B-series vs D-series VSS

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stmotorsports

Senior Member
I've seen alot of discrepancies/arguing/misinfo on this subject whether the two are interchangeable or not so I figured I'd do a quick comparo since I just happen to have 1 of each semi-handy

For reference purposes, the D-series piece shown here is from a 97 USDM Civic DX (D16Y7) trans, and the B-series is from a 2000 USDM ITR (B18C5)

The bottom line is that the two sensors themselves ARE identical and interchangeable, BUT you have to swap the gearshafts because they are application specific. Before even attempting this BE SURE you have the correct driven gear for the drive gear on your diff, otherwise you will end up with a mismatched pair which will damage the teeth on either or both gears, the remains of which will end up floating around in your tranny ie- not good.

Once you have the sensors out of their respective trans, swapping the gearshafts is a piece of cake. You don't even really need any tools. Well enough blah blah, here we go...

Here are the 2 side by side, the B is on the left and the D is on the right. As you can see the sensors themselves are the same aside from the gears at the bottom. Notice the B uses a heavier-duty metal gear and the D uses a cheaper plastic gear:

VssBvsD.jpg

VssGearComparo.jpg



Remove the retaining pins with pliers/fingers/teeth/whatever:

VssRemovePins.jpg

VssSwapShafts.jpg



Swap the shafts, put the retaining pins back in, reinstall the sensor into trans and you're done!

Obviously there are models not covered here, anyone plz post related info if you have any

Feel free to nominate this to be a tech article as well ;)
 
Im sorry but whats a VSS? However it seems like some good info.
 
DAMNIT! Are there any B-series with the plastic gear? I just bought a "B-series" VSS from someone online & the gear is plastic which leads me to believe it's D-series...UGH
I haven't tried to install it yet
 
afaik d's are the only plastic ones, any b's I've ever seen have been metal. Some have all plastic housings like the ones above, some are the half plastic with the metal lower half but I think all have the metal gear(?)
 
Yea the one I bought is half plastic I believe but has the plastic gear. I installed & it fit in fine but I haven't tried driving it yet till I have more input. Thats the last thing I need is to have the gear break off inside the tranny. I still don't know for sure if the plastic gear would work on the b-series
 
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