Saturday night as I was driving home, my truck made a sudden jerky movement. It did this at a stoplight as I was beginning to accelerate, but the rest of the drive home was normal. The next morning as I reversed out of my driveway the truck began to buck. I shifted to D normally, but it didn't move very well at all. Although there wasn't a check engine light on, I took it to Advanced Auto to try and scan for an engine code. The scan reported no codes as you might've expected, but on my way home the O/D off lamp began to flash. I also had a TRANS FAULT warning display instead of the trip meter. I was planning on taking it back to Advanced Auto again today to re-scan for engine codes, but I can't move in reverse. I'm also hearing an odd whine sound when in P & N. When shifting to R, D, 1 or 2 the sound goes away.

Please note that I had a 10" powered subwoofer(Kicker Hideaway) professionally installed on Thursday by Best Buy. Too close to be mere coincidence! I believe the vibrations of the bass or some sort of electrical short or bad grounding has caused this. Please advise me!

 

Perhaps you listen to your music too loud... I would crawl around under the truck to make sure all of connections are good for the trans. Then disconnect the negative terminal to reset the cpu. Check trans fluid to see if it's burnt . Easy things to try before getting towed. Good luck, not a good way to start the new year.

 

I had the volume up about 60% max. The fluid level looks okay. I'm not sure about the color or smell. I'm wondering if there's a way to test the trans sensors. It's too cold outside for me to work on it right now.

edit: I found the sensor resistance readings, so I'll test the sensors. Any tips? I also compared the trans fluid with some new fluid. Yea, I should probably change it.

 

I changed the trans fluid and filter this weekend, but it didn't make a difference. I still can't move in reverse and I'm still getting an odd whine in Park and Neutral. I also found that testing the trans sensors will be more difficult than I originally thought. I'll need special equipment not just a multimeter. booooo

 

if the fluid was really dark and not pink like the the new fluid you are probably looking at a rebuild. Smell the old fluid too. dark fluid indicates the trans probably got to hot.

 

The fluid was a light brown color, so it needed to be changed. The truck moves, just not very well. I thought I couldn't reverse, but I can. I just need to give it gas when normally I didn't have to. Before it would automatically start moving when in reverse.

 

Do you have OD? How many miles, Service history? A common problem is a clip breaks ( cannot recall it's purpose) but may be repaired.

 

Took it to a shop this past weekend. They're recommending a rebuild and quoted me $1,400 for parts & labor with 12 month warranty.

 

Getting trans rebuilt, I really hope it wasn't just a broken OD servo clip I could have bought for $3 and replaced by myself!

 

New fluid is a preventive action sort of like a vaccination for people . Change fluid more often ,use a trans cooler to prevent it from getting too hot .A drain type pan helps ,you can only change about 5 quarts at a time . You can add a trans temp gauge ,anything over 200 is not good . Once shes damaged no magic fluid is going to repair it .
If you haul trailers esp on grades service more often and keep your speed down . If shes working hard don't push it ,back off the throttle .
I hope you got a good shop to repair/ upgrade it for you . Stay away from the big chain stores. Only use mc mercon V.
The filter is not that important, ford doesn't even recommend changing it that often .
If you get the feel of your truck you can tell somethings not right unless you have 100 decibels blasting in side . Later in life you will pay for excessive volume in a big way , Mine is damaged by equipment -chainsaws etc ,there is no going back .