Ghost in the Machine | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Ghost in the Machine

bhyde

New Member
Joined
March 16, 2014
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
City, State
Georgia
Year, Model & Trim Level
2005 Sport Trac 4x4
Hi everyone

I have a question for you that currently has me stumped.

I just purchased a 2005 Sport Trac 4.0 auto with 4x4. Truck has 171000 miles and looks and drive great. Lady who had it drove about 40 miles each way to work so I expect most are highway miles. So out of the gate I did a tune up of plugs, wires, oil and filters plus a new set of tires. Did find the cruise control not working and removed the switch on the master cylinder and cleaned which solved the problem. Have to say the plugs were a bear to replace I guess because in my old age my hands just don't work like they used to. Noticed the tranny fluid was a little dark and was next on the to do list with filter.

So after a week of driving local I needed to go out of town for work for a week about 100 miles away and took the Sport Trac just to get more acquainted. On the way home at the end of the week I was cruising down the highway with the cruise control on running about 70 mph and hit a bump in the road at the beginning of a bridge crossing which was a pretty good "jolt". The truck seemed to stumble and the cruise kicked off and the toque converter unlocked plus the RPMs went up to 3000+. I hit the first exit and pulled into an empty lot for a look under the hood. I could hear a metallic rotating sound from under the mid section and immediately figured I broke something in the tranny. Checked the fluid level and all was good. Limped over to a Ford dealer about four miles away and requested they check it, on the phone they told me they could get right on it and after sitting for two hours with no one looking at it I decided to limp on home.

Popped the battery cables off and thought it reset any codes, now I know it takes about 30 minutes to clear them. On the way home the truck ran fine but the tranny shifted a little stiff from 1st to 2nd and 3rd and the toqure converter will not lock up plus the OD/Off light started flashing on the dash.

later that day (Friday night) I had a local shop pull the codes and it is displaying PO721, PO722 and PO723 and the TSS (Turbine Speed Sensor) is giving bogus reading bouncing around from 0 to 400 or so, mechanic said it should be matching the engine RPM. So Saturday morning I roll up under it looking for a loose wire or connector and attempt to find the TSS. Some have it inside the tranny and some are located around the 2:00 position if looking from the bell housing end. I found two, one just above the main wiring harness and a second a little further back both on the driver side. Did notice the soft heat or noise sheild was loose above the tranny and lying right on top of it. Did hear some have a couple of sensors on top of the tranny but I could not see any. Ford told me later that day my TSS is inside the tranny above the filter. I also went over all fuses both inside and under the hood and all looked good.

Sunday morning I got in it to move it in the drive way and discovered my windshield wipers are also not working and they did before. I can't help but think the jolt on that bridge caused me to break a connection somewhere and the PCM or computer is freaking out.

Sorry for such a long post but wanted to give as much detail as possible to see if anyone has heard of anything like this before. I have searched the net and found nothing yet. I scheduled to go into AAMCO Monday but now I'm wondering if I should just carry it on into Ford and expect them to tell me I need a new tranny.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Bobby
 






Back
Top