Hey guys,

Had an issue with my truck today. 2006 Ranger, FX4, automatic, 112xxx kms.

I was pulling a (small) trailer today, no issues until I parked and came back 2-3 hours later. Engine light on and O/D off flashing immediately after start-up. Trans slipping and truck vibrating/bucking when trying to move, won't rev. Limped it home, after having to use 4low to get across the city, the managed to get up to speed on the highway.

I checked the codes and got 20 DTCs, recorded them, cleared them and 16 came back immediately. Checked all fuses, all good.

The codes are all transmission and oxygen sensor related. Mostly shift solenoids and pressure sensors. Something is fishy here, must be electrical, not all of that would go wrong at once.

The codes were:
P0446 - EVAP System Vent Control Circuit
P0740 - Torque Converter Clutch Solenoid Circuit
P0743 - Torque Converter Clutch Circuit
P0750 - Shift Solenoid 1 Circuit Malfunction
P0755 - Shift Solenoid 2 Circuit Malfunction
P0760 - Shift Solenoid 3 Circuit
P0765 - Shift Solenoid 4 Circuit
P0962 - Pressure Control Solenoid A Control Circuit Low
P0765 - Shift Solenoid 'D' Malfunction
P0962 - Pressure Control Solenoid A Control Circuit Low
P0748 - Pressure Control Solenoid 'A' Electrical
P0753 - Shift Solenoid 'A' Electrical
P0758 - Shift Solenoid 'B' Electrical
P0763- Shift Solenoid 'C' Electrical
P0768 - Shift Solenoid 'D' Electrical
P0135 - O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction Bank 1
P0141 - O2 Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor 2
P0155 - O2 Heater Circuit Bank 2 Sensor 1
P0161 - O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 2 Sensor 2
P2195 - Lack of HO2S-11 Switch Sensor Indicates Lean
P2197 - O2 Sensor Signal Biased/Stuck Lean Bank 2 Sensor 1
P0403 - Exhaust Gas Recirculation Circuit Malfunction

Any ideas?

 

im guessing you knocked a connection loose somewhere its highly unlikely all of that failed at the same time. Check all connections the auto harness and the o2 sensor harnesses all feed to one plug at the block id check there first and work your way down checking them all. Also check for burnt or scorched sections of the harness if you were towing it can cause the trans to heat up slightly more than normal especially after you park it because the fluid is no longer circulating through the cooler so its normal for the temp to spike before it cools. Also what engine do you have? 33's are big tires so if your running say 3.73 gears and towing with those big tires and you have say the 3.0 it may be more than it can handle even with 4.10's that would be a tall order for the 3.0. Even the 4.0 may have a little trouble with it. Also a high enough spike in the temp can cause it to go into limp mode after checking all the connections id pull the battery for 30 mins or so and let the PCM reset itself and see what happens thats the only way to clear it out of limp mode without the ford scan tool.

 

It is a 4.0 w/ 4.10s, pretty sure all FX4s were. I've towed heavier on hotter days for much longer, the day in question was probably 75-80*F (not saying it wasn't the heat/towing, just saying is all). This was an essentially empty 6x12 utility trailer, only a kayak and a canoe on it.

I disconnected the battery this morning before work and reconnected it after work. Engine light on and O/D light flashing immediately after start up. All 20 of the same DTCs are back.

Trans fluid does not look/smell burnt.

Checked/traced as much of those harnesses as I could and found nothing obvious wrong. Checked all fuses again just to be sure. Don't know where to trace for the evap vent.

Idled the truck from cold all the way up to operating temperature. No change.

Not really sure what else to do, beyond take it to a shop and let them look at it.

 

So I haven't yet determined what the actual cause is (was) but the truck seems to be fully drivable, and the dash lights are off.

What set me on the right track was referencing the owner manual for what circuit was giving grief. It was fuse 41 in the engine compartment fuse panel.

The short version is I had a fuse tap installed in this location to trigger a relay for an accessory, and neither of the fuses were blown, but for some reason it decided to give me grief. The trigger for the relay should be only drawing milliamps, and was separately fused. It was convenient, as it is one of the few ignition switched fuses in that panel. The funny thing is that it had been in place for nearly 2 years without incident!

Remove the fuse tap, and install the single 15 amp fuse, remove the ground cable and reconnect. All is well, other than what actually caused it. I have a suspicion that the contacts in the relay stuck, but wouldn't kick the fuse. I will check it out later in the week.

I'm just happy I (seem to have) got it figured out, and don't need to rebuild the transmission!

 

Yeah i had a fuse tap on my sub trigger wire off the radio circuit it drew very little just the on off signal it was fine for a while then the radio randomly started not working. Ive started staying away from the fuse taps. But sounds like that tap probably triggered one or two of the codes then the rest just piggybacked off of it. Glad you got it isolated though.