So.. i have an 08 ranger 4.0 4wd xlt.. and recently my speedo has been acting up. At first it would not respond sometimes when i started it up and would either stay at 0mph or would be way below actual speed until i turned it off and restarted it. Well it completely stopped showing any mph at all now. And the 1-2 shifts and 3-4 are not going into gear as quick as they should be.. so, i ran a cluster gauge test and the speedo passes and went from 0 to full send and shows its not the cluster. Ran some diags and its showing both wheel speed sensors to work fine, the rear diff sensor to work fine, not throwing any codes but shows the vss as reading 0 but no sensor faults.. the odometer is actually on but not accruing any milage (which seems like something glitched up because thats what ford tried to fix with the oss) which the oss shows working fine with the actual and obd readings within a few rpm.. tss/iss shows little less than output so is fine.. but yet vss obd2, vss gem all read 0.. the vss fm shows no fault.. ive taken out both sensors on the transmission and tested both with a drill and magnet and both read 1 volt ac when i tested.. connections and wiring look fine.. what am i missing here?? Is it a communication issue on the ecu? Bad wiring? The plate inside the transmission went bad or something? Also i dont see any speed sensors on the rear diff but have 2 on the transmission. Would the one in the back be the oss and front be iss? If so where is the vss? Lol i would think there would be something else for the speedo all together but that wouldnt effect shifting i wouldnt think because the only sensor i see that i havent found yet or know if i even have one is a sensor with a gear on the end of a cable that should mount on the bottom of thr tranny.. any ideas?? As far as the truck goes ive put a superchips tune on it a long while ago and have tuned it with forscan..

oh also another big wtf is your not supposed to be able to replace the cluster without ford doing their thing and reprogramming it and all.. well i did, a while ago and it all worked great. I was trying to change out the needles and broke one so i got another cluster off ebay that looked the same for 20$ and put it in and the odometer updated and everything worked. Only difference is that the cruise control light was not in the same place so the light doesnt come on when its activated, it still works but no light for it.. and when i run the cluster test all lights light up, including thr cruise crtrl light in its different location and everything has continued to work fine except the speedo starting with the odd function then totally stopping working. But never thrown any codes from that or anything else besides a passenger airbag circuit short where i changed the light to a led and dont have the right resistor in it to account for the power drain of the led conpared to a bulb but thats beside the issue.. any ideas? Any comments? Im at a loss.. every sensor looks fine, no lights, shifting is only a little different but enough to notice its not wanting to shift up but down is fine, good idle below 1k, all systems go but the speeedo... help please.. i’ll give ya the left twix.. or right if not conservative... :)

 

Welcome to the forum

Hard to read your post, try breaking it up

What I got is speedometer is acting up
There is an OSS(output shaft sensor) on the transmission, this runs to the PCM(computer), this was done on 2001 and up Rangers
(only 1998-2000 Ranger used Rear axle VSS for speed conversion)
The PCM does the speed conversion and sends out the 8,000ppm speed signal to speedo and cruise control

Yes, I have read that people have swapped 2004 and up clusters and got the engine to start, not always the case
Odometer usually has issues since it doesn't match PCMs odometer

 

Ok so after looking and diving into it all, ive tested all speed sensors i could locate, both of the front wheel speed sensors, the input shaft and output shaft sensors, the rear diff speed sensor and all tested fine and are all read by the pcm. Theres one pid that says theres a vss and its not reading at all.. im thinking its inside the tranny.. either that or theres an issue like you said with the cluster.. i read somewhere that if the cruise control doesnt work as well than there is an issue with the cluster or something is why i say that.. but only issues im having is the speedometer isn’t working at all, and when i get on the gas it doesnt want to shift up unless i let off and let it shift.. down shifts fine and shifts up fine if slowly give it gas.. ive included a pic of the pids ive tested.. notice all except everything with vss is reading something.. Typed vcc but mean vss...

anywho there are absolutely no dtc’s, no abs light, no check engine light.. its a 2008 ford ranger 4.0 sohc 4x4 5r55e..

i will add though throughout the past few years the speedometer very randomly would not work right on some startups, it would read real low but would fix itself when the truck was turned off and back on again.. this would happen maybe once a month if that.. but now its completely out.. the odometer has always worked fine but now its stuck and not updating.. its a digital odometer..

