Ok so im driving last night and all of the sudden my speedo cable pops out... I haven't been able to jack up the car and put the cable back in yet but i have encountered another problem. Since last night my power steering seems to randomly stop working. Do these two problems have anything to do with each other? Or is it just one of those cases where more than one thing likes to go wrong at the same time (as my car just loves to do ).

 

power steering needs the speedo to work on all S4 models (and some S5 models)

It is speed sensing power steering on S4 models (and some S5 models)... no speed being reported- well how do you expect the power steering to know how much boost it should apply if there is no speed being reported.

 

damn i knew it i had a feeling... i asked a friend of mine and he wasn't quite sure so i needed a second opinion. Thank you Icemark! Do all cars have the speedo located under the car?

 

yeah speed sensitive power steering is great, i love it. get that cable back in there! ( i have one i can sell ^_^)

 

The speedo gauge is in the dash. There is a speedo cable on our cars, but most modern cars do not have them, but have speed sensors on the tranmission or driveline instead.

Our cars do have speed sensors like modern cars, its just that they are built into the speedometer instead of at the driveline.

 

Lol didnt mean the actual speedometer just meant the cable. I am talking about the one that hooks up to the tranny under the car. I screwed it back in but its still not working... i really dont understsand how that thing popped off in the first place.

 

When mine poped out of the tranny it was damaged and the actual cable fell out of the housing.

Sounds like the same thing happened to you. You need a new cable.

 

hmmm and i always thought the steering was just tough on these cars! lol none of my guages work, not even the rpm one, that's the speedo cable messing up if i understand here right?

 

No thats something else. Check your "meter" fuse.

 

Not what i wanted to hear but i can't say i didnt expect it. When i looked at it, it didnt seem to be damaged. Can someone explain to me what its supposed to look like?

 

There's supposed to be a piece that sticks into the tranny when the cable is screwed onto the transmission, it engages the speedo gear. It'll stick out to about the edge of the nut on the cable and will be loose both axially and rotationally compared to the outer layer.

 

if it has fallen off, will there be fluid leaking out of there, or is the hole higher than the oil level?

 

The hole is much higher than the fill plug, which is where the fluid should be up to, so no oil leaking, besides, there's a seal on the speedo gear to prevent leaks, as the gear oil doesn't stay in the bottom, the gears throw it all over the place.

 

Just found out today that it broke... It must have broken from draggind on the floor when it popped off. Its going to be a PAIN in the *** to install a new one.

 

It's not actually that bad, it's a job that takes under an hour.

 

yeah it could be worse, most difficult part is getting it through the firewall, which isnt difficult