I was having a blast yesterday cruising with my wife after giving the car a good wash. We decided to go for a ride to a freinds place about a half hour away when 3/4 into the drive I lost my speedo on the highway. It went up a bit, then came down to 0 where it stayed.

At our friends place I borrowed a socket set and pulled the sensor to find this. I panicked and thought my entire sensor is toast. I posted this pic on my local message board and was told that the gear wheel broke off and I need to get what's left out of the sensor and should only need to replace the gear wheel. I respect that advice, I just wanted to post here to make sure that's correct because I have to start looking for these parts and only received on opinion locally.

Here's a photo.


I have no idea what colour wheel I had, but was told blue by the same person who provided the advice above. Does anyone have a wheel they'd be willing to mail to Canada? If yes please pm me a price including postage.

Is it ok to drive the car without the speedo (other than the risk of a ticket), or does the ecm need the signal to run properly? The car drove home fine from my friends, but I parked it after that. I wanted to drive it today it's so nice out but left it parked because I didn't know.

Thanks in advance.

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...110502-2-103442.html

Thank you, I hadn't used the word "gear" in my searches. That confirms I need the red 29 tooth gear.

Can anyone confirm that's all I need? Or do I need a sensor as well? I have no idea what this is supposed to look like (but I am searching right now).

*** Edited to correct which gear I need.

[This message has been edited by Ry86GT (edited 04-15-2013).]

A piece of your old gear is still in the sensor, you need to pull it out. Ray

Thanks for the reply Ray. This is the second time I've been told this so I'm going to stop freaking out, pull the sensor back out of the car and see what I can find and try to get the rest of the old gear out of the sensor.

Sometimes you can fish out the gear from the transmission. Maybe yours is still good (except it will have a little broken shaft in it).

[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 04-15-2013).]

The sensor shaft is broken off, you need a new sending unit. The sending units on all Fiero transmissions are the same, the wheels are color coded based on tire diameter.

Yep, looks like I'm going fishing and flushing the trans. Hopefully I can get by with only that. The little piece of the shaft is what I'm most worried about.

Same thing happened to me about 100000 miles ago.

Never got parts out, never had a problem.

I bought this gear, and a spare, a year ago at the Chevy dealer. The parts counter guys have a "vintage" section. They were under $8.00 apiece.

[This message has been edited by weaselbeak (edited 04-15-2013).]

I have a nice one from an 87 auto fiero. Ping me if you cannot find one close to you - I think the made millions of these -fieros, grand ams etc.

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84 NB, 3800SC, E-25 Fuel, VS Cam, 3.2 Pulley, 4T65E-HD, HP Tuners, AEM Wideband, Regal GS Gauges, S-10 Brake Booster. 12.53 at 106.5 1/4 mile

I'm pretty sure that looking at the chart again my wheel should be red, NOT blue. I mis-read it before. I have the 3.65 final drive by my RPO code and with the 15" tires I should have a RED wheel.

quote Originally posted by weaselbeak: I bought this gear, and a spare, a year ago at the Chevy dealer. The parts counter guys have a "vintage" section. They were under $8.00 apiece.

I read similar reports but I've called 4 dealers in the area and no one has them or can get them. Any chance your spare is red and you want to send it to a good home??? I had to ask... Again, I saw them for sale on US GM parts websites but they will not ship to Canada.

quote Originally posted by DimeMachine: I have a nice one from an 87 auto fiero. Ping me if you cannot find one close to you - I think the made millions of these -fieros, grand ams etc.

Thank you for the offer. As noted above if the wheel is a red one and not a blue one I can use any help I can get. Unfortunately the sensor won't work for me because the autos are different than the manuals. Thank you very much for the offer though.

So if anyone has a red gear and not a blue one please let me know.

[This message has been edited by Ry86GT (edited 04-15-2013).]

The most important thing you need to worry about is the metal drive shaft of the VSS. It must be removed from inside. That's only the 2nd one I've seen break that way. The first was on my 85GT. The plastic gear pieces aren't as much danger as the metal shaft if either should get caught up in the rotating gears.

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Love my Fieros, S-curves and speed.
It's what driving was meant to be.

The preceding was sent on my 6 year old Dell Dimension 2350 desk top with CRT monitor and dot matrix printer.

quote Originally posted by Ry86GT: Unfortunately the sensor won't work for me because the autos are different than the manuals.

The sending units are the same. The auto has a casting between the trans and the sender to turn the sender 90°.
If you pull the clip and remove the sending unit it is the same sender and will work with the manual transmission.

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: The sending units are the same. The auto has a casting between the trans and the sender to turn the sender 90°. If you pull the clip and remove the sending unit it is the same sender and will work with the manual transmission.

Really? I know about the difference in where it's located, but the photos I've seen of auto vs manual units still makes them appear to be different parts. At a minimum the o-rings are in different locations.

The missing piece is steel, its about 3/4" long and is in the bottom of the trans. Ive had one loose in the 4- speed in my 86 SE for the last 100,000 miles. Luckily, no issues.

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: The sending units are the same. The auto has a casting between the trans and the sender to turn the sender 90°. If you pull the clip and remove the sending unit it is the same sender and will work with the manual transmission.

Automatic and manual sending units aren't the same and won't interchange. You'll find a very small gear on the end of the automatic VSS.

All automatics are the same and all manuals are the same but manual and automatic VSS's are different.

By golly, you are right. I just went out and pulled a couple from the parts bin. I stand corrected. Sorry for the incorrect information. +1 to you.

Thanks for confirming. I thought so, but didn't know for sure.

Same guts, but the seal area diameter and gear diameter are much smaller on the automatics.

Sad thing is, I'll bet I used to know this and somewhere along the line it sorta leaked out…

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: Sad thing is, I'll bet I used to know this and somewhere along the line it sorta leaked out…

Check your drive shaft seal. It usually leaks at night while you're sleeping. At least mine does

Thanks for the +

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Love my Fieros, S-curves and speed.
It's what driving was meant to be.

The preceding was sent on my 6 year old Dell Dimension 2350 desk top with CRT monitor and dot matrix printer.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ry86GT:

I'm pretty sure that looking at the chart again my wheel should be red, NOT blue. I mis-read it before. I have the 3.65 final drive by my RPO code and with the 15" tires I should have a RED wheel.


Thank you for the offer. As noted above if the wheel is a red one and not a blue one I can use any help I can get. Unfortunately the sensor won't work for me because the autos are different than the manuals. Thank you very much for the offer though.

So if anyone has a red gear and not a blue one please let me know.[Quote]

You are correct. My 3.65 4 speed has a red gear. It is spot on when I pass those radar warnings on the side of the road.

[This message has been edited by weaselbeak (edited 04-16-2013).]