i had my 87 performance tune in the truck for probably about 3 hours. I went out to pick up some friends and all the sudden my O/D light starts flashing. I thought i hit it by accident so i pressed it, O/D turned off, pressed it again, O/D is on. The truck SEEMED to be running ok but what's goin on!!!! i'm worried i'm not gonna be able to keep this amazing tuner! When i was doing the tuning i reset the battery to take off the connection for the amp i have, and then after the tune was done i again (very dumbly) disconnected the battery, but it seemed to be an ok thing to do according to the instructions. If anybody has any ideas or has had any experience with this let me know please! Thanks and sorry for the long post. Just a little worried....

John

 

Did you buy it from Mike Troyer? If yes, call them! How can we troubleshoot a possible problem with a custom program. Did you check for codes? In the meantime return to stock setting.

 

Hi John,

Sorry to hear you seem to be having a problem...............

First, don't automatically blame the tuning for causing a problem on that 8 year old transmission. We have hundreds upon hundreds of 1997's just like yours running our tuning with no pattern of problems - though we will sometimes see a 1997 with a problem where the O/D light flashes, just because it's an old transmission and needs attention.

The 1997 is the worst model year for that powertrain as it's the first year for that powertrain in the F-150. You'll notice that you don't see lots of posts with tranny failures from using our tuning, and that is exactly what you would see if that were actually the case.

It is possible to get a flashing O/D light from a marginal transmission sensor, for example, we have seen that before - and given enough time, you would get that same thing *without* the tuning installed. If you look years & years back on these message boards, you would see a fair number of 1997-1999 owners who reported tranny failures in bone-stock trim, we used to see those posts back then. No, I don't mean every one of course, simply that the 1997's tended to be the most problematic, that's all. The 4R70W in the F-150 didn't seem to really start to get good reliability in those trucks until the 1999 model year or so, and got better in 2001 & up.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes you will find a 1997 model with 150K miles on it and the tranny seems to be fine - but it also doesn't matter how many miles are on it - the age is every bit as important. Never think a transmission is "healthy" just because it seems to run OK - it is *very* easy and usually happens that the tranny appears to work fine until the moment it finally lets go completely - that is the nature of automatic transmission failures in many cases.

What a flashing Overdrive light on the transmission shift level indicates is a transmission problem of some kind - so there will be a code you can scan for, and I would NOT return it to stock, as doing so clears out that code and makes diagnosis much harder - until the same code finally returns.

I would take it into an honest and well-qualified transmission shop (or Ford dealership), so they can see the codes, and let them diagnose it - do NOT give them the "out" of saying you just installed "performance tuning," as far too often that can cause them to automatically assume that the tuning did it (though they have no idea whatsoever is actually in the tuning, of course) and your transmission is now ruined, and will cost you $2500 for a new one that they'll be happy to install- we've seen that kind of nonsense happen over the years, unfortunately.

Just let a qualified Ford transmission tech see those codes present and diagnose the transmission properly - now you may well find that it's simply a sensor or shift solenoid that needs to be replaced, or you may find that it's simply time for the transmission to be rebuilt - after all, it's the worst year for them, and it's 8 years old.

There is NOTHING in that tuning that is going to hurt a healthy transmission - period. You can get that type of thing in an older tranny with a marginal sensor just because it's shifting in a shorter period of time on the 1-2 shift than it thinks it should, for example - we do shorten the shift duration time so as to reduce wear & tear on the friction materials (the bands & clutches), of course - that is very standard as slippage produces heat, and heat is the number 1 enemy of any automatic transmission. For example, we see that it's sometimes just a 1-2 shift code issue from a marginal sensor or a shift solenoid that needs replacement.

The bottom line is, this cannot be diagnosed here, nor does our tuning ruin any healthy transmission, obviously - or you'd see many posts about that here, and you don't. We have plenty of 1997 F-150's running that same tuning with no problems - and then sometimes we'll find a 1997 or 1998 owner (just for example) that does have a problem with a flashing O/D light - it happens.

Just have it *properly* diagnosed, and find out if it's just a minor issue with a sensor or solenoid, or if it's time for some real work on that older transmission. That's really the best I can tell you.

Good luck!

 

So far I cant run two of my programs due to a blinking o/d light 87 tow. and 87 perf. as of now. I can't wait intil my 93 perf. starts to get the good old o/d light (hopefully not) and if I lose 93 then I'm going to have Mike turn off the tranny programing.

 

hey Flareside150 keep us informed if its the file or tranny thats giving you the problem

 

I rather doubt it's "the file" - not with so many other 1997's that we have tuned running the exact same transmission changes and not having this problem - and there being a clear record of this exact same symptom (the flashing O/D light) in the first few model years of the last body style - especially 1997, and then to a lesser extent, 1998 & 1999.

