For the mystery part that has three wires:
I think this may be simply a holder for the wires going from the transmission solenoids (in the bottom of the transmission casing) to the Rav4 computer (located under the radio). I do not think you have to do anything special when re-assembling it.

In the first attachment, see page AX-17 near the top for a drawing.

In the second attachment, look at the connector circled in green and labeled "E 1." E 1 is said to be the "electronically controlled transmission solenoid" (a somewhat misleading name?).

In the third attachment, look at what is circled in green. Three wires are shown for a 2wd Rav4.

 

For the speed sensor, open the attachments and do a keyword search for "vehicle speed sensor." Some drawings will come up showing the location on certain 1996-2000 Rav4 transmissions. I think your tranny is an A241E? The latter is supposedly similar to the A540H.

The drawings in the attachments may or may not show your Rav4's speed sensor's location. The three wires that connect to the vehicle speed sensor have the following colors:
-- Light blue with black stripe
-- Red with yellow stripe
-- Red with light blue stripe

 

For the speed sensor, open the attachments and do a keyword search for "vehicle speed sensor." Some drawings will come up showing the location on certain 1996-2000 Rav4 transmissions. I think your tranny is an A241E? The latter is supposedly similar to the A540H.

The drawings in the attachments may or may not show your Rav4's speed sensor's location. The three wires that connect to the vehicle speed sensor have the following colors:
-- Light blue with black stripe
-- Red with yellow stripe
-- Red with light blue stripe

I wantt o thank you again, but that part is a sensor, , not the coupler/connectore. I need the connector. anyways, a mech came out today and fabricated a connector to hold me over until I get the correct one. He will send me a link to it and when I have that info, I will post it here in this post. But he did correct the problem and it only cost me $300 vs $2300 from the stealership quote...

 

Thanks for all the information. It is an A241E.
I think I have finally located the speed sensor on pictures of a transmission someone is selling on ebay. It is on the firewall side of the transmission near where it bolts to the engine. Hopefully I will be able to get it replaced this weekend and see if it clears the code I am getting. Next I will be replacing the timing belt, water pump, etc. This is a 97 with 94K miles that I bought for my grandson as his first car. Just trying to get it road ready for him.
What is the source of your PDFs?
THANKS YOU!

 

Can you post a picture of where you found it and it’s the one without the shaft gear?

 

I googled on {"A540H" "transmission"} and similar and a number of manuals came up.

 

I got the speed sensor changed last night. Still get the CEL and no speedo intermittently. Today I hooked up my scanner and cleared the CEL. Found that the problem comes and goes and I think I am also loosing the clock and other instruments when the problem occurs. I keep seeing references to improving the grounding but the links to the PDFs are dead.
Is this just beefing up the grounding from the + side of the battery to the engine block and firewall?

 

I keep seeing references to improving the grounding but the links to the PDFs are dead.

Here they are:

 

My manual Rav4 only has 1 VSS, but the automatics seem to have 3. The VSS used for the speedometer has 3-wires, a VSS used for the automatic transmission has 2-wires.
And the grounding system goes from the negative(-) side of the battery, not the + side.

I hope you like the Rav4, as much as I have liked mine.

 

Mine needs a 3 prong coupler on teh first sensor of two on the tranny, and then I have 4 on each wheelworks as well

 

I went down the "grounding re-cable" rabbithole - of course the problem persisted. I actually was able to pick up an instrument cluster at a junk yard yesterday and that seems to have resolved the issue so far, I need to drive for a couple more days before I am assured it is fixed. I never found the other speed sensors but the 3pin sensor with the nylon gear on the transmission is the one that drives the speedometer. (This was a pain installing also because it was a couple of thousands over sized.) My understanding is that the instrument cluster receives the signal from this sensor and cleans up the 4 pulse per revolution signal before sending to the ECM and uses the signal to drive the speedometer. So at this point I have to decide where to worry about installing an odometer that indicates 200K+ miles on a vehicle that only has 94K, The repair shops I found are wanting around $200 to rebuild it which is more than I want to spend at this point. I am leery of tearing into the cluster to try to fix this by moving parts between the two clusters.
I still have quite a few other things to get done on it before handing over to my grandson.
I am a 3rd gen 4runner fan (have a 2001) - I hope this version of the RAV4 is as good.

 

my isssue is not the spped sensor, asnd as I mentioned, the one you recommended wasnt correct, nor part I needed. I need the coupler to attach the wiring to the sensor. But, my mech says heknows which one it is and will send me a link to the part, when I will share once he provides it.

 

I think that plug is what controls the solenoids in the transmission above that there is one speed sensor there and another one by the starter and if you pull them out on a Toyota RAV4, they both look alike, but I don’t know if they’re both the same

 

Anyone can please assist with getting my 1995 Toyota RAV4 L speedometer working, stuck on zero. Purchased this part...