#1 – Rough Gear Changes

One of the most common speed sensor symptoms of your car is that the transmission will not smoothly change gears of your vehicle because of higher transmission revs. This means that the car engine runs at higher speeds than the car itself.

You may also find it very rough while shifting gears and as the problem worsens, you will find it unbearable to change the car into higher gears. This means that the vehicle’s transmission will eventually engage into overdrive very late.

Why Does This Happen?

The transmission of your vehicle can only shift smoothly with the help of a healthy speed sensor. This sensor counts the number of internal revolutions in the transmission. Consequently, the control unit of the transmission receives the data then makes the necessary adjustments after calculating the rotational speed.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to repair the transmission speed sensor as it simply fails. You have to discard it and replace it with a new one. A professional mechanic should help you examine and diagnose the speed sensor system of your vehicle even though the symptoms may seem similar in all cars.

#2 – Speedometer Malfunction

Once the vehicle’s speedometer stops functioning all of a sudden, this is a sure fire sign that indicates the speed sensor has become defective. The malfunctioning speed sensor means that the speedometer will not have the ability to read the speed of your car.

This is very risky because you will drive without knowing the exact speed that your car has registered. This can land you in trouble with the authorities or even cause unnecessary and avoidable accidents.

#3 – DTC or Check Engine Light On

Furthermore, sometimes the check engine light may light up recurrently and periodically as you accelerate without any good reason. And commonly the code is P0500 (Vehicle Speed Sensor Fault Conditions). To check what the code is, you should use diagnostic tool or car OBD scanner.

Conclusion

Many problems can arise if your vehicle has a faulty speed sensor. Indeed, a car that shows the symptoms of a worn-out speed sensor can bring about other related symptoms to other parts of the car, such as a faulty throttle position sensor or even a malfunctioning coil pack.

And finally, any of the above speed sensor symptoms should prompt you to take your vehicle to an auto repair shop or trustworthy mechanic so that they can run a computer diagnostic on your car to identify the faults.