it reaches this lowest point.

A squirt of WD40 into the connector, and some cleaning up of the contacts restored my speedometer back to full operational status. I was very glad I found the real issue before I spent considerable money on a new VSS!!

Here's hoping this saves somebody else some heartache too! 🙂

PS: Now I need to overcome the leaky sunroof! 😄 😄

Thank you so much gcams. 6 years later your advice saved me a lot of money. The right hand roof weather strip came off a while ago which created leaks on my head while driving but it was only after a long rain session. Anyway all of a sudden my speedometer stopped working yesterday after a big rainfall day. Luckily with Google and your brilliant advice I found the plug, which was a bit green. Put some WD4O on it and it was back to working order. Did have to wait for WD40 to dry properly. Bought some adhesive for my weather strip so fingers crossed problem solved 😊

[Petr0v]

Trying to track down a similar issue on a 1998 2 door RAV4. However, in my car, the speedo works on cold mornings. It was intermittent as described, but now it's a "no show" when warm. The odometer reading also isn't there, so I'm thinking somewhere in the power supply to both.

[Dean357]

Hi, I just wanted to give some feedback on this post. First of all, thankyou - this post made fixing my daughters Rav4 refreshingly painless. Her vehicle was doing the same thing, the speedo would stop working intermitently with the engine light going on at the same time. I looked at the bottom connector as suggested and sure enough there was some green crap inside. I cleaned it and sprayed wd40 and this fixed the problem. Surprise, surprise my daughter's car also has a sunroof that does leak a little at times. The sunroof is now my next job.  Thanks again, hope this helps someone else.

 

[Mac85]

Hi, I’m having trouble finding the correct connector to spray with the WD-40. I removed the panel to the right of the accelerator but instead of connectors, I see what looks a while cover with multiple screws. I don’t think I’m supposed to remove this. If someone could give me rudimentary instructions on how to access the correct connector, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks.

[Mac85]

Just realized that since this site is from the UK, everything is on the opposite side here in the US, so I removed the wrong panel. For my fellow folks on this side of the pond who may suffer my same fate, over here we need to remove the panel to the left, nearest the outside of the car.

[Johnk_DIY]

Your post was "spot-on" for my recent car troubles.  My 2010 RAV4 was parked for a week in front of my house and when I tried to start it, the Tach and Speedometer were no longer functional.  A bunch of other warning lights were also on, including the ABS and 4WD.  Power Steering was also disabled.  And the OBD2 connector could not communicate.  So many issues all at once could only mean that the root case was going to be non-obvious.

I checked my fuses, since that is a singular failure that can manifest itself with a lot of unrelated warning, but that was not it.  So, following along with your comment about a wet connector, I took the driver's side kick panel off and exposed the connector bundle behind it.  Sure enough, there is a bunch of connectors there and some of them were a little damp.  Not sure how water can get there (some suggest a clogged moonroof drain), but there were a few drops of water on the connector that has a black back housing.  Enough water to cause electrical malfunction.  I blew the connector dry with my air compressor and then put my hair dryer over the connection area for 10 minutes.  Then, I connected all the connectors back and started up the RAV4.  Miracle, it all was back to normal!

Thanks for taking the time to post your finding.  It really put me on the right track for my issue.  ( I fashioned a drip shield over the connectors with a plastic bag, hopefully this will not happen again.)

[local hero]

I have a 2013 Rav4 diesel 2.2 which I am having nightmares with, when turning engine off warning light comes on dash (check smart start and entry system) Toyota dealers don't seem to have a clue other than it could be the instrument cluster at £1150 ++ I have had diagnostics done and seems to be speedometer related,  car is currently at auto electrician who cannot find problem!! and wants to remove cluster and send it to cartronics to have problem diagnosed, however he does not think instrument cluster is the problem can anyone please nelp me find a solution? Many thanks Stewart