Last week I noticed on two seperate occassions that the OD light on the shifter was flashing after starting my X. The truck seemed to run fine and I didnt notice any problems with shifting or slipping.
Today with our first significant snow, I locked the hubs and went to work in 2wd. its about a 20 mile trip. During the trip I felt a "thump" several times while on the highway. The RPM's were at about 16-1700 and it was in OD when this happened. The roads were snow covered, but I didnt notice any RPM increase when the "thump" occurred.....
Anyone have any ideaas what could be going on? or could the truck just be deciding / trying to kick down or stay in OD?
When I maually shifted out of OD, the thump didnt seem to happen, but I didnt run that long with the OD off.
I know that the flashing light indicates a code that should be stored in the computer, and I went to Auto Zone after the first time it flashed and the told me that their scanner couldnt commincate with my truck for unknown reasons........
Thanks for any ideas!!

 

Wow, must be something in the air, my 2000 Ex just started doing this a couple of days ago,

I did notice a rougher 1-2-3 shift though. It wasn't severe just harder drop into gear than normal. My O/D light was flashing and tranny wouldn't go into overdrive, a few minutes later, all was well, smooth shifts, overdrive functional. Weird.

Today, it was harsh 1-2, 2-3 shift, no overdrve until 60-65, then overdrive would drop, O/D light stop flashing, normal operation.... until I had to stop for a light and it would cycle through all the steps again. Lasted about 30 minutes and theb all was well again.

I haven't had time to code check it yet and am going out of town in a couple of days (not in the Ex) so it may take several days before I find anything out, but I will post results of findings for any and all who care.

If anybody else has any thoughts please post them...

Thanks, Shawn

 

Check your battery cables.They can cause some weird things to happen when they're loose.

 

That's because they don't have the right tools. None of the places that read codes free have the right tools. The right tools cost too much to give that away free. Find a place that can read the codes, then you'll know what's wrong. Without the code all you can do is start buying parts hoping you stumble on what's wrong before running out of money or grenading the trans.

 

You should check the wires coming out of the shifter handle, I have had several trucks have those wires short out and cause some strange symptoms. Just pull the plastic cover off the top of the column and take a look, it's pretty obvious when it happens.

 

This happened to my 96 Bronco and it turned out to be a tranny problem.

 

That's all it could possibly be. The only reason the OD light flashes is for a transmission problem.

 

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Why would you expect these kids to be bothered reading the manual ? On second thought, why would you expect these kids to read well enough to even comprehend what is in the manual ?

 

Another vote for checking the battery cables. If they are not tight and/or have some corrosion on them I have personally seen them produce the problems stated by the original poster. It just happened to me last week and it was my problem.

 

Scanner shows the following codes:
P0722 output shaft speed sensor no signal
P1832 Tcase differential lock up solenoid fault

However I cant find any info on what to do about the Solenoid or sensor- should I be troubleshooting, or just replace this unit?

I'll also post another thread in one of the tech areas- thanks!!

 

These are two separate issues:

P0722 is for the OSS (output speed sensor). I believe that it is at the tail shaft of the trans. No signal could mean it is just a bad part. Not too hard to change.

P1832 is for your T-case motor. When you switch from 2wd to 4wd can you hear the motor working?

 

I havent tried listening to it specifically- but I will-
I have used the 4wd, and it did seem to take a couple times to engage.
I'll try shifting and listen for the motor.......