overdrive light nightmare

[txmike]

I'm a new guy with a frustrating problem. Glad I found this forum.

Here's the deal..98 Ranger 4-cyl auto, 119K miles, good maintenance.

A few weeks ago, while driving, the 'overdrive off' light came on and stayed on. When the truck was turned off and restarted the light was off and eventually came back on.

Long story short, I'm reasonably competent mechanically and was not in a position to drop a ton of money at a trans shop, so with help of a mechanic friend, we decided to try to fix it. pulled trans and opened up, and it was obviously worn out. up to this point it had worked perfectly.

here's what was done so far:

new converter
new o/d actuator (?)
rebuild kit (clutches etc)
rebuilt valve body.

got it back together and works great. drove about 75 miles on highway and light came on again, but almost positive it did not drop out of overdrive. the light does not flash, it stays on until truck is turned off.

at this point checked fluid level and showed about a pint over full. removed some fluid and again drove it on a 160 mile loop. Seems to shift perfectly, but on this trip the light came on while in traffic, again after driving 50+ miles. on the 80-mile return trip light did not come on at all.

could this be an overheating problem? pretty much everything is new, now thinking since the trans was worn out that some crud may have gotten into the trans cooler. ordered new radiator and will install Monday.

anybody got any other ideas?

thanks

mike

 

[3 of 7]

Prolly a good idea at this point to see what code it's throwing... Might just be a sensor out of range.

 

[txmike]

don't think i have the means to read the codes. i have an OBD II code reader but that won't show anything.

would i need to hook something up and drive til the light comes on? what sort of test device would i need?

 

[3 of 7]

I was to the understanding that if the OD light comes on it's throwing a code.. Not sure why it's not showing up sorry.

 

[rboyer]

When the light comes on can you turn it off by pushing on the button? For all you know it could be a loose button causing it to make contact at random times so test the obvious first.

 

[Bent Bolt]

When the light comes on can you turn it off by pushing on the button? For all you know it could be a loose button causing it to make contact at random times so test the obvious first.

Good call. !! Beat me to it !!

O/D lamp FLASHING means code stored and something wrong. If his lamp is ON but not flashing, could very well mean that the wires going to the shift lever have shorted together.

txmike, you need to get the code read. A code reader won't cut it. Has to be a scanner. Should have had it read before you overhauled the trans.