I'm in the process of repairing my 88 RX-7 Vert after it got broken into and the radio stolen. I've put in an AVIC F90BT and have just about everything working ... but its taken about 8 hours so far of work.

(The last owner of the car had put in a 1450 watt dual-amplifier setup with a 10" sub in the spare tire location, door and dash speakers run by a 650watt amp, and the headrest speakers run off the deck... but figuring all that wiring out after its been ripped out of the dash was quite a chore!)

I'm down to the last wire ... I need to hook up the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor). I've read a few threads that point it out as a Green wire with a Red stripe -- but without a clear idea of where the easiest place to tap into this wire?

The previous owner also has a pretty hefty alarm system in the car, so theres wiring zip tied EVERYWHERE... so keep in mind, I really need an easy place to tap into the wire.

Can anyone help me out before I finish buttoning all this stuff up?

 

Page 50-78 of the series four wiring diagrams that are online for a download. OR page 50-92 of the same diagrams OR page 50-40 of the same diagrams.

 

How do I take the instrument panel out? Fairly simple, or involved? (deciding whether ot tackle it tonight, or wait till this weekend)

--Matt

 

On the 88 vert the VSS wire can be found at the back of the gauge cluster, or the power steering computer, (behind the drivers dash speaker) or the cruise control brain (next to the ECU in the passengers floor board).

 

the passenger floor board is probably easier to pull up at this point... ill try that a bit later. thanks!

 

you can get to the gauge cluster with a stubby and a standard phillips screwdriver and about 10 minutes. It helps a lot if you have tilt steering, to get the black plastic switch housing out of the way, but it can be done without breaking anything even if you don't have tilt, though there is certainly a trick to it.

The "right" way to do it is probably to remove the steering wheel if you don't have a tilt column, and this sometimes requires a wheel puller, other times you can simply alternate pushing and pulling on the wheel from side to side to get it to come loose from the column.

 

I've got the dash out, and the instument panel pulled pretty far forward ... cant really see many letters on the back, or at least, its hard to see them. Going to go back and look some more, but was the screw labeled 'SPEED", or like 'S', or something else?

 

You have to disconnect the cluster and remove it from the car to be able to see the board well. There are only 2 plugs and the speedo cable which disconnects easily with a tab. Then examine the area behind the speedometer itself and you should find the screw.

 

Ah, man. I was TRYING to direct you to those pages in the FSM wiring to show two places you could get that signal from without removing the Instrument cluster.

One is the power steering computer and the other is the cruise control unit. No cruise control unit? Well the wiring and plug are still there on a car without those items. You just find the plug........right wire color......and go to town on it. Man.....oh Manochevets.

 

Oh well, I got it done... now to figure out how on the AVIC F90BT I can verify its getting signal!

 

IF yours has a "vehicle dynamics" function in the NAV menu, then you can go there and see the indicated speed directly. If not, then you'll just have to drive it around and see that the navigation position sensor moves properly. You can run a NAV system without the VSS, but it will be slightly less accurate than with it.

 

Yeah, my AVIC-N4 in my truck has a nice dynamics screen that makes it very clear. The AVIC-F90BT has been dumbed down a bit and doesn't really have that information. I drove it with and without the VSS, and its difficult to tell if its much smarter yet. I suspect though that it wont be very noticeable until I go into a tunnel or something.

At least its hooked up, thanks for the help!