98 5.0 trans in a 97

[Birdy]

Like the title says, I basically have a 97 5.0 awd explorer with a 98 transmission in it. I have rewired the the trans plug for the 98 but it won't shift out of first gear. I've traced all the wiring to the pcm and all is good. I see the 97 has two additional power wires in going to the trans, I figure those are not needed for the 98 that has only one? What am I missing here?? I now have speed sensor wires directly wired to the pcm on the gray with black stripe and pink with orange stripe thinking I had a speed sensor communication problem, but I don't know. Cannot figure out why it won't shift. Anyone been here done that before?? By the way, this is a non explorer body swap, but drive train is 98 with 97 pcm, transfer case, and wiring, so basically I got what the title says.

 

[transman304]

You are right at a model year change which may be your problem. 97 used a different MLPS switch than the 98 one is 8 pin and the other is a 12 pin. Also the 97 is soft wired internal harness and the 98 hard wired also case plugs are 97 white and 98 black. Also TCC solenoids are different ohms rated. Don't know if you can get the 2 to play together. Good luck and let us know what you find out.

 

[Birdy]

actually the switches both had 12 pins, which I don't understand, but when I unplug it I get 2nd and third shifts, guess I'll start there when I get back to it tomorrow or Monday, gotta get going on the axle swaps in the black ex this weekend, Moab is getting close.

 

[delexploder]

Late.97 has the 98 and up range sensor with the early 96/97 case plug it has its own harness , is your pcm labeled xdt2 ? That's the late 97 version , its for return style fuel system, external egr , no pats, with the speed signal from the trans / t-case output sensor,

 

[Birdy]

I'll have to look at that number, but I had to extend the harness so I used the plug from the Pam I'm using, triple checked the wiring from trans to pcm, all where it should be, have not checked anything on the range sensor wiring though. I'm using the 98 harness rep repinned at trans, and speed sensor grounded and ran to the proper place wire... You got me thinking, there are 3 of these out back, I may have used the other pcm that may have had the lesser pins in the range sensor, I will look tomorrow

 

[Birdy]

Well that was it, got the pcm's mixed up and had the older one in there. Put in the late 97 with more range sensor wires and it works great! Thanks for the info and help!

 

[Birdy]

Guess I'll show y'all what I'm putting together.

 

[oharris]

You are right at a model year change which may be your problem. 97 used a different MLPS switch than the 98 one is 8 pin and the other is a 12 pin. Also the 97 is soft wired internal harness and the 98 hard wired also case plugs are 97 white and 98 black. Also TCC solenoids are different ohms rated. Don't know if you can get the 2 to play together. Good luck and let us know what you find out.

So you can't use a trans with a black connector in place of one that had a white connector? What do you mean by soft wired and hard wired internal harnesses? I need to replace a bad trans on a '96 and I wanted to find one out of a '98 to get the mechanical diode. Are you telling me this won't work?

 

[oharris]

Well that was it, got the pcm's mixed up and had the older one in there. Put in the late 97 with more range sensor wires and it works great! Thanks for the info and help!

So what did you end up putting together that worked? Late '97 PCM and corresponding wiring harness? Did your trans have the white or black connector?

 

[Birdy]

98 trans with black plug, I used a late 97 pcm that had the same range sensor, the harness is 98. I had to lengthen the wiring for the pcm plug so I used the plug from the 97 and wired it longer. So, I'm guessing all YOU would need is the range sensor from the 96 and repin the trans plug?

 

[oharris]

98 trans with black plug, I used a late 97 pcm that had the same range sensor, the harness is 98. I had to lengthen the wiring for the pcm plug so I used the plug from the 97 and wired it longer. So, I'm guessing all YOU would need is the range sensor from the 96 and repin the trans plug?

Can you tell me what pins need to be moved? We're talking about the repining the trans plug right? Thanks in advance.

 

[Birdy]

I used this matching colors to the 98 trans.

 

[oharris]

Perfect! Thank you!

 

[oharris]

BTW, that's quite the project you have there. What are you going to do about the wheelbase?

 

[Birdy]

You're welcome. I already cut the fender wells out, probably make some fender flares, and it'll be getting bigger rubber to fill the gap better.