help troubleshooting problem..transmission drops to 1st, and speedo dies...

[superbeast]

my friend has a 1999 Ranger, regular cab, 4cylinder, 2wd. automatic transmission

he had a new transmission put in about a year ago. but during the summer a strange problem started.

at random times his transmission would slam down into 1st gear (regardless of what speed he was going) at the same time the speedometer would just drop to 0 and not work at all. after a while the problem went away and it ran fine again. but recently (weathers started getting cold here in Texas) its started up again. it usually only happens when he makes sharp left turns or goes over a large bump in the road. the speedo will die, and the tranny will drop into 1st. all he has to do to get it going again is tap on the dash above the cluster a few times and the speedo will pick back up and the tranny will work fine again...untill the next left turn/bump

we've taken it into shops already, and have been given excuses ranging from the speed sensor to the ABS sensor. had the ABS Sensor replaced last week, still hasn't fixed the problem, speed sensor is working fine according to the shops he's taken it too. i think its probobly some kind of loose connection in the dash cluster, but i dont have a clue how to get in there or what to look for once i do. (i drive a 06 Colorado, dont know much about Rangers)

anyone have an idea what the problem could be, or what we need to do to fix it?

 

[Bent Bolt]

Take it to a competent shop and say what you just told us. They should be able to fix it if they have ANY idea on how a modern Ford works.

 

[superbeast]

he's gone to 2 different ones now:lol: both tried to screw him over....theres ALOT of shady shops in this area:shrug: on the one hand, there's an auto repair place almost every other mile down the road, on the other hand, maybe 1 in 10 is decent, and being the holiday season, he doesn't have any more money to spend on repairs at the moment

 

[locovaca]

It is most likely your VSS going out. Just because it works when bench testing doesn't mean it's good. My Taurus had one go out; bench testing showed the right values and it worked at times, but it was clear when it stopped working during driving (Tranny would shift into neutral, down to second, shifts were very bad in general). You should check for codes, even if your light is out, as the Taurus had pending VSS codes that didn't light up the CEL.

However, according to the Tech Library, there is no VSS, it's the same as the ABS Speed Sensor... http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/speedometer.htm

 

[superbeast]

yep. he had the ABS sensor replaced a few days ago. the tech's claimed that oil had gotten into it

 

[superbeast]

bump, anyone know anything about the dash wiring?