Hey everyone.

Yesterday morning I started to have a few issues with my truck, it's a 2000, F350, 4x4, auto and I'm not sure if it's a trans problem, an electrical problem or just a fluke that is nothing to worry about.

Yesterday morning when I stated driving to work the overdrive light stated flashing but it drove and shifted fine. The speedo jumped around a few times too. When I got to work and shut the truck off, there was a sizzling noise coming from under the steering column area. If I put the ignition in the on position the noise would stop but in the acc or off position the noise was there. The noise stopped after a minute or so.

In the afternoon I drove the truck home, the overdrive light was still flashing. When I shut the truck off at home the power locks were locking and unlocking on there own and the door buzzer was on from time to time. The other thing that was odd, was the turn signals would work ever tho the truck was off and the key was out. I changed the VSS to see if that would help but it made to difference.

In the evening I took the truck out again for a little drive to see if anything was different. The truck was shifting hard and not down shifting properly. The relay in the top left corner of the fuse box under the dash was clicking too.

This morning when I drove to work everything was fine. The overdrive light was off, the clicking relay and the trans shifted fine. When I got to work and shut the truck off, there was no noise from the steering column area, the power locks weren't doing anything funny and the signals wouldn't work with the truck off any more.

Sorry for the long winded story but I tried to get all of the details in that I could.

The whole thing seams were strange. Anyone have anything like this happen before or have any ideas what I should look for?

Thanks

 

Wow, Christine?
No seriously, I had the speedo problem so I changed out my VSS-a.k.a. ABS sensor. I bought one at the closest Auto Parts(Advance) it was different it had a metal base instead of plastic. The clerk said it was a replacement. Any way It fixed everthing for about 2 days then everything went crazy. Changed it out again with one from NAPA that was like original and now everthing is good.
Don't know if this will help and don't know about the rest ,but lots a luck with it.
Subscribing

 

Sorry that was a typo, it should have said "I changed the VSS and it made no difference" and for some reason I can't edit my first post. I did get the VSS or ABS sensor from Napa and it looks basically the same.

 

I've been driving this around over the weekend and everythig is still good... gona keep my fingers crossed that this was just some kinda fluke...

 

Well the problem came back again this morning .

The o/d light is flashing, the speedo is jumping around from time to time and when I turned the truck off at work the door buzzer was going on and off, the power locks were going funny and the turn signals work with the truck off.

The only thing I can see is that water is getting in to something, it rained all night.



I checked and everything under the dash is dry so I'm thinking there must be something under the truck the is causing the problem.

I don't know if it would be worth having the transmission scanned for codes or not with the other problems.

Does anyone know if there is anything on the transmission that would cause these kind of problems or should I be looking at something else?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

It sounds to me like you may have some wires in the steering column that are cracked and may be shorting against each other. I would start there. Scrutinize the wires very carefully, as it may be a very small crack in the wires.

 

It sounds like to me that you might be having some electrical issues under the dash or somewhere, you are having to many none related issues for it to be just transmission, for your problem to involve so many different items,,, I would be looking at a harness or wires rubbing and grounding out.....

Not sure if this helps or not, but it could be a start.... good luck


woody

 

I had a similar issue a few years ago that was caused by a short in the trailer plug wiring. Salt infiltrated the trailer plug causing it to short out and energize the brake and turn signal feeds.

 

Thanks for the quick responses guys!

Sounds like it's time to get under the dash and start searching.

I'll also check out the trailer plug wiring. I changed the trailer plug a couple of weeks ago, after the first time I had the problem (not for this reason, but because the plug was rotten) but I'll have a better look at the wires leading to the plug.

 

If you changed the trailer plug a few weeks ago, I am thinking that might be a good starting point,,, did your problems start after you did the change? Sounds to me you might have some wires or wire grounding out, or crossing over into another circuit. maybe when you wired it, you have a couple stray wire strands causing a problem..

Just my 2 cents worth hope it helps\

 

I can't remember the exact day I changed the trailer plug, I think it was after I have this problem for the first time but it could have been just before. Either way I agree it is a good place to look.

I'm going to pull the plug apart over the weekend and see if there is any water in there shorting something out or any wires touch anything they shouldn't be. I'll still have a good look under the dash too.

Thanks again guys!

 

Went out at lunch to have a quick look under the dash and and the something was clicking away from behind the ash tray/radio area... is that were the PCM is? I removed the fuse cover and the #1 reply was clicking too and was very hot. I removed the reply for now until I can figure this out.

When I turned the key to the on position, the clicking would stop. As soon as I turned the off, the clicking would start again. By taping what ever is back there very lightly, the clicking stopped after a couple of seconds.

Also, I noticed the floor was wet on the drivers side by the door and under the fuse box area but everything under the dash still seams dry. I wondering if I have a water leak somewhere that is causing the problems??

Now that I think about it, the first time I had this problem we had very heavy rains too.

 

It sounds to me like you're having a problem with the vehicle speed sensor. In my opinion it's a waste of time to look for problems without knowing what codes are stored in the computer's memory.

 

I think you might have found atleast one problem for sure, you might have a leak at the front window, and if the floor is wet, and you started having problems after a big rain,,,, sounds to me that you have some water damage issues somewhere,,,, you could start by leaving the windows open and get that cab dried out.... then I would also agree with mark it might be time to have your codes read... keep us posted.....

 

Yeah I agree I think it's time to get the codes read and see if that helps. I spent most of the evening looking for the problem... with no success.

I'll update this as soon as I get a chance to get the codes read.