Code 9'er. -vehicle speed sensor

So this used engine off ebay with supposedly <120,000 miles is now giving me some troubles...
One of them is a bad bearing sound(light squeeling) on cold startup, until warm. I've taken off all the belts on startup and still get the same sound, leading me to think maybe engine bearing-but i'm no professional mechanic.
It died a couple times while driving and threw the code 9'er. Code 9'er is the Vehicle Speed Sensor-What is the vehicle speed sensor? My van is manual so I thought those were for automatics? (this used engine came from an auto though). The manual does not say what to check for if there's a problem with the vehicle speed sensor.

I also feel I have a bad headgasket: During the warm month we just had I had some coolant overflow from the overflow tank when on an hour drive. going to do a leak-down test soonish.


mostly concerned about the code 9'er though,
thanks, aaron.

Ok, the speed sensor relays information(speed, i would guess) to the computer, and various systems in the car...
well since my speedometer is not functioning at the moment, and the code 9'er for the speed sensor is showing, i think i figured something out.
now to find the place it is broken-hopefully it's in the sensor! i found them for 71.60$ at 1sttoyotaparts.
although it could be broken in another location i suppose...update to follow
-aaron

Did you ever find the speed sensor? I'm in the process of looking for mine, and I've looked through the wiring diagrams and service manual for this van. I've found references to it, but nothing to hint at its physical location on the van. I know it's connected to at least the ECU and the cruise control, but I was hoping to not have to chase wires. There must be an easier way to get to it.

What's your symptoms?
Mine was having 2 different problems that manifested coincidentally at the same time. First one was speedometer wasn't working-ended up the speedometer cable had broken about an inch inside the cable, on the side where it plugs into the tranny. Simple fix was to get a speedometer cable from the junk yard for next to nothing and clean it off real good before stuffing it back through the sheath-from the tranny side up to the speedometer. Maybe you should lube it up with some sort of speedo lube but I don't remember doing that.
Second problem was the distributor was making a whirring, squeeking sound(maybe a bearing?) that shut off the van while driving. I think the distributor threw the code 9'er but I'm not sure. I swapped out an extra distributor I had and all was well.
I did find a speed sensor on villagetoyotaparts.com but it wasn't the problem so I never purchased it. Here's the page they have it on and the part number is: 89411B, Sensor, Speed is what they call it:
http://www.villagetoyotaparts.com/sh...ssembly=357615

There actually isn't a problem with it at all, except the speedo cable probably does need to be lubed as there is significant lag in accuracy when reducing speed. The reason I need to find the speed sensor (aka VSS) is that I've constructed one of these devices:
http://ecomodder.com/wiki/index.php/MPGuino
It's basically a way for me to get instantaneous fuel efficiency information, but I need to tap into the signal coming from the VSS to input into the device. I'm chasing wires right now to find one that carries the VSS signal, but I don't have an oscilloscope so it's possible I'll tap into the wrong one. Judging from the pic it should be near the O2 sensor, so I guess I can start looking down there. I just wish I had something a little more concrete to go on.

Oh yeah, I saw your post about that ecomodder-I'm curious to see how that turns out.
I don't know the exact location of that Speed Sensor and from that picture it does seem like it could be anywhere on the driver side of the van. Here's a picture from rockauto that shows what it probably looks like, maybe it'll help with locating the VSS:
Attachment 617

Okay, so here in the Service Manual on page AT-34, step 10, it shows where the Speed Sensor and the 4WD indicator connectors are while explaining how to replace the AT in a 4WD.
http://toyotavans.org/community/tips...ANSMISSION.PDF
That is not an easy place to get to, so the search continues for something a little more convenient. I'm going to try to follow the sensor toward the cruise control and see if I can find a good place to tap in.

It's right in the middle of the back of the transfer case (Automatic transmission vans only). For a better picture see TF-51 in the service manual. Look for the green and blue wire. It goes from the sensor to the ECU. It might be easier to pick-up at the ECU. To see the exact pin location go to FI-27 in the manual and look for the position marked SPD. Tim

Attachment 10785Attachment 10786

top pic is the main part of the speed sensor, it lives on the speedometer in the cluster and connects to 'spg' and 'rsw' on the circuit board. i just swapped my cluster and the rsw connection was blown like a fuse, i made a repair(bottom pic) but didnt test the speed sensor(continuity at 4 points per revolution of speedo cable), resulting in no cruise control, van seemed to drive fine otherwise..after examining the speedo i was happy to realize i could remove the sensor without disassembling or removing the speedo needle by just removing 2 screws. i replaced with one from a parts cluster(2wd auto, no cruise) and it now works! not sure how, its like a glass fuse...

so...according to fsm this signal is used for cruise control and auto 4x4s which i understand, but it also gets fed to the main ecu...im curious if the efi systems use this signal and what symptoms it could cause if it were broken?