So after work I started truck and put in drive. Didn’t want to move then moved forward then slammed and stoped. Then it did it again. It felt like it would go into park when trying to take off. It’d did it a few times then the wrench light went on. I ended up driving the rest of the way home and notice it would flair between 2-3 shift. By the time I got home wrench light was off.
Was having surgery the next week so couldn’t take it in right away so it was a few months before I was physically able to take it in and they said there was no code and they didn’t find anything. Later I have found out that dam rats are nesting in motor bay so might be chewing on the wires.

So does a wrench light set a code and how long does a code stay in system?

 

I always thought once a code was set it stayed till manually cleared . Maybe someone else more experienced will chime in .

 

There generally are stored codes if any have been set. I don't know if they clear themselves after so many drive cycles of not being active or not.

 

some codes are soft codes some are hard codes.

soft codes will clear if the condition no longer exist.

 

I had my wrench light come on and I cleared it using forscan. I had the light come on again today and it went off after I had the truck sitting a while. I just checked and there was no stored code.

 

Only a Ford dealer or a properly equipped shop that has the appropriate scanners can pull all of the codes. Even if they are erased by methods such as FOREscan, they can still be retrieved and they are still in the system.

 

A code will always store in HISTORY. There are different code types. Some take a higher-level scanner to retrieve. There are triggering protocols for each OBD code, meaning certain parameters have to be met for the condition to light the malfunction indicator light (MIL). Some codes will set the MIL as soon as they occur. Some require more than one occurrence in a time period to set the MIL. The same protocols exist to turn the MIL off. So, it's possible for a problem to exist, it turns on the MIL, and later turns it off. But that code will be in HISTORY. If you clear a code in order to turn off the MIL, that code and any others will also be cleared out of the history file. This is why it is important to not clear trouble codes. Turning off the light does not do anything toward fixing the problem. If you do clear a code and the problem still exists but hasn't met the protocols to turn on the MIL, the code will be stored in the PENDING CODES file. But, again, do not clear codes. You will also lose valuable diagnostics information not only in the stored code, but also in a file called freeze frame, which represents all of the sensor data at the moment the computer set the code.

The other issue is what light is on. If it is the MIL, it will be the symbol resembling an engine...or maybe more like an amorphous blob. The MIL is for OBD codes. Those are codes affecting the emission control system. Things like misfires, lean or rich conditions, mass air flow and such are monitored by the OBD system.

The other light is the WRENCH light. This light is for things occurring in the powertrain that are not related to emission controls. A slipping transmission would be an example here. Codes here would be considered manufacturer or enhanced codes that may not be available to non-shop level scanners.