First 4Runner 'Newbie Problem with speedo'

[joshhill31]

Hi All

First of all should introduce myself as a newbie to the forum, and to Toyota or 4x4 ownership. I've been more involved in olf VW's up until yesterday when I purchased a 1993 4Runner 2.4L Manual 4WD. This is the car thats going to take me on my travels of Australia for the next 2 years!!!

All seemed fine when I took the car out for the test drive, I was and am very happy with the way it drives, handles and starts first time etc!

When driving the car last night however I noticed the speedo dropped to 0 momentarily every time the turn signals were switched on, as if there was a voltage drop somewhere, it didnt last the whole time the signals were on, but instead just drop to 0 and then go right back to working fine again. This morning i jumped in the car to find I have no speedo it just stays at 0 the whole time.

I've looked through the fuses that I can find and all seem OK, I'm guessing there is no speedo cable due to the strange turn signal symptom that occured before.

So I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that someone has had a similar experience and knows where I should start looking. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, budgets are stretched as it is, so anything i can do to stay away from a workshop will be a blessing! Thanks All!

 

[BucknutBob]

Your speedo cable is mechanical, so not sure what the turn signals have to do with it. Crawl underneath, and you should see a cable going into the T-case housing from the passenger side. It may have worked loose, or someone had it off before and didn't reinstall it right. By the way, that's one heck of a 'roo bar! Best of luck, mate!

 

[joshhill31]

Cheers BucknutBob! Took it off road for the first time today, turns out they're pretty capable in the rough stuff and had a great time in it! Will check underneath tomorrow for the speedo cable. Is it a difficult job to replace do you know?

 

[jirehn]

Hello there, Glad to have you here in this forum, Hope you can gain a lot of knowledge here.

 

[BucknutBob]

Cheers BucknutBob! Took it off road for the first time today, turns out they're pretty capable in the rough stuff and had a great time in it! Will check underneath tomorrow for the speedo cable. Is it a difficult job to replace do you know?

Thankfully I haven't had to replace one, but it doesn't seem too outrageous--to me, the hardest part may be getting the instrument panel out to attach the upper end (you can't see or reach it from below). Maybe you'll get lucky and not need to (replace the cable, that is). Just be careful to follow the same path as the other one if you do have to swap--you don't want to bend it too tightly and cause it to bind up. All the best, Josh!

 

[joshhill31]

So....

I've been under her now any which way I can and checking every angle that i can get to, but I can't find a speedo cable going to either the transmission or toward the instrument cluster.

The vehicle is I think a '94 not a '93 like i originally thought, and is a Right hand drive being Australian. And this whole thing about the speedo coming on and off intermitently with the turn signals being used still has me thinking this is an electrical fault rather than mechanical, which makes me think there must be a faulty speed sensor somewhere or the instrument cluster itself is on the fritz! Possibly a dodgy earth somewhere? I've had speedo cables go on me before, in all sorts of cars, never have i had a speedo behave like this. Is it beyond possibility that this car has doesn't have a cable, or am i just to blind to find it, and has anyone else out there found a way to test the cluster or sensors?

PS: Thanks to jirehn for welcoming me also, I'm new to this forum, but have always found them to be a life saver back in the UK with previous vehicles!

Thanks Again!!

 

[BucknutBob]

Sorry that didn't help. I've had three 2nd Gens now, and every one had a mechanical speedo cable that entered the top of the transfer case, so if you have something different, I'm lost. The change in driver position should merely affect what side of the firewall it enters--I wouldn't think they'd change the whole case and bring it up the other side underneath, but then I've never seen one of those models up close. Best of luck--hope someone else can help you.

 

[92-SR5]

Congrats on the 4runner! 2.4 is the best motor on earth (besides power). 2nd gen t4r's with a 22re are pretty rare.