bad shifting, no speedo, "OD off" light flashing

[swampyankee]

I have a 2000 B3000 4WD with 185,000 miles on it.
This morning while commuting on the highway thru the aftermath of last nights blizzard, I was cruising at about 50 when I suddenly lost gear & the engine revved freely. As I coasted down it found maybe 2nd or 3rd and would pull along at 30 or so. About this time I noticed the speedo was jumping around and then went dead. Then I saw that the OD light is flashing.
Traffic slowed behind some snow plows so as we crept along at 25 or so, the truck pulled in 2nd or 3rd, but would pop into another gear with a bang and jolt. I limped along the rest of the way to work.
I took another at lunchtime and it seemed to work well til the speedo died again, then would jump in and out of OD on the highway and stay in 2nd on the back roads. Now the check engine light is on and the OD light is flashing.

I have my fingers crossed that its a sensor but in these weather conditions and stuck 25 miles from home, I don't have any alternative but to drop it off at my favorite service station. Any ideas how major ($$$$) or minor ($$) this could be?

 

[adsm08]

Need codes.

No guesses without codes.

 

[swampyankee]

I left it with my local garage and they said the codes came up with speedo sensor problems. They said they weren't sure which sensor - speedo input or output sensor, so they were going to replace both

Today they called to say the sensor that the parts stores and Ford offered weren't the correct ones. Does anyone know if there is a particular part numbers that they should be specifying?

 

[SumoPsycho]

I had a 93 Ranger that the speedo quit working on (no shift problems it was a 5spd)
I changed the vehicle speed sensor in the rear axle (speedo input sensor) and it fixed the problem. These are relatively easy to change yourself.

I looked on Autozones site they show one for your 00 B3000 4wd for $134.99 Part #SU6829 .
But when I look it up for my 00 Ranger 4wd w/ 3.0 (same truck under the sheet metal)
it shows one for $13.99 Part #SU2175
Take a look at the one on your truck and compare it to the pics on the AZ site.

Good luck
Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[Earl43P]

Sounds to me like the ABS sensor on top of the rear axle went south.

It provides your speedo signal too.

Cheap part, one 10mm bolt and its o-ring pressure holds it in.

 

[swampyankee]

Just as a follow-up, and to post for the benefit of anyone else suffering the same symptoms.
I dropped the truck at my local garage, since I no longer have a garage and it's friggen freeezzing right now. He read off the codes which told him there was a bad signal from the Speed Sensor. So far so good. He said it could be either the one on the axle (VSS?) or the one on the transmission (TSS?). One is cheap and easy, the other not so. So they ordered the part and it showed up wrong. They sent it back and the parts supplier insisted it was the right one. He either couldn't find the axle sensor or didn't believe it was bad, and he said the transmission didn't look like the one that belonged in the truck (after 180,000 miles I could expect a replacement trans). He finally talked to a transmission guy who informed him it was in fact the axle sensor. He replaced it and the truck's transmission checked out flawless. Total cost with R&R = $80

 

[MNBen]

Swampyankee,
Thanks for postin the outcome of your issue. The sensor on top of my 5R55E tranny in my '99 4x4 automatic Ranger was busted when I purchased my truck. Until I put a new one in, I had no speedometer and a hard shift from 1st to 2nd gear. I wrote about it here

MNBen

 

[EMB1230]

Oh yeah, very common problem with at least the 98+ Rangers, not sure about older ones. Very easy fix, it takes longer to jack the truck up then to actually replace the sensor!

 

[fourwheelford]

quick question, can the VSS cause shifting problems without speedo problems? Also the other day I was in 4WD and I took off from a stop sign quickly and all of a sudden the ABS light was on, I shut the truck off and when I restarted it it was off. After that happened the truck has been holding third longer than usuall im hoping its connected and I don't need a new tranny everything else is working as usuall.