DTR Sensor Importance

[JustAnotherMember7]

Good Evening, It's been a year since I got a hold of a 2001 Explorer XLS (4.0L SOHC, 5 Speed Automatic Tranny) and finally decided to make an account on the explorer forum since I owe much of my successful repairs to the detailed threads on the forum. I plan on posting more information and experiences I have had so far with 1 year and 5000 miles of ownership. Currently an apprentice to a mechanic who has worked on some serious projects for over 50 years.

Originally, I took a look into the fusebox to see if a blown fuse was the cause of my reverse backup lights not turning on and decided to do a comprehensive check of the fuses in the interior fuse box. Since I have an XLS it does not have the fuses for air suspension, rear fans, and other fun features. Fuse 23 and Fuse 27 are right above and below each other and I quickly realized that the fuse for #27 was in slot #23 (which is not used) so I put that fuse in the correct slot (#27) and tested the lights, which worked finally!! Upon further inspection, I noticed that an important sensor also relies on power from fuse #27, the Digital Transmission Range Sensor. I inspected the diagrams in the owner's manual to see if this sensor relied on power from any other fuses and to my surprise it does not look like it does, only power from #27. After this, I took a quick drive around town to see if there was a noticeable difference in shifting and immediately found that there was a difference in RPM at different gears (about 50-100 RPM difference) as well as a more refined and slightly smoother driving experience overall. If anything, the Explorer takes slightly more throttle to get to 60 mph that before.

This was about 1 month ago and since then I have put 200-300 more miles on the Explorer and done some routine maintenance (oil change, chassis inspection, trim restoration, and cleaning) and it has run like a champ. Last week I pulled the driver's side bucket seat out (airbag in the seat) and replaced it with a salvage yard cushion that had 8 tubes of Loctite foam glue put in it! The metal harness that the cushion rests on had collapsed and ripped in several places. I kept the original seat back, and seat cover and used the refurbished cushion and lower metal seat bracket (after replacing several of those brittle wires) and took measures to prevent the seat from ripping and collapsing again by adding another spring to the harness and putting heavy-duty cardboard between the harness to help disperse weight on the entire harness instead of just the back. I reinstalled the seat, reconnected the battery, and took it for a ride. I sit up an inch higher in the car, and it is much more comfortable now, although I feel slightly disconnected from the car because the harness can handle twice as much weight now. Haven't driven it more than 10 miles since the new seat but this has made all the difference. For perspective, the original seat was in the SUV for 141,000 miles, the metal rod that the hog rings attached to were poking me and the left half of the metal support harness had shifted to the right which meant there was absolutely no support on the left side of the seat.

Getting back to the point though is the DTR sensor powered by any other fuses?

It had been about a year since I had taken a look into the fusebox, which means that my Explorer has gone 5000 miles without that sensor.

Any insight, experience, and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[410Fortune]

The DTRS seems to be a hot topic this morning!

The DTRS definitely needs power the computer needs to know what gear you are in, and I believe it is only protected by one fuse. The 5r55e is a computer controlled 4 speed automatic that creates a false second gear using 1st gear and overdrive....the computer NEEDS to know what gear the shift lever is in so it can control this trans correctly. I bet your shifting did improve quite a bit with the addition of that fuse.
Does your OD light on off light work now?

It is a pretty common thing to find fuse 27 in slot 23 on these trucks this is not the first time a fuse was put back into the wrong place in that dash mounted fuse holder....I would not be surprised if the explorer was sold because of something like this.... It is listed as the #1 step for most repairs, to check the fuses...but still many people overlook it. Spending just a couple of minutes in front of the fusebox and you can spot something like this and save many headaches.

Well done! and welcome to EF!!!!!!
Enjoy your XLS! We love these trucks

 

[JustAnotherMember7]

Thanks for the reply.

My XLS wasn't taken care of by the first owner except when it was taken to shops (seen on the vehicle carfax) so the engine was locked up due to 30,000 mile reported oil changes. Yes, you saw that right, I'll type out another post with vehicle history details and pictures but I ended up doing an engine swap to get it running (new SOHC had less than 70k miles).

I went out and checked to see if the overdrive light worked and sure enough, it did. When I received the vehicle, it did work, I did have to replace some fuses and buy about 1 grand worth of parts to get it back up and running correctly (included buying "special tools"). I've been swapping trim pieces from salvage yard limited trim explorers to my XLS. Including the radio bezel. The cigarette lighter isn't getting power after being plugged back in so I'll be taking care of that after I get finished with putting up a metal roof and doing engine work on an international pickup and painting for the bed of a Chevy LUV.


As always, thanks for your time and help, it has been invaluable.

 

[410Fortune]

heck yes metal roofing and chevy mini trucks, sounds like a good way to be

The cig lighter shares a fuse with the OBD2 port....check your fuses LMFAO!