What are the symptoms of speed sensor failure found in cars? How to tell if your car’s speed sensor fails? We will look for answers to questions such as what is a speed sensor and what does it do.
Knowing how fast a car is going is very important for every driver. For this, there are parts called speed sensors or speed sensors. In the past, these speed-sensing parts produced only for the speedometer produced today produce data for the correct operation of many hardware in modern vehicles. When the speed sensor fails, you see many symptoms. There are two different speed sensors in cars. Let’s take a look at these now.
Engine Speed Sensor (Transmission Speed Sensor): It is the type of sensor found in older model vehicles. The speed of a car is directly proportional to the transmission output shaft. Located just above the transmission shaft, this sensor rotates as far as the shaft turns. In this way, it is understood how fast the vehicle is going. It is generally known as a speed broker that only provides data to the speedometer.
Wheel Speed Sensor: It is a type of speed sensor found in modern vehicles with brain system. This sensor detects the rotational speed of the wheels and reports the status to the engine control unit (ECU). In this way, it works on many features. Because in order for some features in the car to work, it is necessary to know how fast the car is going.
What Are the Symptoms of Speed Sensor Failure?
Your vehicle’s speed monitor gives you symptoms that you will notice immediately when it breaks down. Some of these do not affect driving, while others cause features to be disabled. Now let’s take a look at how to understand speed sensor failure.
1- Speedometer Not Working or Showing Wrong
As the name suggests, the speedometer takes data from either the transmission speed sensor or the wheel speed sensor to work. However, if the speedometer fails, your vehicle’s speedometer will not work. However, sometimes it can give symptoms such as speed hand fluctuation (one fall and one lift), wrong speed.
2- Disabling Cruise Control
Cruise Control, as the name suggests, is a hardware that keeps the speed of the vehicle constant. It uses data from the speed sensor to know how fast the vehicle is at the moment it is fixed. However, if the speed sensor fails, cruise control will be disabled because the ECU will not be able to determine the speed of the car. (See also “Why doesn’t cruise control work?”)
3- ABS Does Not Work
Another sign of speed sensor failure is that the ABS brake system does not work. Because in order for the wheels to be locked, the vehicle must be going at a certain speed. If the speed sensor fails, the ABS will not work, where the rotational speed of the wheels is unknown. Also on the instrument panel, the ABS light will constantly turn on or flash.
4- Engine Malfunction Lamp On
As with any sensor failure, if the ECU detects that the speed sensor is faulty, the engine malfunction light (Check Engine light) will light up to notify the driver. It will also give you the fault code P0500 when you connect the car to the computer.
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