QuestionI have a for explorer 1996 4x4. I few weeks ago the speedometer starter to miss-failure erratically at certain speeds, I assumed it was just an electrical failure on the dashboard, but after a while I noticed that it was more that that when the automatic gear change started to be erratic.
If I speedup from 0 mph, the the speedometer goes up smoothly, but when I stop accelerating between 40 and 60 mph the speedometer goes down immediately for for fraction of seconds and then goes up again, this behavior remains on rest the journey
Changing gear fails when the speedometer act like this, in highway, after a while the O/D light start blinking. I wonder if this is a mechanical failure and it is sending the wrong data to the automatic transmission and the speedometer as well. Could be a speed sensor (electrical) or a gear failure (mechanical) the feeds the speed information? What should I check?
Answerhey there, this soundls like the VSS is failing. (veheicle speed sensor) this is located in the transmssion. there is a plastic gear on it that sometimes strips, have this sensor pulled out and inspected, it caould also be a fault with the sensor itsself, this sensor tells the transmission how fast the vehicle is traveling in accordance to how much the throttle pedal is depressed, this is how the transmsion determins what gear to be in. This may be why you are feeling erratic shifts. Have this checked and let me know what happens. good luck
Chris P
