My 97 was doing the same except no problems with shifting, took to a transmission shop was a bad vehicle speed sensor, 27.00 from autozone

 

Hi stevera and welcome to FTE
It's always good when the fix is something not too serious or expensive.

 

that happend to me at 26k, the torque converter was not finding shift pts. the put sensors in and fixed it

 

I know this is an old thread, and I am a new guy, but my recently bought 1998 F150 is having the blinking OD light problem. I did some searching and found several threads about it, but this one seems to be the closest. I have had it for a week no problems, then today I go fishing pulling my 15' jon boat and it starts blinking within 20 minutes. It still let me go from OD to no. If I shut it off and restarted it and left the OD off until I hit 70mph then turned the OD on it wouldn't blink, it was fine. Sometimes it has hard shifts, sometimes (like 3-4 times since I bought it) it will slip a little, then catch. And about half the time when coming to a light it will downshift a bit harshly. My friend has a 1995 F150 so I know how it should feel b/c his runs perfectly.
After reading this post, mine sounds like a sensor and not some serious problem. If it is a serious problem it will be a good thing I bought a 3yr warranty on it. It just kinda freaked me out since I just bought it a week ago today (9/13 is today so 9/6 I bought it).
Do you guys think a mechanic could diagnose this or Ford only? I don't really have $100 to pay just to diagnose a problem, and my mechanic and I are good friends, so he won't rape me on prices.
Thank You, Tommy.

 

Hi Tommy and welcome to FTE
With the OD light flashing there should be a trouble code stored in the PCM's memory. Any good mechanic with a good scan tool should be able to retrieve the code. The code should lead you in the right direction. Going by your symptoms I would guess you probably have a bad VSS sensor. But I have been wrong before

 

I hope it is just a sensor and nothing serious. Thank You for replying.
I will go by my mechanics shop Monday and see if he can help me.

 

2001 F150 super crew 5.4 V8.

Purchased new travel trailer yesterday. They installed new brake controller.

I hooked up and OD light on Shifter began flashing. When I put truck in gear it would barely move.

Never had any trouble before. Parked it for the evening.

What now? Tow?

Ideas


Also there was liquid (no odor) dripping fast off front of muffler area. Ideas

Jclay

 

Ok, I tried a search and didn't find an answer. I may have, but not a definate one (at least I didn't find a definate one).
Racerguy: you mentioned my problem may be a VSS Sensor. What is that? I think is is Vehicle Speed Sensor, is that correct? I am gonna take it to the mechanic tomorrow and see if he can pull the codes from this thing. I am just not sure he has a code scanner, but since he has been doing business for 20+ years now I would think he does. I've just never had any codes to pull. I've had 3 Mazda's (still have one) and a Jeep Cherokee and now this truck, none of the first 4 vehicles ever threw me a code. The Jeep just up-and-died on me, and I had been wanting a nice truck (exactly like what I bought but 99+ 4dr woulda been nice instead of my 98 3dr), so when the Jeep died it was time to get my truck.

 

My mechanic said he would pull the code(s) for me and if he can fix it he will (he does not do transmission work, he sends it all out somewhere else), but if he can't he won't charge me anything.

 

Update: Ok, yesterday I spoke to my mechanic (he was supposed to pull codes Friday-2 days away) b/c it is starting to shift harder and slip more. It only does this on the 2-3 shift, no where else. The OD light blinks most of the time, even with OD turned off (it wouldn't blink before if I had it turned off). I have it scheduled to go to a Ford Dealership today (Thursday) b/c my mechanic said it probably was not a sensor if it is slipping. Shifting hard maybe, but not slipping.
Here is what it does: it will shift from 1-2 just fine, then coming up on the shift point for 2-3 it will hold rpms steady, like it is trying to shift, then it will rev 500-1000rpms like it is in neutral, then it will kick and shift into gear, then immediately shift the 3-4.
Do you guys think it is the torque convertor or something else internal? Or could it still be a sensor? I would prefer to stay away from having a couple hundred dollar bill from Ford which my warranty won't cover if it is just a sensor.
Any comments would be appreciated.
Of course, I probably won't hear from anyone b4 I take it to Ford (my home computer died and I'm at work right now), but I will tell them the same thing I just posted and see what they think.

 

2000 F-150 59,000 miles

Just wondering if anybody is having any real luck on understanding this OD light flashing. I went to reverse one morning and it died three times, choked itself down...... Then later at highway speeds the lights starts flashing. You can reset it by turning the engine off and recranking but it come back at about 60 mph.

Don't want to give some mechanic free rein to troubleshoot. Would like to have more details before, seals, sensors and transmissions are purchased? Anybody?????

 

Mine is my 2-3 actuator piston in my transmission. Mine was shifting hard from 2-3 and then, like a day or two before I took it in (this is why I took it in before having the codes pulled) it started to slip on the 2-3 shift.
If it is dying I don't see it being an actuator piston as that only appeared to affect my 2-3 shift and nothing else. I am new to Ford trucks (although I have wanted one for over a year) so I really don't have any suggestions. My only thought would be torque converter, but I honestly don't know.

 

Great insights. My '98F150 with 78k miles had the O/D light blink while pulling my boat a month ago. It stopped after getting home and shutting off for the night. Drove it for the last month and no problems, but it did shift hard from 1st to 2nd and if I manually put it in low gear at a stop, it would really idle down. Also had a loud clicking noise under the driver's side of the vehicle. Tranny fluid levels were OK, no burned smells at all. Two days ago, shifted it into reverse and came off the driveway just fine, put it in drive and it went nowhere. Coasted to the end of the street, put it in low and if I got up to about 4500 - 5000 rpm's, it would creep along. Got it back to the driveway and there it sits. Posted this in another thread, but thanks for the posts here. I have a notion mine is more than just a sensor, although the case of the 2-1 shift seemed promising. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Being relatively new here, this is a great forum for info. Thanks all!

 

Hi Rhurt and welcome to FTE

Before you throw any parts at it you should probably take it in and get it scanned for trouble codes. After the OD light has been flashing there should be trouble codes stored in the truck's PCM that will lead you in the right direction.

sowellcl I think you've got bigger problems
There are no electronic parts on your transmission that can cause it not to move at all.

 

Hi Racerguy (Mr. Moderator, too!):
Thanks for the post. I figured as much based on all the related posts I've seen. Early on I thought one of the sensors might have been related to the hard shifts (and it may still be a sensor, too)...but, after the tranny bellied up the other day and it required 4500 rpms in low gear to get the truck to crawl back onto the driveway...it was apparent that something within the tranny had given out. Prior to the problem, there was a distinct clicking/rapping noise under the driver's side of the vehicle. Once the tranny gave out, it stopped. Thus, something is definitely out of whack and only an internal (and likely fairly costly) inspection will give the tale of the tape. Thanks for your input, ghastly tho' it may be!
sowellcl