The problem is intermittent, some days the car is a dream to drive (with 240K miles!), other days it has trouble.

Bottom line, if the speedo is working, the car is great. If the speedo isn't working, it won't come out of 1st gear. Sometimes it goes to second when the speedo is dead, but when it does, it doesn't stay in second very long.

I've tried pulling over and turning the car off and restarting it, but that doesn't seem to work. I'll get it home, turn it off and the next day, it drives like new.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

When the speedometer cuts out, does everything else on the dash work?

My thinking is you may have a bad ignition switch, a bad connection to the back side of the instrument panel, a poor ground, a bad connection to the rear differential where the speed sensor is located.

Worst case is that the plug at the back of the instrument panel is having some oxidation and heat is causing more resistance so the connection fails.
Worst case because, it will require some parts of the dash to be removed for access.

Do you have a lot keys on your key ring?


DanR '94 964 355,000 miles (121,000 on the new engine)

 

Everything else works on the gauge cluster when the speedo fails. I called my mechanic and he said it could be the ignition switch too. Any idea why a faulty ignition would cause the transmission to malfunction?