Last night i washed my engine and after washing it i took it for a drive. I noticed that the OD OFF light came on, if i hit the button to turn the light off it would stay off for a few sec and then would turn itself on again. If i held the button in the light would stay off. I drove a few mins and noticed that the more i drove it the less it would come on. Today i cranked it and let it idle for a while and then drove it down the street, not very far but it was normal and the light never did come on. Im thinking something got wet yesterday while washing and caused the light to come on. Has anybody had this issue? If so, where would this harness or connection be so i can make sure the connection is tight and possibly but some dielectric grease on it.

Thanks

 

Well whatever it was its fixed now. Went for a about a 20 minute drive in storming *** weather we been getting in South Louisiana and the light never came on.

Wayne

 

Drivers side of transmission just in front of the Shift linkage, and just above pan gasket, should be a multi-wire connector.
Those are the solenoid control wires that run to the computer, should be 16 wires.

 

Awesome, thanks. Does it attach to a computer or something under the hood that I could also double check?

Wayne

 

I think in 2001 the computer connector is on the engine side of firewall at the top almost center, big 106 pin/wire connector.

And I think these did have a water issue with water leaking down worn out hood gasket, Ford added a cover to them.


And just as an unrelated heads up, under your drivers seat is the C340 connector that passes wires from inside the cab to underside of truck.
These would also get water inside and cause odd ball codes and problems.
Not a bad idea to service this connector before there is a problem.

read TSB here: Technical Service Bulletin 2000-2001 Ranger electrical connector - Ford Ranger Forum

But has nothing to do with OD light, that does not pass thru this connector

 

Thanks I appreciate the info, would you see a issue with me unplugging the plugs going to the computer and applying dielectric grease to protect them?

Wayne

 

Unhook the battery first.

Doing the same for C340 connector would be good as well.

Light coating for either, more is not better with dielectric grease, lol.

 

Will do, thanks again!

On the drive to work today everything was just fine but i plan to apply dielectric grease to both the computer and C340.

Wayne

 

Oh and just as another heads up, when you unhook the battery you lose radio presets and current clock time, which most people are used to, and you also lose computer "learned" settings, so idle may wander a bit and other oddball stuff you may notice, but it will relearn these settings in 2 or 3 drive cycles usually
1 drive cycle is full warm up and then full cool down

 

Thanks, the adaptive learning I'm aware of.

Thanks again for your help!

Wayne

 

The connector you're looking for should be mounted somewhere on the engine near the upper intake. On my 3.0 it's on the driver's side, mounted to the intake. It's been awhile since I've touched a 2.5/2.3, but it should be in the same area. The wires for the transmission controls pass through that connector. It should have a bolt going through it. You have to loosen the bolt to get the connector apart. The connector is pretty big so you shouldn't be able to miss it. Since you washed the engine, that would probably be the suspect connector since it's right on the engine.