O/D light blinks

[cheyenne10]

2nd question from newbie to boards. It looks like there is a lot of probems with O/D light blinking on these trucks with auto O/D. This one seems to drive fine except for tough shift clunk when coming to a stop. Light blinks and does not go out. I've never felt this tranny was strong and smooth but do not what to sink lots of cash into it. Mine is a 95 4x4 XLT with 6 cyl, AT, 120k miles.

Any help? (I've searched a bunch and just small similarities to mine).

 

[Jason_25]

How long since you have changed the fluid?

The only thing you can do really is take it to a reputable tranny shop and have them run the codes for you.

 

[Rob_B]

Does it shift hard when it's going through the gear's? I had my O/D Off light flashing at me and it said that my torque converter clutch was stuck on. I ended up taking it to Ford and they hadta replace my whole valve body. Very expensive . I hope your's isn't that and cheaper to fix.

 

[cheyenne10]

No hard shifts thru the gears just a real hard shift /clunk when coming to a stop (right before completing the stop at stop sign type stop). I looked at the drive line and u-joints feel good. Still wondering. I would like as much knowldge myself before I take it to "reputable" shop tomorrow. I don't want to be taken advantage of. Has any ever bout a new/rebuilt auto OD trans. mailoder and had it instlalled locally? I would assume a good rebuilder might be able to put perforamnce parts to clean up the slow sloppy shifting of the stock unit. I also think we loose economy with stock unit. (my experience with older GM units is this way).

 

[Alec]

if you do take it to a tranny shop, i recommend Cottman Transmissions.

In my experience, the OD light flashing means the torque converter is doing something funny.

 

[Jason_25]

cheyenne, I beleive what you are describing is the tranny's "failsafe mode". They all do this when they detect some sort of critical fault code. Mine did this when the TPS went out. The torque converter engagement was acting funny and I don't think I had O/D. It also made the clunk when coming to a stop.

 

[dmb261975]

Re:

I had the same problem with my 96, but also speedometer was not working properly. If the speedometer doesn't work, then the tranny will not shift into O/D. Had to replace the transfer case due to gear being broken inside. Problem is gone now. Otherwise may be tranny itself!

 

[Mbrooks420]

I'll second Cottmans. They rebuilt my trans. at 67,000 They replaced every single part inside of it. All they used was the shell. The manager called me on the phone before doing the work and told me how prone to failure Ex transmisions were . He said they would replace everything they could with better than Ford quality parts. He said he had two Explorers himself who got over 150,000 miles on their rebuilds(both failed before 75,000).

 

[boominXplorer]

I have a 95 X and mine did it one day and all i did was unpug the batter and wait a lil while and let the computer reset. I hooked it back up and it worked great. I hope this helps

 

[AKJello]

I had the same problem on my 95 XLT 4X4. I tried the computer reset and that didn't work. I took to a tranny shop and they changed the throttle position sensor. That was two years ago and I haven't had any problems since.

 

[tenikiwon]

I got mine to blink

I don't know if I should be proud or not, but just gave me an excuse to come here and tell ya all about it.

I was messing around with the 2WD mod (get rid of the auto crap) and thought I would try 2LO. I was city driving on a residental street and started our slow and was listening to the tranny hum. . When I got up to about 25mph. I think. The OD light started to blink. I stoped and got back into regular 2WD mode and it still was blinking. Turned the car off and restarted and it wasn't blinking.

I've driv'n in 2LO only once before trying to spin my tires and didn't think the RPMs would jump that quick oops, but the light didn't come on that time.

Anyone know WHY the light would come on? What's the car trying to tell me?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Probobly that your not supposed to have 2 Low. The O/d light blinking just means it detects that there is a problem in the trans. It's like the Check Engine light.

 

[kps36]

I thought i posted this question here before, but i guess not.

AKJello, when you had yours done (TPS R/R) did you have a OD Off flashing AND a CEL ? or just the OD Off ??
I was under the impression a bad or marginal TPS would blow a CEL ??
Please respond, as I am wrestling with the flashing OD light again (after a full year). I KNOW it is sumpin electrical (sensor) related b/c I will get a OD light on cold start up, and I KNOW OD is not engaging, pull over, turn off, restart, all's well, OD engages fine...????.
just bothersome !!
I have ideas about TPS (but no CEL), VSS ?, ??????
Will Autozone read those code for free also, they are stored. 1 year ago it had stored like 2 7xx code relating to OD. I am ready to buy a ATSG and figure out which one of the 7 or 8 sensors inside the 4R44E are the Torgue Convertor Control (TCC) sensor.
ANY help would be GREATLY appreciated.
thnx in advance.

