95 Civic DX Speedometer Trouble

[C1vic_Duty]

So I've been browsing for a couple of months and haven't been able to resolve anything so I'm making an account and forum thread.
I bought a 95 Civic from craigslist, test drive it etc. I figured I could work with it and get it road ready no problem. The only issue was that the speedometer/odometer and tachometer weren't working. The guy I bought the car from said they went on the fritz a few years back, and him replacing the VSS hadn't helped anything. I bought a new gauge cluster hoping it would fix things, obviously it didnt pan out.
So I turn to the experts- where can I go from here? As a broke college student with his first car, I want to keep costs to a minimum. I've replaced the gauge cluster, checked the fuses, there's no CEL, and the guy I bought the car from says he replaced the VSS and that cruise control works.
Any help is appreciated

 

[C1vic_Duty]

Everything else in the cluster works fine. I know cruise works, but I'm assuming the CEL works simply because the other lights (brake, battery, etc) do.

 

[C1vic_Duty]

CEL didn't turn on at all, but the SRS was on for a few seconds. Tachometer still not moving. I popped the trunk and that light turned on.

 

[C1vic_Duty]

Wow, you nailed it. There was no bulb back there. I replaced it and turned the key to ON(II), and the CEL turned on for a second, then back off.
I don't have an OBD reader, but the CEL wasn't blinking anymore after that.

 

[C1vic_Duty]

Well, good and bad news. Tach is still not working, but the speedometer kicked on this morning.
Bad news is that the fuel gauge isn't working now. I appreciate the help so far, but I think I'll head back to the drawing board now. I suppose this thread can be closed.

 

[Jersey8]

Reader wouldn't work anyway. Because the CEL turned on and then off, there are no codes.

A common problem is corroded pins in the VSS connector.

The tach problem could be a bad distributor igniter unit or a broken wire blue wire between the distributor and cluster.

This.

For the OP: get a multimeter and start probing the wires the boofoo is talking about for connectivity - between VSS and cluster, and between distributor and cluster. Also invest in a service manual with wiring diagrams in order to assist with this conquest.