Speedometer Broken

[5NINE!]

Gauge was tested with another gauge. Again, everything worked except the speedo. I am also suspicious of the correlation of cruise and speedo, but I wonder if the lack of speedometer is the cause of cruise not working since it engages over 35mph and the vehicle is not giving the PCM a reading. I think my next step is going to be rewiring from the VSS to the PCM to see if the wires are possibly frayed.
BTW, I have heard about testing the wires by making a circuit through them and connecting to a light bulb and power source. If the bulb is bright, then the wires are not damaged. If it is not bright, there is a problem with the wires. Ever heard of this?

[meissen]

Hmm.. so you measured continuity between the VSS plug both hot and ground and the PCM hot and ground? And then continuity between the PCM and the plug in the passenger kick panel and then from the kick panel plug to the gauge?

[5NINE!]

Yes. I tested every wire that is described in the diagrams and they all are in tact. But while there is not a break in the wires, I am wondering if there can be a fray in a wire that would cause this...or if a fray would result in inaccurate readings or a jumpy needle instead of the dead speedometer that I am experiencing.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

do you have 12v on the purple wire at the VSS?

[killa89trans]

at work we check circuits using the light bulb trick, usually helps 2 c the current goin through the system. im really thinkin it maybe wiring somewhere. wether frayed or melted to the protection around it.

[5NINE!]

do you have 12v on the purple wire at the VSS?

When the vehicle is running?
I only tested continuity so far. I like the light bulb idea to see if there is a problem with the resistance in the wires. I might try that in a few days when I have a day off of work.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Key on. Now that I think of it, the purple might be a 5 volt reference - not 12.

[5NINE!]

Plugged tester into brown (purple) wire and grounded it and got just under 5 volts. Sometimes jumped higher than 5, but the constant voltage was close to 5

[5NINE!]

So I decided to go about this the Dennis way (wrong way but faster) and just bypass the stock wires with new wires. I wired from the VSS to the PCM. Nothing. I wired from the PCM to the Kick Panel connector (C220). Nothing. I am going to try from the connector to the gauge cluster, but I do not think that's the problem. Assuming the cluster is good, the PCM is top of my list. Is there a certain voltage range that should be read to the cluster? What I am thinking of doing is putting the meter on the wire and reading the voltage as I am driving to see if it is where it should be. If not, I know it is the PCM... I think.