1996 F-250 7.3L Diesel E4OD transmission 4x4 with a manual transfer case.

I've seen it mostly called the MLPS sensor, but also the Transmission Range Sensor and the Neutral Safety Switch.

I have Forscan connected to the truck with the PID up that shows what gear is selected. (Not right this minute or I'd actually give the correct name for the PID. But I did this testing Saturday.) The pan is off of the transmission and the cable disconnected, so I can move the shift lever on the transmission into the various gears. Indicated by the position of the spring roller in the cam on the shaft just inside the transmission case. When in Park it wants to show Neutral but sometimes will show park. When in Drive it shows Neutral, I think. I didn't write them down. But when I get it down to M1 it shows M2. Also, with the cable connected and the shifter in Park, and the transmission verified in Park by looking at the position of the spring roller in the cam with the indents inside the transmission, the truck won't even try to crank. Telling me the Neutral safety switch is open, preventing it.

I see some posts saying to put the transmission in Neutral, align the marks on the sensor and install it, as a way to make sure it's adjusted properly. But it looks to me like the sensor engages slots on the shaft and I don't see any adjustment.

So, is there an adjustment I'm missing or should I assume the sensor is bad?

P.S. Previous post on this transmission if you want more information as to what I've been up to.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...or-jammed.html

Many thanks.

 

Loosen the two bolts that hold the sensor to the transmission. Now you can rotate the sensor to align the marks when in neutral.

 

Thanks Mark. I was able to get it right in Neutral, and it was right in Reverse and Park, but Drive ended up still being shown in Neutral, L2 as Drive and L1 as L2. I re-loosened the bolts and played with it a little bit but was never able to get it right in every position. Both Napa and Carquest show the part in stock and not too expensive, so I'm going to decide which one I want and go get it and see if that helps.

I really appreciate your knowledge and willingness to share. You're an huge asset to FTE.

 

I swear this truck is really testing my sanity.

I got the new MLPS sensor on and adjusted correctly. It's showing the correct values. So I put the pan back on and refilled it with transmission fluid.

Now, when it's in Park, it's in Park. When I first started with it, I could pull it down one notch, the sensor showed Reverse but it wasn't in Reverse. If I pulled a little further on the shift lever it'd go into Reverse. Move it down one more notch, the sensor would say it was in Neutral, but it'd still be in Reverse. Again, if I pulled the lever down just a little it'd drop into Neutral. Pull it down one more notch, to what should be Drive, the sensor would say Drive but it'd be in Neutral. This time I had to pull it down one more detent into what should've been "2" before it'd go into Drive.

So I figured maybe I needed to adjust the cable back just a little. I didn't want to mess with it much because if I adjust it too far back, it'll get to the point where it'll pull the cam with the detents past the end of the spring and I'll be back where I started. But I carefully got it adjusted maybe an 1/8 of an inch or less.

That made things just a little better but still not right. So I moved the adjustment just a little more, maybe another 1/8". Now, it's better. When I go from Park to Reverse it definitely goes into Reverse every time. Reverse to Neutral is not 100% but still better than it was. Neutral to Drive still leaves me in Drive. I have to go to "2" to get forward motion.

I'm really not sure where to go from here. I don't want to keep messing with that cable adjustment. And it seems to me like the deciding factor shouldn't be the cable adjustments anyway. It should be the detents on the cam.

Any suggestions? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Thanks.

Edit to add: It occurs to me that the spring being out of position could be a problem. But the spring has a little tab on the back that goes up into a hole. It didn't appear to me that it could move. But is that a possibility? I kind of hope not, because if that's the case, I gotta take the damn pan off again.