Last year I bought a used '99 F350 w/ ~$135K miles on it. I later noticed that when I pressed on the Overdrive button (automatic transmission) which is on the steering column gear change lever, nothing happened. The overdrive light did not come on and the gear did not change to overdrive.
I called a place that said this is common and cost ~$300 to fix (change out the lever).
Anybody else heard of this issue or have a suggestion?
I found a Youtube video on how to fix this on a F150; however, it looks like more work than I can handle.
Thoughts?
Thanks.

 

Chances are the wires for the O/D are broken where the gear shift lever connects to the steering column.

 

That's 99% the problem. We had this on ours. Look up how to remove the gear shift lever and patch the wires back together.

 

Did you fix it yourself? May I ask how long it took and how much in parts (if any) you spent?
I'm assuming a local shop is going to try to tell me I need a new gear shift lever and everything involved w/ that. Thanks.

 

The part is about 85.00, when I did mine it took all of 15 min. There is a few write ups on here about changing it. When I get on an actual computer I'll see if I can find a link or two.

 

Did you do the self test?
self test cruise control & check engine | FordForumsOnline.com

 

No.
The check engine light is not on.

 

Yes we did. It cost us close to nothing as we only used a bit of wire and solder. I don't remember how long it took, but we had it done fairly quickly. It wasn't hard.

 

I've fixed this on two of my F150's, and it was broken wires at the lever/column area. Not a difficult job EXCEPT for finding high-flexibility small-gauge wire to fit into the lever. On one I used the low-voltage wire from an obsolete phone charger but I fixed the other using beryllium-copper high-flex wire intended for industrial robotics applications. Neither one has ever broken again, so I dunno which might ultimately be the better choice for longevity. YMMV but I would just get the highest strand count stuff you can get to go in there.

 

The light does not have to be on to indicate you have a problem in that circuit.

 

Took me about an hour to do and that included going to the dealer to get the new shifter. Shifter was $90 here.

 

I have a 99 ford f350 and mine went out too, I found a damaged wire as described by above posers near the steering column. Also when you push the button and the overdrive light comes on... its actually out of overdrive at that point. So you aren't being prevented from using overdrive, you are simply unable to disengage overdrive.