Why? Why me?

[SaKaNa]

Me + a Cherokee are out mudding. Of course I have the upper hand with my pathy and its sexy LSD. So we have some fun, we're going home. My transmission never leaves 1st. I call my mechanic, he says he'll stay late to wait for me to make the trek back to him (10 miles, in first gear). I take ages to get there, hes sitting outside with his computer. I get in passenger, he plugs in.

 

No tranny errors. He resets all the computers he can, clearing my check engine light that I thought was my speed sensor.

 

Takes it for a drive. Transmission shifts fine, speedometer is still shot, but his computer gets a reading of my speed and RPM without a problem. He is actually completely clueless as to what the $#&% is wrong, and is researching it over the weekend, then I'm going back up on Tuesday so he can test his skills.

 

 

Any idea what the $#&% is wrong? This is so god damn annoying.

[88pathoffroad]

Sometimes if you overrev it (meaning, excessive wheelspin without any real forward motion) it'll go into fail-safe mode and stick in 2nd gear. All it takes is shutting 'er off and re-starting to get it out of that mode.

[SaKaNa]

Haha, I put it into park a few times and that didnt do it, I was afraid that if I shut it off it wouldnt go into gear at ALL. And I couldnt do 2nd, I was stuck in 1st... I may not have a speedo, but its really obvious when you're in 1....

 

 

Well now that thats figured out, whats going on with my &^%*@$# speedometer? The speed sensor is fine, the actual dial never moves up, and my check engine light is on.

[NismoSkyZ]

Did you check the meter fuse?

[nissandoms47]

what is the exact check engine light code exactly? does your O/D off light blink when you start it up? if it does count how many blinks and i can help you with that.

[denisb]

I'm with 88 on this one. Mine's done that when I was horsing around on the ice a couple of times. Turn the rig off then turn it back on, no harm done. I've also heard it called limp mode.

 

I had the same reaction when it first happened to me. I thought I'd broke something in the tranny.

 

Denis

[SaKaNa]

OK, I've officially figured out the 1st gear thing, because I tried re-creating the situation today. When my rear wheels lock (emergency brake), it goes into that mode, restarting fixes it.

 

Now, to the speedometer:

 

When I start, the check engine light comes on and doesnt go off. Every once in a while, the O/D OFF light will flash like 25 times or something, its a TON of really fast flashes, but it doesnt happen every time.

 

Sometimes, when doing some maniac driving ona highway, the speedometer will jump up and down a bit, as if its starting to work agian, then stops. I have no idea WTF is going on.

[mikemike]

spedometer working when going over bumps and stuff?? wiring?? or maybe theres just a short

[88pathoffroad]

Sakana: your transmission control unit is flashing an error code, most likely the revolution sensor on the transmission. That's what runs your speedo.

[SaKaNa]

Sakana: your transmission control unit is flashing an error code, most likely the revolution sensor on the transmission. That's what runs your speedo.

The tachometer works, and when theres a computer connected, the speed and rpm are both read from the transmisison fine, its somewhere after that.

[zonianbrat]

Sounds like my problem sakana. I think it is the VSS sensor from what I have found by doing a search around here. Every once in a while when I start my truck the O/D off light will flash alot ( I am never paying enough attention to count them since it does not do it all the time.) Then sometimes my speedo does not work for a while then will suddenly "come on" and catch up to whatever speed I am going.I have read that this sensor is kinda pricey. So I am hoping to find one at a junk-yard one day in the future.