I own a 94 F250 XLT SuperCab that has a 460 and an electronic overdrive tranny. Sometimes when Im just crusing down the highway, the tranny seems to slip into neutral and when I give it gas, it feels like the tranny re-engages. This only happens in od mode. It does not do that when I turn off the overdrive. Any ideas? I also have a friend with a 95 F150 that does a similar thing with the same tranny.

 

Change your (and your friend's) Transmission Range Sensor. This is the part on the driver's side of the transmission with the wiring harness. It is at the shift lever on the side of the transmission.

As this sensor wears and starts to fail it sends a false signal to the PCM that you have shifted to neutral. The PCM doesn't know that it is a false signal, so it shifts the transmission to neutral. The failure is intermittent, so the correct signal comes back and you go back to overdrive.

Mark

 

Mark

Thanks for the advice. However, I found out that my truck has the E4OD transmission, not the AOD trans. And when looking under the truck to find that sensor that you mentioned, it is not there. At least, not on the left side. Any other ideas?

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-Apr-02 AT 02:31 AM (EST)]the sensor should be on the left(drivers)side of the trans. right behind the shift lever and it should be black. Ford has updated this mlp/tr sensor and it should come with an updated connector and wiring diagram, make sure and ask about this. also a good idea is to add what Ford calls dielectric grease into the connector to help seal it form the elements. when you get the new sensor make sure and get a copy of the wiring diagram from the ford manual for you year of truck and your friends also, this will help during the wiring change over to the new style connector. you will also need to get the sensor alignment tool, possibly borrow the dealers? hope this helps

Jim

 

I knew you had an E4OD, but the location of the sensor is the same for both transmissions.

It is on the shaft that the shift cable attaches to. There is a wiring harness that connects to the sensor. Look again - it has to be there!

Mark

 

Hey Mark

I got that sensor changed out, including the connector in my truck. It wasn't a big deal at all..however, the ford dealer did not have the alignment tool but I basically got it on ok..seems to be alright. However, I did make one mistake...I put the tranny in neutral before I tried to loosen the nut that hold on the shift arm, and when I tackled the nut, the arm moved causing the shift lever to move against the detent in the steering column and now the thing won't shift all the way down into first gear, and won't start in drive. Guess I should have loosened the nut while it was in park and then shifted it into neutral...now it looks like Im going to have to take the steering column apart to find out what happened up there.. At least I know before attempting to fix my buddys truck...

Chuck

 

Well, I finally got around to changing out the transmission range sensor. It wasn't a difficult job, except for having to wire up the new style harness plug that came with the unit. But now Im having a new problem...The truck starts in neutral but not in park and shifts a little harder on the upshift. The original problem is gone but now I got this one.

 

The new sensor isn't properly aligned.

Mark