 

[reichhartkg]

I had a flashing O/D Off light a few months back, killed the engine, restarted and it went away. That was a few months ago and I haven't seen it again until a few days ago. I looked it up online and ended up here.

Also, about a week before the flashing light, I had a speedometer problem (which I noticed is also mentioned above)... one day while driving, the needle started bouncing from 0-80 repeatedly. I think I was going about 45-50 at the time. Is this related?

I changed my tranny fluid about 6 months ago and when I did, it took less than 1/2 of what the manual said it should before it started overflowing. Could this have something to do with it? Maybe it really did need all that fluid but the tube was blocked or something?

 

[tenikiwon]

With the fluid I think you might just not have gotten it all out. If you did it yourself and just drained it, then there was probably left overs in there. I assume you checked the level with it running to make sure it wasn't too high or low.

Speedo jumping could be related. Don't know exactally how. On the Earlier Gen 2's 95-97 I'm pretty sure the speedo is run off a gear and electric. In 98+ I think they went 100% electric.

I believe that the tranny uses this electric signal to know when to shift - thus effecting the OD.

With the cold start problem, I'm lost.


Just thought I'd throw something into the ring!!

 

[TPLYNCH]

Originally posted by reichhartkg
I had a flashing O/D Off light a few months back, killed the engine, restarted and it went away. That was a few months ago and I haven't seen it again until a few days ago. I looked it up online and ended up here.

Also, about a week before the flashing light, I had a speedometer problem (which I noticed is also mentioned above)... one day while driving, the needle started bouncing from 0-80 repeatedly. I think I was going about 45-50 at the time. Is this related?

I changed my tranny fluid about 6 months ago and when I did, it took less than 1/2 of what the manual said it should before it started overflowing. Could this have something to do with it? Maybe it really did need all that fluid but the tube was blocked or something?

If you just dropped the pan and changed the filter, you only take out about 4qts of fluid. The only way to get all the fluid out is to do a Tranny flush. So sounds like you SERIOUSLY overfilled it. Did you drain it back to the correct level?? Too much fluid is almost as bad as not enough.

 

[jasonk331]

I had a flashing O/D Off light a few months back, killed the engine, restarted and it went away. That was a few months ago and I haven't seen it again until a few days ago. I looked it up online and ended up here.

Also, about a week before the flashing light, I had a speedometer problem (which I noticed is also mentioned above)... one day while driving, the needle started bouncing from 0-80 repeatedly. I think I was going about 45-50 at the time. Is this related?

I changed my tranny fluid about 6 months ago and when I did, it took less than 1/2 of what the manual said it should before it started overflowing. Could this have something to do with it? Maybe it really did need all that fluid but the tube was blocked or something?

There is a sensor on the transfer case that runs the speedometer. I had the same problem, the cost is $29.00 at napa and is a 5 minute fix. dont let the tranny shop tell you its internal until you try replacing it first.

 

[Glacier991]

STOP THE MADNESS.

A flashing OD light means that the computer has detected something out of the ordinary parameters it is programmed to look for. The range of possibles is literally dozens of things.... and.. the computer stores a code that will tell you exactly what parameter it was. From THAT you can define what component may be bad or WHAT your problem might be.... NOT FROM THE LIGHT BY ITSELF!

A flashing OD light is not a symptom.

A flashing OD light does NOT mean any particular component is bad...

Throwing a part at a flashing OD light is VERY unlikely to do anything but empty your wallet.

GET THE CODES READ FIRST AND FOREMOST!!!!

THEN DIAGNOSE.

 

[96ExplorerSport]

Glacier991,

This is an old thread I thought I would ask. What code reader can I buy that will read all Ford transmission and engine codes? I hate to go to dealer for that. If I can get something for less that $500 I'll buy it.

Thanks,

STOP THE MADNESS.

A flashing OD light means that the computer has detected something out of the ordinary parameters it is programmed to look for. The range of possibles is literally dozens of things.... and.. the computer stores a code that will tell you exactly what parameter it was. From THAT you can define what component may be bad or WHAT your problem might be.... NOT FROM THE LIGHT BY ITSELF!

A flashing OD light is not a symptom.

A flashing OD light does NOT mean any particular component is bad...

Throwing a part at a flashing OD light is VERY unlikely to do anything but empty your wallet.

GET THE CODES READ FIRST AND FOREMOST!!!!

THEN DIAGNOSE.

 

[Glacier991]

In the Under the Hood forum, is a subforum dealing with computers and in it there are threads dealing with code readers and scanners. The Moderator, ExplorerDMB is very knowledgeable and may be able to better answer your questions, so I'll refer you to him.