Power loss... speedometer jumping

I have a 96 Discovery (manual transmission) which I have been loving for years. Recently I was driving down the road and experienced what felt like running out of gas. From time to time I would experience a loss of power for short intervals (1-2 seconds), but if I pushed on the gas it would generally go away and I would be driving as normal. No engine lights came on. As this continued I started to notice that the speedometer was acting funny. It would goto zero then bounce back to the speed I was going, I'm not positive, but this seemed to correspond with the loss of power. I was only driving a short distance when this happened, and made it home without the car dying. Does anyone have an idea as to what is going on?

Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) most likely.

My 97 has done the same to me on long trips, but hasnt crapped the bed yet so i am procrastinating doing a replacement.

Not a hard one from what i have heard, but the part can be a bit pricey.

Thanks for the insight. I was driving today... no problems, so I think I will follow your example and procrastinate!

Hello,
I own and love my 1997 Discovery and have had the same problem and also thought it was the speed sensor. But as luck would have it the first trip out of town proved to show the real problem was the Alternator. I would suggest that you get yours checked out. If it is your alternator I would suggest Advanced Auto Parts they have a lifetime warranty and it is only $300 and less if you give them the old one.

I hope this helps,
Mike
1997 Discovery

You may want to change the fuel filter,