i just read about the cruise control maybe being apart of this issue but have not tested the cruise control status yet with the speedometer not working.. i will add regarding cruise control, when i changed out the cluster the cruise control light is in a different place than it was with the original cluster., the cruise control worked with both clusters but with the new one the dash light would not light up indicating it was on, even though it worked.. other than that light Not coming on with my cruise control when i run cluster tests That light as well as all other lights and gauges have always and do still work and everything passes the tests..

so to sum up my questions is
1) is there a speed sensor inside the transmission? Would this be the issue?
2) is it a cluster issue with it communicating? If so what to do to fix it, new cluster but get a dealer to program it first?
3) fuse blown? Cruise control issue? Wiring issue to another sensor ive alredy tested even though the computer see’s and reads all 5 ive checked..
4) if there is a sensor inside the tranny, is there any tests i can do before dropping it like ohming the other sensor wiring or sensors, other fuses, resetting something somehow, a way to test the internal sensor without dropping the tranny like its wiring, cluster tests, anyting..?

if anymore info is needed im happy to get what i can.. appreciate the humble welcoming and words there sir.. also any other help is appreciated.. i know i was all over the place with the first comment but tempers get high after spending hours testing everything then finding nothing online regarding your issue ya know.. ¯\_( ツ )_/¯

The 2 errors are the vcc mph obd2 and pcm..

 

Yes, there is a separate Speed Sensor on 2001-2011 Rangers, its on the transmission at the rear, its called the OSS(output shaft speed) sensor and its connected directly to the Computer

And your computer is showing OSS sensors PPM(pulse per mile) signal, so thats working

The computer then Converts the OSS PPM to 8,000ppm which is what the speedo/odo and cruise expect

But in the 2004-2011 Rangers the HEC Cluster doesn't get a speed signal directly, it gets it via the Can Bus wires, data wires, and converts it to Speed and miles

Cruise uses a wire from computer, VSS out, with the 8,000PPM signal
If you have cruise does it work?


Google: Ford HEC test mode

See if its working like it should

 

I forgot all about that, good looking on the advice.. i only think about the engineering mode on the ford sync models.. that and i rely too much on the obd readers and oscilloscope/ probes.. checking that right now..

appreciate the help! I was stumped, annoyed and out of ideas on where to go.. watched a video on the 5r55e teardown and lord oh jesus the amount of bolts you gotta dig into it to replace the vss inside.. not to mention dropping the tranny and putting it back in after going through all that then hoping everything seated ok and still works on a 12 year old tranny with 120k on it...

 

Well all gauges worked, no dtc, no fails or errors from what i could tell.. i didnt try it while driving to see if it was reading speeds and havent tried cruise ctrl yet either.. about to go test on it some more.. was hoping the hec would at least give me some more footing on what its problem is.. hoping at least for a dtc or something... is blowing my mind how the things not reading the vss portion at all but all other sensors are working fine and not throwing any codes.. only issues its having are speedo, odometer, and upshifting when into the throttle not shifting... but heres testing round 8...

 

Looking at the pid tests only odd thing i see on there are the values of the iss/tss rev/min is 300 lower than the iss/src rev/min when the oss values are pretty close.. dunno if thats odd or normal.. dunno what src is

 

ISS in intermediate shaft, TSS in input shaft, turbine shaft

OSS is output shaft and thats what is used in place of a VSS, there is no VSS on a 2001 and up Ranger, speed calculation is done inside computer and sent out to speedometer and cruise
Analog speedo signal in 2001-2003, then digital speedo signal 2004-2011

 

Well i ran a few tests and checked some stuffs..


the cruise control does not work..

i ran some module self tests and all tested out fine or the sameexcept the RCM module was unreachable.. it was completely not communicating with anything. I wasent able to even reset the module until after i reset the 4x4, ic, gem and pcm modules then some reason it was able to be reset but even after the resets it still was not communicating with anything.. but the only codes it threw were for that module. The airbag circuit has had issues for ever so dont think that would be my issue effecting the vss... im stumped again..maÿbe wiring ?? Maybe needs all learned data wiped and a fresh start... dunno...

