Ok this is a new one for me. Today on my way to work I hear a "Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep", then it stopped and I don't know where it was coming from. Right after the beeping stopped, I happen to notice that my speedometer was not functioning correctly. I would accelerate and when I got around 32mph, the speedometer quit working (drop to 0 mph). When I slowed down and got to around 35mph, the speedometer started working again. This continued all the way to work. A few hours later I got in the truck to go get some dinner (I work 2nd shift) and the speedometer now does not work at all and the transmission was not shifting smoothly. It would shift hard and at a slightly higher RPMs than normal. Then a couple of hours later I went down to Dunking Donuts for coffee and now the transmission is not shifting out of 1st gear at all and speedometer is not working.

What is going on, it was working fine yesterday! We are going through a Category 1 hurricane today and I was suspecting that some moisture had gotten into something somewhere and that was initially causing the issue but now I am not too sure. ANYBODY got ANY IDEAS??? I have never had such a weird set of circumstances as this, ever...I am thinking that the "Beeping" I was hearing beforehand was some sort of alarm?

Oh I almost forgot. This is a 1998 F250 LD Lariat Extended Cab, 5.4L Triton, Automatic Transmission w/221,xxx miles. The transmission was completely rebuilt by FORD at 180,xxx miles.

Any Factory FORD experts on here that can shed some light on this issue?

 

I would guess that your truck has a speedometer cable or a speed sensor on the output of the trans..
The only way for the PCM to know the road speed is by the speed sensing.
No speedometer function, no shift speed info to shift with.
Take a look and Scan for a transmission or speed sensor code.
Good luck.

 

Bluegrass 7, thank you for the reply. However I did discover my problem last night before I left work to go home. I wasn't looking forward to driving it all the way home in 1st gear. Anyway the problem was a simple one...The positive Battery Terminal had some corrosion around it. Took the connection off, hit it and the clamp good with a wire brush and reconnected it to the battery. Problem SOLVED!

It only takes a small amount of loss (voltage/current) to the electronics to cause some strange things to happen. Had the Alternator go out on me on my way back from Phoenix once and as the battery voltage dropped, ALL the gauges went nuts bouncing around before I started loosing power. Funny thing tho', don't remember having an issue with the tranny the way it was affected last night. As long as it was something simple and I didn't have to pay a fortune just to have someone clean my battery terminals.

Everyone have a great Holiday weekend!