Thread: speedometer trouble

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My wife has a 1996 GMC Savana. The battery was dead this morning but, charged up normally after about 1/2 hour. When we left to drive the van around to recharge it, she noticed that the speedometer needle was not working. When I looked at it, I saw that it appeared to have pegged past the maximum mph and was on the wrong side of the post(zero).
Any ideas what would cause this? Thanks in advance.

Check for bad ground on your battery. KC

Try unplugging the battery for 10 minutes, reconnect and see what happens.

Thank you, for the information. I (we) were out late and I didn't check the computer until now. I will try your suggestions in the morning and let you know what happens. Thanks again!

If the battery disconnect doesn't work, you might want to ask the Lead Foot Mama how the speedo pointer got maxxed out.

Could be an interesting answer.

The battery suggestions didn't work and she pled the fifth!!!! HaHa, Thanks again.

You've probably got a bad stepper motor - it controls the movement of gauges. It's a huge problem that has plagued GM products and even been the target of a class action lawsuit. There are hundreds of web references to this exact problem, i.e., speedometer pegged while standing still!

See this web site:
http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=48886

It's got a very detailed explanation of what's requied to change the motor out.

Good Luck,
Glenn

I apologize for taking so long to respond to everyone's advice. I actually took the front of the dash off and manually moved the speedometer indicator to the correct side of the post. Knock on wood, the speedometer seems to be working ok. Thanks everyone for your suggestions!