 

If cruise is also not working the the problem is INSIDE the PCM

The PCM gets the OSS signal and then converts it to a speed signal and sends it out to Cruise via 1 wire on PCM connector, purple/orange stripe wire
And also sends it out to HEC via Data Link Can Bus, so two separate wiring paths

This would make it unlikely to be a wiring issue

And if transmission seems to drive and shift OK, then OSS signal is working fine
It is the conversion software in the PCM that's not working, it is programmable as far as I know, as speed conversion varies by tire diameter and rear axle ratios, so Ford may be able to reload that part
Not sure if that would get it working though

 

The tranny seems to do fine unless i get on the gas at all more than like 25%, it will not shift up unless i let off the gas for a few seconds.. through all up shifts.. but shifts down fine.. it just started doing that when the speedo stopped working. Also, might be unrelated issue but when cold and i shift it into drive it will sound like its trying to die even when i gas it.. kinda like if the tps or maf were dirty... which could be the issue there but is just what its doing...

you said tire size and it jogged my memory.. ive had a superchips tune on the pcm for a long time and on that tune I adjusted it to know my actual tire size whicj is 31”.. said in the superchips it was for adjusting the speedo to work right for the tire size.. im betting that may have bugged out when the battery got low or something.. only logical reason i could think.. would they just flash the ecu and be done with it you think.. my bet is if a dealership did anything to it theyd flash it then when it didnt work theyd say it needs an ecu .. lol.. appreciate the help though...

about the hec mode. Would it read error if any issues or would it have specific codes for things but not say error?? But even on hec mode it would not detect the speed... rpm works fine...

 

Not sure whats involved with "superchips" but the tire size conversion is what the PCM uses to convert OSS signal to VSS signal, so you may be onto something there

And also not well versed in HOW the PCM uses the OSS signal for shifting, and it may not, since 1987/88 the PCM in automatic vehicles used the VSS signal for shifting......
In 1998 - 2000 GEM converted ABS sensor to VSS signal and sent it to PCM, Cruise and speedo

So maybe Ford never changed that in 2001 and up, and just kept it as is and used the converted OSS signal(VSS signal) for shifting, would be cheaper, lol, than rewriting the shifting software for OSS signal

 

Yea if i were a betting man i would put my money on ford not going the extra mile and updating the things that “didnt need fixing”. Lol

but believe it or not on the later model 5r55e trannies they put a speed sensor inside the transmission... to remove it you have to physically drop the transmission, take off shift solenoids, remove valve cover, remove pressure plates and up inside, there it is, looks just like all the other speed sensors with the hall effect magnetic deal.. so officially on my 2008 Ranger xlt 4x4 has 6 total speed sensors... 6.... lh abs wheel speed, rh abs wheel speed, rear diff abs wheel speed, input shaft speed, output shaft speed, and turbine shaft speed... the input and output are on the outside of the transmission housing, the turbine (i assume thats what its called....) is inside the tranny.. or it could be referred to as the vss... and that sensor is the only one i havent tested because its inside the tranny.. but just leads me to think that the speedo is getting its signal adjusted by the pcm but the pcm is getting its info from that vss inside the tranny.. and all the pid data im getting makes it seem like that sensor is not working with the 0 values.. but it also does make sense about what youre saying and is an issue on the communication on the pcm side and not a wiring or sensor issue..
i emailed superchips asking about if theyve received and feedback regarding the issue im having and i think a robot replied back and just said “were sorry youre having issues with a superchips product, heres a 25% off coupon towards a superchips purchase.” Lol
But i got a few more things i can try and test before either dropping the tranny to get to that sensor or paying ford to program a new ecu or reflash mine.. will update on what i figure out if interested. I really do appreciate the help with all the good info and consistent replies.. You are a good man..

 

So i tried reflashing the stock build on the pcm but didnt effect anything... so on my last stitch attempt i took out the ecu itself just hoping i could see something obvious that let the smoke out or a loose solder joint or wire and literally as soon as i cracked the case.. (had to remove plastic welds and do a little dremel action.. right on the right side of the board from the plug side was a blown smd capacitor... was black with some schmoo that im guessing got in there somehow and shorted it out i guess, or the thing took a crap on itself when it died... but it was the same size as some others around it so i just hoped it would be the same value.. so i found another one exactly the same on another circuit board from the old torn up cluster i didnt know i still had. Hooray for hoarding right..? Lol But i cleaned the traces that were charred and cleaned the area real good and put the new (ish) part in its new home, plugged everyrhing back up and whatever that capacitor did, it fixed the issue.. im guessing it was a smoothing cap that leveled out the sine wave before getting interpreted by the microchip. Or a coupling capacitor one.. either way it works now... thumbsup..

 

Good work

Thanks for the update and the fix