Speedo/tranny
 

Hi all. I just bought a 96 civic for a work beater. Runs well, but after a couple days I noticed the speedo working intermittantly. When it stops, the odo also doesn't work. The weird thing is, the other night driving home I noticed that when I pressed the brake pedal, it started registering speed, but only while the pedal was depressed. Weird. So I'd check my speed occasionally by lightly pressing the brake. Then this AM I started down the road and the speedo was fluctuating wildly, and the (auto) tranny was shifting into/out of different gears, seemingly in concert with the speedo fluctuations. I.e. when the speedo said 75, tranny shifted into OD, even tho I may have been going 30MPH. So does the tranny must be getting a signal from the VSS telling it to shift, right? My CEL is on continuously. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

I would replace the speed sensor first and see..

What is the CEL on for? A VSS CEL will not be present upon start up. Once the car gets up to speed, then slows down (red light, stop sign etc) it'll turn on. If the CEL is on constantly, pull the codes and go from there. However, first guess is to replace the VSS if you do not plan on pulling codes first ;)