My speedometer on my car broke tonight

**Palooka** · 11-05-2009, 03:20 AM

I really have to laugh at this. It just went out today when my dh drove it to work. It's a GM 2005 Pontiac Sunfire, my baby.

Just to humor me my husband sent this pic from his cell to my e-mail. This was almost at a stop. On the highway it said like 30mph tops. lol

We do need to get this fixed because my daughter drives my car too. We have no idea if this is a minor thing or how much it cost, but it might save us some speeding tickets.

**Greebo** · 11-05-2009, 06:26 AM

Definitely get it fixed with a teen driving. It is surprisingly hard to judge your speed without a speedometer.

In my days of youth, I was on a day trip to visit a girl and on the way there, the speedometer broke. The trip went fine, except for the point where I got pulled over.

Fortunately, the cop was very understanding. The conversation went something like this:
"Can I help you sir?"
"License and registration please. Do you know how fast you were going?"
"Actually sir, I don't. I've been guessing because my speedometer broke while I was on my way down here."

I guess the cop believed me, because he let me off with a warning w/o checking it, tho I think I remember offering to let him see for himself...

**Russ** · 11-05-2009, 07:23 AM

It might be a speed sensor. I'll ask my buddy if there are any TSB's (Technical Service Bulletins) on the car.

I'll see what else I can find out.

**Russ** · 11-05-2009, 07:37 AM

I did find this searching the web

The problem is internal to the Instrument Panel Cluster (IPC).
The tiny servo motors that drive the speedometer display are failing and the entire cluster will need to be sent to a shop certified in speedometer repair.
Then you can have the cluster reinstalled and the speedometer will operate like it's designed to.
Contact your local dealer to see if this problem is chronic and ask if they have a special policy adjustment for vehicles out of their base factory warranty. It never hurts to ask.

**madhen** · 11-05-2009, 09:04 AM

When I was assigned a new car a few years back (at work), no one mentioned that the speed had been set to kilometers. I got a ride to where the car was located, and I had to follow the person out of the lot, so I didn't really look down at the speedometer until we got out onto the highway and I could break off on my own.

I still haven't figured out why a U.S.-made car purchased at a U.S. dealer's lot and then driven to a private lot, would be set to kms!

**walker24** · 11-05-2009, 10:10 AM

When our speedometer stopped working the sensor was covered in dust and one of the hoses near it was cracked. One of our friends blew it off and fixed the hose and it worked like a charm. I have no knowledge of cars but maybe yours is a cheap fix like ours was.

**Palooka** · 11-05-2009, 10:33 PM

Thanks guys. My dh called one of his mechanic friends and said these types of cars are known for doing this. Great! He said it could cost around 500 bucks to get it fixed. Yikes. He is going to check it out in the morning and see if it's something he can fix for us on the side. I hope. He is a man with many parts.

**Lindsey** · 11-06-2009, 10:31 AM

This just happened to us! It was the cluster. It cost us $415. dollars for my Mom to get it from the dealer, $37. to ship it here, $5. dollars for my husband to put it in at the auto skills shop (hobby shop), and then 96 euros (roughly $150) to have a GM certified dealer download the program to it. The dealer was 2 hours away and then after it was all set they figured out that outside of the US dealers can't program the milage, so now our car has brand new miles on it! Maybe you could get one from a junk yard though? We let ours go for a long time and used our GPS for the speed until we had the $$.

**Libby** · 11-06-2009, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by madhen

When I was assigned a new car a few years back (at work), no one mentioned that the speed had been set to kilometers. I got a ride to where the car was located, and I had to follow the person out of the lot, so I didn't really look down at the speedometer until we got out onto the highway and I could break off on my own.

I still haven't figured out why a U.S.-made car purchased at a U.S. dealer's lot and then driven to a private lot, would be set to kms!

Was the speedometer digital? Back in high school I helped my gf move down to SC and we drove her mother's car while she drove a van. Her car was digital but we never knew how to switch it over into miles from km's lol. Good thing we followed the van all the way there!

PS: I miss my beast!! (I had a sunfire GT as well)

**Siebrie** · 11-09-2009, 08:58 AM

Our speedometer is 10% off, to the slow side. I found this out while driving with a GPS for the first time. It scared my dh that I was seemingly constantly breaking speed limits ;-)) I can drive 57 km/hour, which according to the GPS is 50. Just knowing this gets us everywhere a little faster, saves on speeding tickets and stress, and delays having the thing repaired.