Now OF COURSE if the vehicle owner goes back to stock, or even just changes to a different performance tune with the exact same transmission changes, the flashing O/D light will immediately and automatically go away! As anyone who knows how the PCM works already knows all too well, the mere act of flashing the PCM is automatically going to clear all codes and in a case like this, will stop the O/D light from flashing - for at least some time, further hindering any diagnosis, as flashing the PCM with ANY program automatically clears all codes & adaptive, etc.

If that is what those 3 owners want, we're happy to take out all the tranny changes - personally, given the rather clear track record of our tuning not causing problems and there being this problem in stock trucks of that vintage as they age, I'd rather have the tranny checked out & taken care of - but that's me. It's the vehicle owner that needs to be happy with whatever they decide!

Just for the record, right now we have a grand total of three (3) 1997 F-150's out of several hundred 1997 F-150's alone that we have tuned using those same transmission changes over the past few years that are sometimes exhibiting this characteristic with the tuning installed - 3.

So we just don't see any pattern of our changes causing those problems, where there is a clear pattern of that happening in stock trim in some FoMoCo vehicles, especially F-150's of that vintage, as they age and/or accumulate miles - and it's funny how we do not see any other posts from owners of any newer vehicles (not even a 1998!) with the exact same transmission and program changes having that issue - everything in evidence seems to point to an age/mileage-related issue with the tranny itself - and what we've found over the years is that it's usually something simple, like just a marginal sensor or a shift solenoid problem - and the codes reported by the PCM are simple 1-2 shift time codes, indicating a shift duration quicker than "stock."

 

hey mike thanks for the response!

i also appreciate the customer service you have with crystal and anita at the store, crystal has been the person dealing with me and my issue and she did all the best she could to help adivse me what to do. then she also spoke to you i assume and she gave me your instructions over the phone, before i even got to read them here. My truck goes in sat. (tomarrow) and i left the code in the truck. it sucks though because the light has not been flashing at all for about a day and a half, and i've put in the 89 tune instead of the 87. I needed to go to the ford dealership anyway so hopefully they will find no probelms with the transmission, or they will find a quick fix with a sensor or something. THANK YOU very much though for your information and response to my question/problem !!!!!

i'll be talking to you guys soon over the phone to report hopefully everything is ok!!!!

love the power increase though with the tuner, definitely shifts better and has alot more power if i give it some gas! great product and i love it a ton, cant wait till my computer learns the whole tune.

quick question, if i dis-connect the posative battery connection to re-install the amp wire i have, will that re-set the code and clear it out of the truck , returning the truck to stock? i read that if the truck was a "no start" after the tune was installed, you could dis-connect the battery, but mine starts fine, so is it ok to take off the battery disconnection??? thanks again for the responses and help!

John

 

If you disconnect the battery it won’t return to stock, your custom tune will still be loaded but it will clear the DTC code

 

There's a couple possibilities obviously, a) a trouble code happened to pop up right about the time you installed the tuner, or b) something with the tuner set off the trouble code. The timing of it doesn't necessarily point right to the tuner, but it doesn't dismiss it either (nor does a clean track record automatically dismiss it). The easiest thing IMO would be just to set it back to stock, if the problem persists its not the tuner. If it goes away and comes back when you reinstall the tuner, well, I'd be looking for an exchange or something. I wouldn't be worried about clearing the codes (speaking for myself) because if the problem still exists, the code will come right back. I would do a little experimenting before paying a shop to pull codes (min. $60 usually at a dealer around here). There's one more person right in this thread saying he's getting a blinking o/d light with the tuner installed, so being as it happened right after the tuner was installed I would look to the obvious first. Thats meant as no disrespect to Mike as it would be a real fluke if it were the tuner, but the odds of going years and tens of thousands of miles without tranny trouble codes and then suddenly having one pop right after installing the tuner, without it being related to the tuner or install, are about like winning the lottery....

 

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lol, you ignored the critical part of my statement.... "having trouble pop up right after installing the tuner".... Even if your trans is old and gray the odds of it throwing up a problem right after you flash the computer (unrelated to the flash) are very, very small..... I'm not blaming the tuner, I'm just not quite so quick to dismiss it as a possibility. Its perfectly possible that maybe the code was thrown right then unrelated to the tuner, I just wouldn't be dropping $60 or whatever to have a dealer read codes when I could troubleshoot a little (for free) myself. Think of it this way, what if it is tuner related, the dealer (for your $60) will tell you "yep, its throwing a code for xxxxx", that still won't get you anywhere as far as knowing if its the tuner or not. The only way to disprove it is to remove it.....

I'm not trying to steer blame any direction, just posting an opinion on how I'd go about diagnosing the problem....