Doods,

1st post here. Yesterday my baby started giving me hard shifts from 1st to 2nd and the od light was blinking. The owners manual says bring it in ASAP. Right. What are some causes for this? On another forum it said that it could be bad solenoid. Does this mean starter solenoid, or is there one in the tranny? I ask because occasionally I turn the key and it takes 2-3 sec. to get the starter to engage. But why would the tranny syst. give an alert for a starter solen.? Thanks in advance.

1994 f150 302 auto. no mods

 

The light is blinking because a fault has been set in the computer. Try disconnecting the battery and drive it for a few miles and see if it repeats. The hard shift is most likely caused by the transmission selector(located on the left side of the tranny).The contacts get dirty and worn, which causes the transmission to jump gears. Cleaning may work, but I think the new part is not terribly expensive.

 

Throttle position sensor can cause screwed up shifts too. But one thing is for sure, if the OD light is blinking the computer has sensed an error in the transmission and it needs to get fixed right away. It's either destroyed now by the time you see the light flashing or it will be soon if you keep driving it.

 

Gates,

I had disconnected the battery to clear codes. It did stop blinking. Drove it around town stop and go 10mi max. Shifted beautiful. I doubt the tpi as the engine is running smooth. I have a Miata that the tpi boogered out on, and it ran terrible at idle. Because the codes cleared and stayed gone I am leaning towards an electrical/sensor type problem rather than mechanical. No strange noises or grinding. I am going to try the tranny selector highboy recc. tomorrow morning. Believe me I am driving gently. Dont want to get a new tranny on teacher salary, nor do I have the time to do a rebuild.