So I picked up this 1998 Audi A4 and the alternator was blown. I ordered a new one along with a new speed sensor because the speedo wasn’t working. I don’t think the VSS is the issue though.

Everything else on the instrument panel works. The Tachometer works great, but the speedometer stays at 0. I don’t have the car currently since I had to get it towed but I don’t remember if any other dash lights came on. Not knowing the alternator was broken, I drove it until the battery died.

Once I pop in the new alt, I’m going to drive it to a location where I can run a VAG sensor and such, but on the way there I’d like to have the speedo work. What’s usually causes the speedo to stop reporting? Do you think it’s the VSS or something else? I’ve heard it could be the ABS module too.

Ideas? Also, when the car died the fuel pump leaked. There were no pipe clamps on the inlet and outlet hoses so I figured that there was enough juice in the battery to turn the fuel pump but not the starter when I tried starting it, and that forced fuel out. I’ve since put pipe clamps on the hoses but I want to make sure nothing else could cause this.

Im doing all the work myself so I’m trying to collect as much info as possible before I go out to where it sits, fix it in the dirt, and drive it to a more suitable location for working on it.

Guessing here, I think it’s the instrument cluster. Only way to tell for sure is to connect it to a VAG and pull the codes. You can also try an output test on the cluster to check if all the gauges are working or not. If you do need to replace the cluster keep in mind you WILL need a VAG to reprogram the mileage into the new cluster. A good “mini VAGCOM” if you will, is OBDeleven, about $50 and works with an android device. Let’s you do basic things like seeing codes on each module and clearing them. Also let’s you code a few things if you know what you’re doing, but you can find a lot of the information online for that. Good little tool to have without shelling out hundreds for a real VAG. I’ve never used a real VAG on my Audi’s, only this tool and so far it’s worked for what I’ve needed it to do. I do plan on buying a VAG in the future as it doesn’t work all that well on my A4 B6, but does work pretty well on the B5s.