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99-03 OD wire fix

24K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  cadd  
#1 · (Edited)
First let me describe the issue that occurred.

Driving down the road, suddenly dead accelerator, dead gauges, truck still idling.

NoRalPh answered my SOS and pointed to a known issue with the OD wire lead. It rubs inside the column and eventually wore through, in my case @ 130k.

To fix:
Tools needed:
#2 phillips
awl or small (#1) philips.

Supplies needed:
New 10A fuse
elec. tape (in my case the insulation was warn but wires were intact. Your mileage may vary.)

45min - if all goes well

Disconnect batteries!!

Remove lower dash panel to access fuse box.
In my truck 01, 7.3 CC Lariat, it was fuse #19. Some report fuse #45. Check fuse to see if blown.

With #2 phillips, remove three column cover screws from the bottom of the column to remove the plastic covers.

With top/bottom covers loose, move bottom cover to the side to view small stainless detent locking ball on the bottom of the ignition housing.

Note: When removing ignition, be careful of the tiny contact and wire for the key chime. It's located on the bottom of the ignition housing. It's a small black keyed insulator, with contact tab.

Put the key in the ignition. Press the stainless detent ball with the awl (or #1 phillips). While depressed, turn the key forward to the 'on' position and slide ignition out of the column. This is where you need to be gentle- be careful of the key chime contact (and again when re-installing).

With the ignition out, remove the plastic top column cover.

You will see a small wiring harness going from under the rubber shifter boot to the left side of the column. It's three wires, Purple/Green/White - this is the OD button harness. Disconnect this harness from it's connection point by unlocking the tab on the bottom of the plug.

Remove rubber shifter lever boot. Some have two screws to attach, mine had two clips.

Inspect the OD wire harness. You will probably see wiring issues where the harness passes by the shift lever pivot. -Fix issue based on problem. Mine was only worn insulation.

When wires are fixed, reinstall the rubber boot, insert ignition without installing covers yet (again be careful of little black door chime connector) , replace 10A fuse (#19 or 45), reconnect batteries and test. Go thru gear positions to be sure OD wiring harness is not binding or pulling funny.

If all is OK, remove ignition again, reinstall covers, reinstall ignition, fuse and dash panel cover and reconnect batteries.

Hope this helps! Big thanks again to NoRalPh for pointing me in the right direction!!

PS: because the org solved two problems for me recently, saving me $$, I wanted to make a $$ donation to the ORG but couldn't find a 'donate' button....so I donated this writeup - hope it helps!

the ORG rocks!!!:thumb:
 
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#2 ·
That's great, thanks for the :clap: for me, BUT I want to be fair...

The whole, gauges/pedal/fuse#45 thing comes from forddieseldoctor :thumb: and a previous post where gave that info.

The advice I give comes from my own personal experiences and growing-up in my family's garage and general interest in mechanics & electronic AND the information I "cull" here from reading this forum almost everyday...

The Art is to figure-out who to listen too :wink[3]: to separate the "wheat from the chaff" so to speak, and thanks to the professionals (like forddieseldoctor) who come here, and I learn to listen to, and give their vast experience.

It's a great site to learn from, we're all here to share our common interests & experience, and help others when we can (and your write-up here does just that!) :icon_ford:
 
#5 ·
i feel honored.
:)

please, feel free to validate/edit based on your experiences - i'm just a newb but, i'm sure this fix saved me at least $100. - hope I detailed it properly. -sry 'bout no pics.
 
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#6 ·
I have a sorta-kinda similar, but different problem. The po had removed the shifter knob, just leaving the wires dangling inside the shifter. I would like to hook these back up, but unsure how. The original knob is gone and i was just going to hook the wires to toggle switches. Any ideas?
 
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#7 ·
Good info!

Thanks for passing this on!
 
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#8 ·
""""Driving down the road, suddenly dead accelerator, dead gauges, truck still idling."""

Mine is a 2000 6 speed trans.

I have this problem. most of the time I can let of accel pedal then back on and keep going......other times I have turn the key swith off then back on. T
here has been a couple times where i had to actually turn key off and start truck back up.

Could this be my problem??

what does the "OD" stand for is it OverDrive??
 
#9 ·
Yes, OD is the OverDrive button at the end of the shift selector. BUT it's more likely to blow the fuse when shorted.

Are your gauges dead when you have no accelerator? Because the loss of the accelerator alone is more commonalty the TPS (ThrottlePositionSensor, basically a rheostat at the pedal itself)
 
#12 ·
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#13 ·
mine only did it when in the mtns 10 miles from no one when I would down shift to 2nd with overdrive off. It would idle but nothing else. found blown fuse replaced all ok then next time i down shift and no OD BINGO the same blown fuse. replaced and went on my way . started research on POWERSTROKE.Org found same symptom. pulled collum apart and found NAKED wires. rerouted and cleaned up. no problems since.

Thanks to all who post with answers to our problems. greg smith
 
#14 ·
My OD switch hasn't worked since I bought the truck. I finally decided to figure out what was going on. Found this thread and ran with it. My cable didn't show any signs of wearing through, but playing with the cable would make my OD light flash. So I removed the lever, cut the connectors off, ran three strands from a Cat 5e cable through it, solders back together and it's all good. I did twist the three strands together and apply electrical tape as needed for abrasion protection.

Probably the cheapest and quickest fix I'll ever do on that truck, thank you.
 
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#15 ·
Glad I found this post, my OD button hasn't worked since I bought the truck. Pulled the column covers and found all three wires cut through. Added about three inches if 24awg wire to allow for some re-routeing covered it all with a piece of spiral wrap. Fuse was good (#45 on mine '02 F250 CC 4x4) pulled it after fixing wires to make sure. This string should be a Sticky!
 
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