Right, I don't think it's good to be totally anything...? Except maybe,- totally Fram Free.

Here's where the range sensor box is -



BTW - You can test fuse relays, but I just cop a feel. - If their hot/warm to the touch, their bad. Some are interchagable, for instance, -if my fuel relay is questionable, -I can swap it out with my horn relay. Their the same on my model. Match the housing numbers up.

 

 

From Jbrew's diagram, it appears that I was referring to the transmission range sensor. The electrical connector that plugs into this is the one that partially tore out. With just bits and pieces of wires hanging, I was able to start the engine with the key, put the gearshift into neutral and thankfully disengage 4L. I made an attempt at repairing the connector and then crimp connecting the wires back together, but without success. The wires in the connector that plugged into the transmission range sensor were torn off way at the bottom, and thus I had to really pull on them to get the small electrical connectors out to reattach the wire. This connector had small rubber fittings that held the wires into place, and of course several of those broke on the way out. Thus the wires in places are probably not held firmly.

From the diagram, it appears that this connector connects in multiple other places around the transmission, which looks like it would be a nightmare to do. That is if I were able to obtain the entire wiring harness system, which looks like it connects in about 5 places.

Should I just attempt at finding a new transmission range sensor connector and splicing wires or should I go all the way and look for the harness for all the connections? I have looked on rock auto and didn't see any connector that matched the description of the transmission range sensor. Is it called something different or is this probably a dealer item only?

I was actually able to drive the truck, with minimal brakes, a while ago and it seemed like the tranny was shifting hard. I'm just going to try to fix the wiring harness before anything else, just in case that fixes some of these other ailments.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

Well I pounded the connector to the transmission sensor a little harder and was able to get the engine to start with the key. I guess the connectors just werent touching enough. So I just drove the truck 80 miles back home. Everything seemed ok with the exception of hard shifting. From 2nd to Drive seemed to hit real hard. I figured that maybe it was just the computer reconfiguring itself.

A couple other things to note...

1. When the truck is on/or even just the key turned I can shift through all the gears without having to press the brake to get out of park. It even seems a little easier to shift between gears.

2. 4H seems to engage but 4L will not.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

Just the same idea, the TRS has to be loosened/adjusted (correctly), then torqued.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I had a friend who needed some work go to the junkyards yesterday and track down some of the parts I need to get my truck back in a "safe" contdition.

He managed to find the rear/passenger side brake line. For some reason I couldn't find them online and the dealer never called me back saying he could find it. He also found a few other minor things I needed (door stripping, windshield fluid nozzle, spare tire storage assembly (yup somebody decided to cut my cable and take my tire).

The main thing I needed was the wiring harness that plugs into the transmission range sensor. He actually got the entire harness that has about 5 electrical connectors. I gave him the tranny model (4R100) and he said that the people helping him assured him that this was the right harness. The connector looks correct but this harness plugging into the tranny sensor only has something like 8-9 wires as opposed to mine that had 11. I'm not sure if something had changed between years (mine is a 1999) or if possible it is something more serious like mine being a 4x4 and the one he gave me being a 4 x 2 or something.

Any ideas on why the connectors have different quantities of wires?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

Yea, you might have to get the EXACT year 4R100 harness. I know they kept updating the eletrical thru the years. 98 your trans was an E4OD, 99 it went 4R100 which in the nut shell, same trans. 2000, 01, 02 etc, the 4r100 had small changes and most if not all were eletrical. I don't see what it would hurt to try it, that's up to you.

Start a thread in the trans forum, there's some good guys over that way, they may be able to answer quickly. It's worth a shot. If you don't have any luck, I'll see if I can find a pin-out diagram from a Service DVD for the 99.