Speedometer off on long trips

R

rhovater

New member
Ok, I have searched posts but I can not find anything current for my 05 v8 4 runner. I have 92K on the girl and for the past 20k my speedometer has been off by 10 to 20 MPH on long trips after about an hour into the trip. I took it to the dealership and they said I need to replace the gauge cluster at ... are you ready?... 900 dollars? of course the problem did not exist when I was there and this was thier best guess. Surely there is something more simple? It runs great... the tach is fine. It runs strong and shifts fine.
its also a limited if that makes any difference. It usually resets when I turn it off and back on...

Thanks
 
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Funny you should mention this. I just got back from a 6 hour trip and noticed my speedometer was reading faster by 2 mph at 75 mph. I know this because I always watch the speed on my gps. The gps normally shows 77 mph when the speedo reads 75 because of my taller tires but gps was showing 73 mph when my speedo showed 75. This was the first time I ever noticed this. The next time I drove the 4runner after it was cooled down it was back to normal. I hope it does not get worse.
 
Acidmeld said:
Maybe try replacing the speed sensor on the transmission. Would be a cheaper guess than the speedo.
Click to expand...

I don't think the 4Rs use a transmission-based speed sensor. Rather, it uses the ABS wheel speed sensors and integrate all four readings to give a composite speed. At least, that's what the 2002 did, according to the FSM. I'd be willing to be that 4th gens do the same, as this is a more accurate measure of speed than by doing it at the transmission, especially when taking into account the various rotational velocities of the wheels at different turning angles, and available traction during acceleration, cornering, stopping, and ABS/stability-control-based operations.
 
I'm pretty sure the trans has 2 speed sensors. 1 for input speed. 1 for output speed. The wheel speed sensors are not used for the speedometer reading. The 2002 didn't use the wheel speed sensors for the speedo either. It only had one trans speed sensor though.
 
The comb meter ecu receives one input from the trans output speed sensor. The meter ecu then takes that voltage reading and calculates miles for the odometer. The ecu also takes the voltage and sends a voltage signal to the speedo. The speedo then takes the voltage and converts it to a visual representation i.e. needle moving. If the odometer is working correctly and the speedo isnt then it sounds like one of two things could be wrong. Either the combo meter is sending an incorrect output voltage signal to the speedo or the speedo is translating a correct signal inaccurately. Either way the whole gauge cluster would have to be replaced.

Remember that this diag is all based on the description of the problem provided by you. If any of your info is wrong then my diag could be wrong. And without being able to measure any of these voltages it's all best guess.
 
If the timing is right you could pick up a limited gauge cluster on eBay for around $100. That's what I did when gas gauge went out.
 
Just FYI, most speedometers read a little high for a reason. it's protecting the manufacturer from getting too many people speeding and suing the them for it. Throw some 265/70/17's on it and it'll be where it should be... worked for me.

by the way, when you say 10 MPH off, that's a bit high, but at what speed? The speed is off by a fraction (5%, 10%, etc.) of the speed you're going. Obviously it's not off at all at 0MPH, and will be off by quite a bit at 100MPH.
 
I bought a used 2004 Limited cluster and have been using it as loaners.

It had 6,200k on it, and I figured it was a wrecked 4Runner.

Snowbrdr033 said that he experienced this same issue while he was driving for a long period of time.

Clearly limiteds have some issues with this!
 
I'm amazed you even noticed a 2 or 3 MPH difference, 10 to 20 I can understand. My speedo is WAAAAYYY off, 16 and 18% off - all the time (I blame the 35's). Never even crossed my mind to do anything about it, just be aware of it and compensate with the links between my speedo, brain and foot - it's the cheapest and easiest fix I could come up with.
 
Acidmeld said:
The comb meter ecu receives one input from the trans output speed sensor. The meter ecu then takes that voltage reading and calculates miles for the odometer. The ecu also takes the voltage and sends a voltage signal to the speedo. The speedo then takes the voltage and converts it to a visual representation i.e. needle moving. If the odometer is working correctly and the speedo isnt then it sounds like one of two things could be wrong. Either the combo meter is sending an incorrect output voltage signal to the speedo or the speedo is translating a correct signal inaccurately. Either way the whole gauge cluster would have to be replaced.

Remember that this diag is all based on the description of the problem provided by you. If any of your info is wrong then my diag could be wrong. And without being able to measure any of these voltages it's all best guess.
Click to expand...

No,..thats about it as far as the description goes. around town its fine, but when I get on the interstate for a trip its starts getting up there, anywhere from 10 to 20 mph off. Thanks for the info. One more question. if I do get a cluster from ebay or anywhere else used. Is there anyway to get the mileage set on it?
 
Anyone setting the mileage other than the dealer/manufacturer is considered fraud, iirc. It's somewhat of a grey area but I think that's the legality of it. I've never even heard of anyone other than the dealer being able to set it anyway. Even with the tools the dealer has it can't be set by techs. They have to be sent in.
 
RHOVATER - did you get the speedometer fixed? I noticed the same problem while on a long trip and my speedometer was off by 30 mph. Kinda thought it was funny when I looked down, realized I was doing 100 and people were passing me....It resets once I stop and turn the engine off. But once I go over 70/75, it wigs out.
 
I'm also going to bump this thread. I have a 2005 SR5 4wd with about 59,000 miles. I bought the truck about 3 months ago and everything has been solid.

I have taken 4 long road trips (3+ hrs) with no issues, but I just got back from another this past weekend and the speedometer was reading about 20-30 mph too high after driving for about an hour or so on the highway. When stopped, the speedo read about ~30 mph. It eventually moved back to zero after a couple minutes when turned off, and seemed fine after that until once again driving the highway for awhile, and the problem returned.

The only difference with this trip, is that I had a power inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter (made by Energizer - not some knock-off). This gives me 4 USB ports and an AC plug. I only had one USB plugged into it all weekend. Not sure if that had something to do with the issue, but it sounds like others have seen this problem without the inverter.

Thanks.
 
simple_man said:
I'm also going to bump this thread. I have a 2005 SR5 4wd with about 59,000 miles. I bought the truck about 3 months ago and everything has been solid.

I have taken 4 long road trips (3+ hrs) with no issues, but I just got back from another this past weekend and the speedometer was reading about 20-30 mph too high after driving for about an hour or so on the highway. When stopped, the speedo read about ~30 mph. It eventually moved back to zero after a couple minutes when turned off, and seemed fine after that until once again driving the highway for awhile, and the problem returned.

The only difference with this trip, is that I had a power inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter (made by Energizer - not some knock-off). This gives me 4 USB ports and an AC plug. I only had one USB plugged into it all weekend. Not sure if that had something to do with the issue, but it sounds like others have seen this problem without the inverter.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Could be a malfunctioning wheel speed sensor
 
emelianenkov said:
Could be a malfunctioning wheel speed sensor
Click to expand...

My problem with this is that the odometer continues to read correct on mine. You would think the wheel sensor would make that be off also. It is kind of cool to watch mine go back to zero when I shut it off, the speedometer kind of ticks back to zero like an old clock. I have feeling this problem will be showing up a lot more on other 4runners as the years go by. Hopefully someplace comes up with a way to repair them. As I stated before and I will just live with it for now. I just use a gps to verify speed on longer trips
 
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