Trouble Code Po500 95 Es300 Speedometer Not Working

[jawbone]

Symptoms: speedometer, odometer, and cruise control not working, ck eng light on, O/D off light flashing.

tranny not shifting right/slipping out of gear

scan tool found code PO500

found my problem- Veh speed sensor (with speedometer gear) attached to tranny. located on top of differential (sensor installed at slight angle -directly below throttle body) Be aware there are two speed sensors on this V6 eng. ( I don't have the part numbers in front of me but one cost approx $100 (2 wires)and the other one cost approx $200 (3 wires)) I needed the $200 (3 wire)sensor.

What I found at first when I pulled the sensor was the sub assy gear teeth broken - this part can ordered from either Lexus or Toyota ( 95 camry or es300 uses the same part # for the sub assy gear and also for the sensor)

(Note : the sensor does not come with the new gear teeth...gear is sold separate about $35.00)

I figured because the teeth were missing off the gear assy that the gear was no longer spinning which I figured was causing the sensor to fail. So I only replaced the gear assy at first..BUT...this didn't fix my problem. ( my symptoms reappeared after about 10 miles after replacing gear) Turn out My problem was the sensor itself was also bad. If you'll notice there are three screws on top of the sensor electrical connector. I removed the screws and pulled the connector off and found inside a broken magnetic pickup ring.washer broken. This magnetic pickup was my problem. I replaced the speed sensor , cleared the trouble code and my problem is fixed.

[ftmail]

Hi,

I read your post and it sounds similar to the problem I am having.

I have a 97 ES300 with about 100,000 miles, and my speedometer, odometer and cruise control are not working for about four months. The Speedometer (analog) shows zero, the Odometer (digital) is not lit and does not show anything, and I have error code P0500. I replaced the speed sensor on the transmission with another one from a junk yard and did not fix the issues, although it could have been a bad sensor...

A few months back I bought GPS and I was happy that I can read the speed from the GPS so I did not bother to fix the speedometer/odometer/cruise control. Everything else seemed to work properly, and the dashboard seem to have light and work (with the exception of the problems above).

Lately, I noticed that when it is colder outside (less than 60 Fahrenheit) and I start the car, it hesitates about 2-5 seconds before going into the first speed or reverse, and does not shift to second until it goes to about 4000 rpm. This shifting problem does not seems to happen when it is warmer outside, or when the engine is warm, or after driving about a minute. I also noticed that if I start the car and wait about 30 seconds before putting in gear the problem does not seem to happen even in the colder weather. I am not sure if the shifting problems are related to the speedometer/odometer/cruise control problems.

Are this the same symptoms you had ? Was your speedometer digital and not lit?

Kind Regards,

Florin