2003 NA MT speedo not working

[Scooby-Fishing]

so my baja was bought as a previous owners project, as there are things in the engine bay that are missing, new transmission, other things here and there. im slowly working on replacing everything that i deem necessary. one of those being the speedo. it hasnt working since i bought the car. i noticed that the wiring harness was just loose in the engine bay, and where the VSS should be on the trans was nothing more than a factory torx bolt covering up the hole. so i got a VSS, got it all hooked back up and still nothing. just not sure where to go from here...

[anarchy1024]

Do you know if the new transmission is the exact same model/part number as the original, and if the replacement sensor is also the same as the original?

I remember reading something a while back (not sure if the information is correct) that there are (at least) two different speedometer gear sizes, and getting the wrong size for your particular transmission means it won't mesh correctly with the transmission output. If the transmission code is still legible, you can look it up in this chart: https://www.gearhack.com/myink/ViewPage ... on%20Chart , check which car it came from, then make sure the new sensor is also for that car.

Also, you can probably remove the sensor from the transmission but leave it connected to the wiring harness, turn the car on (without starting the engine), and spin the sensor's gear/wheel with a drill. If the dashboard needle moves, everything is fine electrically, and it sounds like the problem is mismatched size. If it doesn't, could be a bad sensor, corroded/dirty harness connector pins, loose connector anywhere from the sensor back to the ECU...

That's probably where I would start...