2001 Escort speed stopped working,check engine light came on

Im buying this car from a very good friend,he said the speedo has stopped working and when it stopped the check engine light came on. He said he didint bother having it looked at and uses he Tom Tom to tell him the speed,could this be the speed sensor? if so how much is it and how hard is it to replace?

I have been searching this prob on other forums and some are saying it could be a blown fuse? Does make since,the mile display isnt lite up. Could this be it?

If it is not an electronic speedometer then there are only a couple things to check in to- the speedometer itself, the speedometer cable, or the gear that drives the speedometer cable which plugs in to the transmission.

Unplug the speedo cable from the transmission and hook it up to a slow speed drill.... test to for movement on the speedo. If it works, then the gear is bad and is likely stripped.
If it does not show movement then you will have to unhook the other end of the cable from the speedo to determine if the cable is broken (or maybe you can just pull on the tranny end? I'm not sure if it would come right out if broken).
If your cable checks out good and the speedo is still not working, get to a junk yard and see if you can find a cheap replacement.

Taking the dash apart to change the speedo is a hassle...there is really nothing wrong with using a GPS to determine your speed. They are pretty accurate.

The 2001 Escort has an electric speedometer and the most likely cause of the speedometer not working is the VSS gone bad. Have the trouble codes checked, you'll most likely get a troble code pertaining to the VSS. I've never had any problems with my VSS, but have heard they can really be a pain to remove from the transmission on the Escorts.

My buddy is leaving the Tom Tom in it but does the tom tom show how many miles you drove? My wife is using this car only for work and she needs to keep track the miles for client billing. I'm getting the car this week,its being driven to the garage to be worked on,it has a rear right coil spring broke,so I went to Napa and bought two rear strut assembly for $115 each,cheaper in the long run and I will know that I have good struts. Also bought all the filter,oil,air,fuel,the oil,plugs and wires(car has around 110,000 miles and he said they have never been changed),hood release cable,spent $346 at Napa. This car will make a very good work car for the wife,it has 1 month old studded tires also and the summer tires with it. Payed $1000

I do believe the tom tom does for trips, I have an 02 escort and my speedo stopped working once but when i turned the car on and off it started working again, goodluck on the repair

I don't know whether Tom Tom records miles or not, but my guess would be yes. If it does she'd have to remember to reset the mileage for each client, but if she's been keeping this type of record for awhile that shouldn't be any problem to remember. I have 2 Garmin's, different models and both keep track of mileage.

I'd still have the codes checked to make sure there not another problem causing the CEL to be on. Auto Zone will check codes free in hopes of selling you the needed parts to make the repairs.

I just got it back from the garage and they said the plugs and wires were still the factory ones and the fuel filter was extremly bad. but anyway they checked the fuse to the speedo and said it was fine. Funny thing is they never put it on the computer to see why the check engine light was on. I will have to take it back,we dont have a auto zone up here. THe tom tom wont be good for her,we are going to purchase the garmin. Thanks guys!!

Indeed, i haven't owned a tom tom, but i love my garmin !

If you have an Advance Auto Parts close by I think some of them also check codes on OBD II systems free. If a mechanic is going to charge a ridiculous price to pull the codes I'd recommend buying a code reader. Here's one that will serve the purpose for only 18.99 that will serve the purpose of checing the codes.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1311&_nkw=obd+ii+code+reader&_sacat=See-All-Categories

The 2001 Escort has an electric speedometer and the most likely cause of the speedometer not working is the VSS gone bad. Have the trouble codes checked, you'll most likely get a troble code pertaining to the VSS. I've never had any problems with my VSS, but have heard they can really be a pain to remove from the transmission on the Escorts.

You sure are correct about the VSS being a pain to remove, Fordman!!!
Mine was shot last fall, and the local Ford Dealer broke it off trying to remove it! I understand that it is COMMON for it to be rusted, or corroded into the transmission. Another shop had to remove the transmission, and I believe it cost me about $600, before I got done with the problem. I've got a 2002 Escort SE that only has about 63.5K miles on it. (it showed about 58K when I bought it in Nov. of 2006). Oh, it's an automatic transmission, and it seems to be working fine now.