speedo/odom/cruise/P1507 problems

Regarding a 30 yr anniversary 98 OB Legacy Wgn , 130k miles, 5spd 2.5 engine;

Speedo, odom & cruise went out, however tach still works. There was a CEL that triggered. (I assumed it was the 3rd and/or 4th cylinder misfire problem which has been an occaisional problem in the past few months) But didn't have my code reader handy.

Later, I forgot to scan for codes before disconecting the batt & beginning to dismantle the speedo. Realizing my error, I stopped the speedo work since I only had the outter shroud off & reconnected the batt & scanned for codes. No codes found. Ok, I figured I had inadvertently erased the code by cycling the batt connection, even though it had been probably less than 1/2hr of disconnect time. Now fast-forward to post speedo repair.

Just did the "added wire on back of the speedo head circuit board" repair & reinstalled. It's been called out as a fix for 99s and the circuit board looks the same on a 98. It failed to help. On the test drive, it threw a code P1507 and actually died when pulling over to read code. Starts up & runs fine but throws the same code again shortly and dies again a couple min later when slowing down for driveway.

From searching the forum, I think I know that the VSS could be responsible for the lack of speedo and may be related to the cruise. But before popping for a new VSS, I'm wanting to pull the speed cluster again and check the blue molex connector for integrity. If VSS is not the culprit, I may be looking at a new or replacement speedo head?

But here's the kicker; Once during bench dismantle of speedo cluster, and again, outside the car prior to reinstallation, a total of 2 thin, silver foil strips measuring about 1/8" x 2.75" fell out of the assy. They look to me like some kind of contact strip - maybe a grounding feature? Got no idea where they came from. Don't know if they're important or if it's just some kind of scrap that got dropped in there, though you'd think something metalic item like that could cause all kinds of chaos. Does anyone have a clue about them?

Also, does anyone know if there's a test to verify function of either the speedo head or that the odom is not jammed or broken?

As for the P1507 code, which is supposed to be a Faulty Idle Solenoid. I think some members will also maybe point to the Neutral Switch failing & causing a false signal to slow down the idle.

I probably know more about Saabs & have only had this Sub (my 1st)since July 2012, but (and somebody check me on this) I think I'm looking at replacing VSS, Neutral Switch & Idle Solenoid as a starting point & replacing the speedo head as a last resort.

Is there anything I'm not considering? I'd love to hear from some knowledgable Subaru people.

One last thing; Where on the car is the VSS & idle solenoid located and where on a manual tranny do I find the neutral switch?

Many Thanks

Sounds like the VSS... As far as I am aware, the cruise is not part of the cluster circuit and will work even though the speedo does not. The Cruise works off of the ECU speedo.

Another way to handle this is to use an OBD2 scan tool and check for speedometer readings off of the ECU. If you have none the VSS is toast.

I use a cheap ELM327 bluetooth OBD scan tool and Android Torque Free (a phone app available on android)... That should get you the reading of of the ECU speedometer if you don't have access to a handheld tool with that capability.

A friend of mine mentioned that when his VSS was out, it rev limited the car to 4500rpm.