93 ranger with no OD and TC lockup

[lloyd39]

Hi, I was driving along and heard a ratching sound. I pulled over and started again not knowing what was up. After re-starting it had no OD and no TC lockup. I stopped and checked the tranny fluid which was fine. Been driving it this way for the last 2-3k miles. The truck has 170k miles but was driven softly for most of it's life. I don't need OD but the TC lockup is a pain not having. The transmission shop wants $1500 from me. But I did some reading and it seems likely that the problem may be electrical. Is this possible? Is there a way to test this? Thanks.

Also, it has the 4.0 engine and is 4wd.

btw, I love my ranger...best truck I ever owned!

 

[Ranger Digger]

Hi, I was driving along and heard a ratching sound. I pulled over and started again not knowing what was up. After re-starting it had no OD and no TC lockup. I stopped and checked the tranny fluid which was fine. Been driving it this way for the last 2-3k miles. The truck has 170k miles but was driven softly for most of it's life. I don't need OD but the TC lockup is a pain not having. The transmission shop wants $1500 from me. But I did some reading and it seems likely that the problem may be electrical. Is this possible? Is there a way to test this? Thanks.

Also, it has the 4.0 engine and is 4wd.

btw, I love my ranger...best truck I ever owned!

Yes, it is possible that the problem is electrical. On those years the auto tranny was a bit of a hybrid of mechanical and electrical control. For first, second, and third gears, the hydraulic valve body controls the shifting. Once the tranny is in third gear, the valve body ports oil to a pair of electric solenoids controlled by the computer. One controls the TC lockup and the other controls the OD shift.

Testing is fairly simple. You will have to get a wiring diagram from a Chilton's or Haynes manual. If you follow it, you will see the three or four wires that control those two solenoids. The wire colors will be labeled and you should be able to find them in the tranny connector. You can hook up a test light to these wires and drive the truck. If the computer is doing it's job and the lights should come on when the truck should be shifting into 4th gear or the TC should be locking up. Or you can also send power to the solenoids, forcing them to shift or lockup the TC, but this will only work if the truck is shifting into 3rd gear. If you are seeing signal then you likely have a problem with the mechanics of tranny. If you have it rebuilt, specify that the shop use a factory Ford pump or you will likely be rebuilding it again within a year.

Good Luck.