Sold my mazda and got a nice 2000 2wd Ranger XLT with a 3.0L.

Today the wife I and took it to town, 10 miles on the highway there, a couple in town and 10 back, didn't notice anything unusual. However I haven't this truck long so I'm not sure what is usual.

Parked it for a few hours and when went out to change the front turn signals to LED I noticed the ABS light was on when I drove it into the garage...

I checked fluid, connections and fuses, no change.

I go ahead and swapped the bulbs while letting things simmer, I've had so many of these Fords sometimes the easy fix comes to me lol.

I backed it out and took it down the road, right away I noticed my speedometer wasn't working, so I let off the gas, when I re-applied the pedal I got nothing, like it was in neutral.

I downshifted to second and got her down and turned around as the O/D started flashing... (so glad because I would have hated walking back), then pulled her back in the garage to check transmission fluid and recheck fuses, including the ones I forgot earlier under the hood. I added a 1/4 qt of fluid then tried a road test again, this time there was a real long pause before it upshifted hard and the CEL came on.

(big sigh here, feel like my nice new truck is going to pieces on me)

I pulled the codes with my scangauge and got
P0500
P2120
P0028

and decided I better look some things up and consult the gurus here before I do anymore damage tonight. I'm guessing that I'm looking at a tranny replacement possibly, but with the ABS light and speedometer failure I'm not 100% sure what is going on here. Hoping someone on here does and can give me a clue. Thanks in advance.

 

Keeps coming up, but that rear axle speed sensor is connected to all of that. I hate to be the guy that always thinks its the same answer to every ones question, but it sounds like a good candidate.

P0500 Vehicle Speed Sensor Malfunction


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ng-issues.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...eedometer.html

 

I like mfp4073's idea about the rear ABS speed sensor.

A previous poster found chaffed wiring insulation inside the wire loom not far from where it ends, so maybe first check for that.

The rear ABS speed sensor, or it's corrupt PID output to the computer is a common fault for the symptoms you've posted & it's located atop the front center of the rear differential, one electrical connector, a 10mm fastner & "O" ring seal on the sensor body.

Lube the new "O" ring before installation & torque the 10mm fastner to 25-29 ft/lbs torque.

Let us know how your trouble shoot & repair goes.

 

I would suggest re-installing the orginal turn lights, or re-install the LED correctly.

 

I wondered if the LEDs would be an issue, but it doesn't make sense. I'm going to try the speed sensor first (as soon as Napa's computers are up so they can look it up) as swapping back all the LEDs and the electronic flasher relay back to stock would be a major pita.

 

It might be that the wiring for the lights meets up with the speed sensor circuit somewhere and grounds it out.

 

See also: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...2&postcount=10

 

I cannot see how the fault light would mess up the sensors working. How would they deal with a burnt out bulb and such...wouldnt it have to be on a seperate circuit for just that reason. I did not have a lot of success with the other codes. But then again it was 3am when I posted that!

 

The P0500 is for the speed sensor & the other two are tranny codes.

So you have a VSS code, the speed-o acting out, tranny shifting acting up, the ABS light on, all of which use the speed sensors output to do their thing.

Do you have cruise control & is it acting out too, if so, add it to the speed sensor clue list, as it too uses the speed sensors output to do it's thing .

Not sure if the LED lamp conversion & whatever electronic controls are needed to have them correctly function could foul things up, but I suppose if their controls are not properly designed, filtered & installed, they could induce EMI/RFI into the electrical system & cause mischief.

More thoughts for consideration.

 

Thanks everyone! It was that speed sensor. Couldn't get it at Napa, so I got it somewhere else for $23.

Whew. So glad I didn't have to go hunting for a bad connector or worse, swapping out the transmission.

 

Good find, fix & feedback & to hear you have your problem squared away.

 

Good to hear! Those things are so dang scary, because it acts like the entire transmission and multiple systems are failing. All to be just a $15 part that takes 10 min to replace.

 

If anybody needs a video in the future here it is thanks,