Driving home from work today and almost home when the ABS light came on. Speedometer stopped working and transmission started shifting crazy. Any advice what to check/replace? Thanks Chris

 

 

You can look for the obvious first by starting at the speed sensors at the wheels/transmission and tracing back the wires, looking for damage/corrosion. The sensors themselves are rather simple and usually fail due to material degradation. As mentioned above, an OBDII scanner quickens the process usually.

 

Welcome to the forum

In a 1998 to 2000 Ranger with your symptoms, ABS light, no speedo, automatic shifting issue, I would replace the rear axle VSS sensor just on speculation and make sure its 2 wires and connector look OK
The 3rd party sensor costs $9 to $15
Ford part costs more but not really needed in this application, no real benefit

Google: How to Replace Rear ABS Sensor 90-07 Ford Ranger

There is a 3min video How to

Easy to do, need a 10mm socket wrench and a flat blade screw driver, for prying

Only in the 1998-2000 Rangers is this sensor used for ABS AND speedometer, and computer uses "speed" to shift automatics
Earlier and Later years use transmission sensor for speed

 

The speed sensor is in the rear diff? Or is that the ABS sensor? My Haynes manual calls the diff sensor ABS/Speed sensor.

 

Its is the ABS sensor that is in the rear axle, but in 1998-2000 Rangers Ford tapped those 2 wires to also use it as the speed sensor

The 2 wires still run directly to the ABS module
But each wire is tapped/spliced and also runs to GEM Module where the ABS speed signal is converted to 8,000ppm speed signal the speedometer, cruise, and computer can use

So with no speedometer AND ABS light on, in a 1998-2000 Ranger, the common denominator is the VSS/ABS sensor on rear axle, or its wiring to the front of the vehicle
This sensors failure is not an uncommon issue, a wiring issue would be very uncommon

 

I replaced the rear diff speed/abs sensor and the issue appears to be corrected. Thanks for the help

 

Good work

Thanks for the update, and THE FIX, it will help someone else down the road