I was on my way to Chicago to visit some friends today when my cruise control suddenly switched off. I had not pressed the brake. I looked down and my speedometer read zero and the odometer had stopped. Nothing else had changed. The car continued to run just fine for the remainder of the trip, with the speedometer and odometer working on and off. Is is safe for me to drive the car home before getting it checked out, or could the possibly snow-ball into something more serious?
Is the check engine light on? What year is the Taurus?
It sounds like a problem with the VSS. Depending on the year of your Taurus, that could be a single sensor, or it could be a part of the ABS system.
It’s a 1998. The check engine light did not come on.
That one has a gear driven speed sensor and a cable.
Could be the sensor.
could be driven gear or the drive gears.
could be the cable.
First probability would be the driven gear, it’s plastic. But a binding cable could take out the diven gear as well or round out the cable’s end of the sensor. The sensor/driven gear mounts in a funky 90 degree drive gear contraption that is sometimes a culprit.
These things need taken apart and checked by anyone ( maybe you ) who knows what conditions they’re looking for on these components.