Traction control light, wrench icon, nasty upshift

[JExpedition07]

Driving earlier and my truck had a nasty upshift (felt like transmission slammed). Right before this the traction control light randomly started blinking even though roads are dry and clear. Then a wrench icon came up and the truck would not shift out of 3rd gear no matter what I did. After a few miles I pulled over and shut it off and all is back to normal. Sound like a wheel speed sensor maybe? Pretty scary thought I lost the transmission.

 

[07navi]

Driving earlier and my truck had a nasty upshift (felt like transmission slammed). Right before this the traction control light randomly started blinking even though roads are dry and clear. Then a wrench icon came up and the truck would not shift out of 3rd gear no matter what I did. After a few miles I pulled over and shut it off and all is back to normal. Sound like a wheel speed sensor maybe? Pretty scary thought I lost the transmission.

Check with your OBDII scanner first.

 

[JExpedition07]

Scanner came up with nothing

 

[07navi]

Scanner came up with nothing

Do you have those 2 big red shop manuals for that year? ...............ebay

It went into limp mode, 3rd gear is the only one it uses. When you stopped and started limp mode reset itself. Hopefully it was just a glitch of some sort.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

If you have a cheaper scanner it won't show anything.

And you're going to want to check transmission codes, too

 

[JExpedition07]

Ah limp home mode only uses 3rd good to know. Every time my dads 08 E-350 van lost TC sensors it would alarm and not shift out of 2nd. Maybe similar situation. On my last Expedition I had some funky transmission shifts due to a bad wheel bearing, but that time eventually the ABS and TC lights illuminated. So far I’ve only gotten the blinking TC light out of nowhere then the green wrench icon that reset with a power down.

 

[John Kohler]

When I had an intermittent wrench light the scanner would only show the code while the light was on. It appears the codes from the wrench light are not stored. It took me a month to finally catch the light on and scan the code - pedal position sensor.

 

[07navi]

delete

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

I occasionally get the blinking light myself. Last time it came on I had a scanner handy so I pulled over and plugged it in and took off again and managed to get misfires on cylinders 1 and 8.

Figured it's probably needing some coil packs...ughh. Just did replace them on my exploder.

 

[JExpedition07]

So I have a ton of computer related codes.... Blue Driver pulled a lot.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

The P1500 is a good place to start

The UO101 is a "standard" code/indicator that there is a fault somewhere and it puts the trans in "limp" mode. It will still drive, just usually stays in 3rd. This happens to the 4th gen Explorers with the 4.6 when the coils go bad....the RF leakage causes the TCM to act erroneously...some folks have replaced the trans thinking it was bad only for the same thing to happen to the brand new/rebuilt unit.

Notice that it resets the UO101 when you cycle the key off and back on..?

The UO155 might also be something to look into....I've no experience with it, so can't advise. Keep us informed...knowledge is a wonderful thing to share

 

[JExpedition07]

Got the traction control light and wrench again today. Pulled over, restarted the truck and it went away. First time it’s happened again.

 

[Thunderbirdsport]

Same codes?

 

[riphip]

Maybe (maybe not) this will help from my Service DVD: Maybe a connector got loosened

 

[JExpedition07]

riphip I’m definitely thinking it’s something amiss in a connector etc. I’m not too concerned as of yet since it’s a rare occurrence and rectified with a shutdown. It’s also possible the VSS sensor is getting tired and all it takes is a moment of doubt to trigger limp mode. I’ll check it out a bit closer when the weather breaks assuming it stays at bay

 

[JExpedition07]

Today I can barely keep it out of limp mode, I’ve restarted it about 5 times lol. Now the green wrench icon and slipping car symbol are flashing constantly. Finally pooped a CEL so maybe I’ll have new codes.

 

[JExpedition07]

Just to update everyone on this the problem was a weak battery. One morning the truck didn’t start....replaced battery. Hasn’t happened in months.

 

[07navi]

These truck do like to have a full 12v all the time.