My beloved '95 Ford Explorer (134,000 miles) has tuned on its ‘Overdrive Off’ indicator light on the instrument panel. The light is blinking (rather than staying on, if that makes any difference). I cannot turn the light off by using the OD on/off switch located on the gear shift. All I know about this is that it may mean something to do with the transmission. The car is running well as usual.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas about what may be troubling my car?
This generally indicates some problem with the transmission. You’ll need to have your mechanic check the diagnostic code(s) to determine the exact nature of the problem. It could be something as simple as low transmission fluid or it could be the solenoids or it could be something else entirely.
DOH!- tomorrow I’ll check the transmission fluid level (which I vaguely recall needs to be done with the engine running).
Thanks QED.
When this happened on the 2003 Ford Escape, we had to replace the entire transmission. Sucky. Your problem sounds different, though, since pretty much within a day of the O/D light blinking, the car started sounding weird, and then eventually stopped working. Good luck!
It’s the transmission’s equivalent of the “check engine” light for the engine’s electronic control system. As Q.E.D. indicated, the next step is to read the transmission controller’s trouble code memory. It could be minor, it could be serious.
Well, here’s what I did…
The repair shop wouldn’t ‘run the codes’ without changing the transmission fluid first ($176.00 total for both), stating that the codes would just tell them to change the fluid. He was vague about the quality of the fluid, wouldn’t commit to saying if it was dirty or not, and said ‘maybe’ it smelled a little burned, but it wouldn’t hurt to change it in any case. I wasn’t confident about him.
So, I took it to Juffy Lube and had the fluid changed for 99.00 then disconnected the battery for a while. When the battery was reconnected, the indicator light had turned itself off.
I figure that if there is really a problem with the transmission, the light will turn itself back on soon and I’ll take it to a transmission shop my friend recommended. I’ve driven it for about a day and so far there has been no problem.
(Note: the car never ran badly, slipped, etc. It was just the light being on that worried me.)
[Pissed off Nitpick -and question]
What idiot decided that the abbreviation for overdrive should include a backslash?
This past week I rented a car with an automatic transmission and, unbeknownst to me, an overdrive on-off switch on the shifter. I hit the switch without knowing, the light came on, and I drove 150 miles of interstate speculating just what O/D could mean. Finally found the little button that turned it off, or back on depending on how you look at it, but could they have made that message any more obscure?
[/Pissed off Nitpick -and question]
That strikes me as complete and utter nonsense. Sounds like a good shop to avoid.
Wow, never go back there again. For what it’s worth, you can purchase a nice and very easy to use code reader from your handy Wal-Mart auto parts section for around eighty bucks.
That garage was only trying to grab your money by charging you to do that.
Here’s my guess, since I’ve seen 2 Explorers do it so far. Its an internal flow selanoid (I don’t remember the exact name). Once you bring the puppy to highway speeds, it will pop back on. Not an easy fix, and an expensive one. Probably around one thousand. And that brand new tranny fluid? Gone. A true waste of money for you to do that. I really really would never go back to that place.
Wow, it took me nearly a half hour to type that. Silly work keeps on getting in my way. I always defer to GaryT in automotive threads, it’s good to see that he thinks the same. Trust his word in these matters, I’ve found him to be a real assett to these boards.
You know, a lot of shops will REFUSE to change your ATF if you have that many miles on the ATF without a previous change, reasoning that cleaning gunk out of the tranny may cause a failure for which they will be blamed.
Had the vehicle ever had a change before?
As far as smelling burnt, I’ll advise you that not only did the spent Mercon V in my car smell burnt at last change, but the BRAND NEW Pennzoil brand Mercon V smelled burnt. I suspect you have Mercon/Dexron III in your tranny, but it’s something to consider.
mr. slant Mr. Slant- I had the TF changed about 4 oil changes ago- about a year and it is Mercon.
Nurse Carmen and Gary T - thanks for your advice. I didn’t like that repair guy either, and considered the change of fluid (at Jiffy Lube) as a fairly inexpensive gamble. So far the car is running well- hope it stays that way!!