brutalmonkey

Hi all,

First post... Woo hoo! A little blurb about me and my skills - I'm an electrical engineer in Denver CO. This is my first attempt at maintaining my own vehicle and I'm learning a lot through forums and friends about how to do some of the things that need to be done on my truck. I'm relatively handy, but have not done any large scale modifications to a car/truck before.

I recently got a hail damaged 2004 Super Crew Lariat 4x4 with 140k miles for a really good price but it has some gremlins in it. This is not my daily driver, but more a backup for when the weather gets bad and when I need to go to get some rocks or mulch or anything else a pickup would be used for.

First issue- the previous owner had an aftermarket intake installed but removed it before I got it. I installed a Spectre intake in it that was fairly straight forward. This appears to be working just fine.

Now... here's some of the weird gremlins and what I've done so far:

- It has some electrical issues. The drivers door console does not unlock the doors (the passenger side works normally), and the console cannot command the drivers' rear window up (rear console works normally). The dome light is always on, and I have temporarily removed the plug that goes to the lights so I don't drain the battery on the light bulbs. Reading on this forum and a couple others the first step I took was to remove the aftermarket Karr 40 40A alarm system that was on there. I have to finish the removal by soldering one of the wires near the ignition to get the relay all the way out of the circuit, but now the fuel gauge is reading Empty and the message center thinks the truck is out of gas. It's full. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a ground somewhere, which may be causing some of my other strange electrical demons. There is a wire on the driver's side sill that looks like it should go to a ground (black and orange, I think) that was clipped. Does anyone have a 2004-2008 that could take a picture of this wiring harness for me to compare? I'll try to get pictures of the wiring harness in the next couple days... Slipped my mind earlier.

- Overdrive doesn't work - Reading thru the forum as a guest the past couple days, I have some ideas. The overdrive doesn't shift into the higher gear, but rather revs like it's in neutral before going back to 3rd gear or whatever it was just in. I haven't done much troubleshooting on this since the truck runs really smoothly without the OD engaged, and runs normally. First step on here may be to do a transmission fluid flush, but this is fairly low priority. I really need to get the electrical stuff figured out first and foremost, and then hit up a junk yard to fix some of the hail damaged parts (cargo light housing, etc).

Any help is greatly appreciated.

brutalmonkey

Update and a bump:

Solved some electrical issues over the past couple days. The black/yellow wire for door ajar ground was severed. With this fixed, the radio now goes off when you turn the truck off and open the driver's side door. The windows are all working correctly again after removing all the switches and cleaning them up (including the wipers/contact pads) with alcohol.

I removed the relay from the Karr 4040A by crimping the wire back to stock. The gas gauge now works correctly.

The door unlock switch still does not work from the driver's side console. The switch is working as it rings out correctly, and rings out the same as the one on the passenger side (which is working). The wiring looks solid between the switch and the chassis, as the grommet wires all look in tact. Any ideas?

Jamieat

The drivers side "console" is notorious for going bad and usually needs to be replaced (roun $70.00 on ebay if I remember correctly).

You may be able to use some contact cleaner, exercise the switches, use a meter to isolate the problem and go from there. However, I'm not sure if individual switches can be replaced on the unit but, considering your an electrical engineer, you may be able to come up with a fix.

As far as the OD goes, I've been through this myself, seen three other trucks with the same issue, and wrote about this same subject on this forum numerous times (I'm sure you can search the forum and find info).

The retaining clip on the overdrive servo is notorious for breaking, pieces fall into the manifold, jam the components, and the tranny defaults into neutral as a fail safe to keep from damaging components.

There is a HUGE chance this is the problem, I'd say (others may disagree) 85-90%.

Drop the pan, drain the fluid, drop the manifold, replace the retaining ring on the OD Servo, replace filter and gasket if needed (I always replace while im into something), replace fluid and your good to go.

It's a simple fix, especially as far as tranny work goes. Plenty of DIY videos on You Tube to guide the way. Took me around 6 hours if I remember, and thats drinking beer, taking breaks, eating dinner, and not rushing.

Cost was about $3.00 for the clip, then get the tranny fluid, Mercon V, 14 quarts (I think the spec is 13.8), filter and gasket.

The 14 quarts is if you flush the torque converter and lines as well as tranny. I'd advise this as if the clip broke and/or there are debris on the magnet or present in the pan/fluid, I'd flush all the old fluid out to remove any potential particulates that may harm the tranny in the future.

Hope this helps. Do a search on the forum and youtube. Search "F150 OverDrive Servo Retaining Ring" or something similar and you'll get all the info one could want. You don't even have to put the year as this issue is so common, the algorithm spits you straight to it!!!

Let me know if I can help, and be optimistic as this is common.

Jamieat

Oh yeah,

I'd reconsider the prioritization of the tasks you listed.

The "debris" or pieces of the Servo Retaining Ring I mentioned is probably the cause of the issue with the OD.

Although it is working fine in all other gears, there is a significant possibility that one of those pieces could become dislodged at any time and find it's way into a more critical location and could potentially cause a catastrophic transmission failure resulting in a rebuild or replacement.

With that said, it may be good for 5 years or fail the next time out. So, I, myself, would put that above a door lock switch. Just my 1cent worth of info and my opinion, but don't assume it is an isolated issue with no other possible concerns.

Just thought I'd mention this as I'd hate to see you let it go and it turn to something worse.

Thanks

Jamieat

Sorry for multiple posts, something just dawned on me about your interior dome light (I forgot you just got the truck and may be unaware). The "dimmer" switch for the instrument cluster, just to the left of the steering wheel, is a round "roller" type switch. If it's "rolled" in the Upward (towards windshield) direction until it (supposed to) clicks, this turns on the interior dome lights as well as the cargo lights. If it's "rolled" in the Downward direction, (towards floorboard) this will dim the instrument cluster and is supposed to "click" when it bottoms out. This turns off all the interior lights, dims the cluster to the maximum amount, and disables the door switch. So when you turn off the truck, open the door, hit the key fob, or any action that typically turns on the interior, cargo, and/or headlights, they will all stay turned off.

So, point being, if you didnt know how the operation of that switch worked (if it didn't when you got the truck then I'd think you would be unfamiliar), then try rolling it down to ensure it's not in the on position or stuck there. Maybe check it's operation to verify functionality.

I'll be back in I have another epiphany.

brutalmonkey

Jamie,

Thanks for all the advice! There's quite a bit of info in there. I watched a couple of those videos, and I think that tranny work might be a bit above my skill level with a high potential for me to mess something up. The OD issue might be something I take it to a shop for... I don't really have a good flat surface I can park on or drain the transmission... Ugh.

As for the electrical stuff, I checked the switch from the passenger side (same pinout and connector) on the driver's side. When I swap the switches, the problem remains. I took the other switches apart and cleaned the contacts quite a bit yesterday. That fixed the window issue... I might take the driver's door apart to figure out the unlock but this might not be the more pressing thing given your advice regarding the transmission!

I'll take a look at that roller switch - good catch! It might be that this was on all the way up.

weadjust

Read this link on overdrive repair

https://www.f150forum.com/f4/transmi...emoval-388104/

Jamieat

I'd have to say, if you can disassemble the door, take the switches apart, clean them, and reassemble, and it works........then you can do this tranny job.

It's really straight forward. Watch some videos, and you should gain all you need to do it.

However, it can be a bit more messy than interior work!!!

My only concern is what a shop may charge you or try and sell you. If you know someone you can trust that'd be different.

There are plenty of knowledgeable guys on this forum who will help you any way they can including myself if you decide to do it on you own.

Keep us posted.