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2001 Ford Ranger dead tach/VSS issue


computersoc

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Messages
121
Transmission
Manual
Hi all. I have a 2001 Ford Ranger XLT (manual transmission) 2.5L engine with 171k miles. Never had any "major" issues but mostly minor annoyances these past 12 years. I live in Upstate NY.

Issue 1:
Tach jumps around, especially when at a stop light. It will drop and flicker around, then drop to 0 and most of the time stay at 0. Once I hit the gas, then it starts moving again. If I set my cruise and it's going at 2500RPM, the tach still bounces around but never will drop to 0. It will flicker between 2000 and 2500 RPM or so. When I'm driving, it still has issues, but not as much as when I am idling. It's only an issue with the tach, the engine is running fine. The tach just is not reporting a true/accurate reading. This just started happening in the past month or two.

Issue 2:
This is in regards to the VSS and wiring harness. My speedometer randomly dies. There's 1000 threads that say to change the VSS/wiring harness. I did that.

Here's a timeline of some relevant work that was done:
September: I had e-brake issues that the line had to be replaced. It kept coming apart or something like that. E-brake wouldn't work and braking sometimes felt funny because of it.
Early-September: Speedometer started dieing and I'd get a CEL for VSS. VSS was changed and it made no difference
Mid-September: Changed the wiring harness and the problem went away.
October 15th: I had differential fluid changed
October 30th: had a new rear drum put on since I was still having e-brake issues
November 15th: had new shoes put on rear and it solved my e-brake and braking issues
Mid-December: Speedometer died for a day, then was fine
February: Speedometer died randomly for a few weeks, then it was fine. CEL for VSS was thrown, often times with the ABS light being steady lit. It's now mid-April and I haven't had any issues in almost two months. The CEL and ABS light went off on their own.
 
Last edited:
Year and a half later and I'm still having the same issue. I used Google and found this thread lol
 
This problem is way above my comfort skill level but hopefully some of the more knowing will see this and chime in.

Long time for a problem with no solution.

Good luck.

Ray
 

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