1998 Ford Windstar Blinking OverdriveLight

Has anyone ran into the probelm of a blinking overdrive light on your 1998 ford windstar van? At low speeds it won't start blinking, but right as or right after the van shifts into overdrive the light starts to blink....I can't get it to shut off unless I shut the van off......Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Jason

My 2000 Windstar Owners Manual says (p. 172):

"If the O/D OFF indicator light is flashing on and off repeatedly when the vehicle is started or does not come on when the O/D OFF control is pressed, it means that there is a transaxle electronic system malfunction. You should contact your dealer as soon as possible or damage to the transaxle could occur."

That's what I recommend, too.

Good luck...

Well yeah thats what my owners manual says too but from what I've read on the internet Ford doesn't know how to fix the problem either. So if anyone has had the same problem let me know what your solution has been.

Hello, I'm new here.

This has just started happening on my '96 Ford Windstar. Have any of you been able to get the problem rectified?

Bigg Russ

The flashing overdrive light is a maens to tell you there is a problem.
I have a 96 windstar doing the same thing. The light flashing could mean the system is on high pressure so it will move. Ford had a problem with the foward/reverse clutch piston cracking. Ford has a bulliten on this. when it gets worse it will start to slip in foward or reverse, or you may lose it altogether. Hope this helps, johnstro

Has anyone ran into the probelm of a blinking overdrive light on your 1998 ford windstar van? At low speeds it won't start blinking, but right as or right after the van shifts into overdrive the light starts to blink....I can't get it to shut off unless I shut the van off......Any help would be great!

Thanks,
Jason


The first time this happened to my 99 after a few dealer checks and nothing found, I blew my transmition. 7 months later I blew it again. Mine started blinking last night and I noticed my transmittion slipping again. This for me has been major. I more and I am afraid to drive the car. It will be 3 in 14 months

Ford had a problem with the foward clutch piston cracking. When it cracks you start to feel slippage in low or reverse. The flashing light usually means the system went to high pressure. This is a feature to get you home or to a garage. Eventually this will not work either. I just rebuilt my 96 windstar tranny for the same reason. You didn't say who rebuilt your tranny. Even though you may have taken it to a Ford dealer to do the work. Not all technicians are transmission specialists. They could have missed something. A well known tranny shop can in most cases tell you why it keeps doing this with a phonecall.

Johnstro

Ford had a problem with the foward clutch piston cracking. When it cracks you start to feel slippage in low or reverse. The flashing light usually means the system went to high pressure. This is a feature to get you home or to a garage. Eventually this will not work either. I just rebuilt my 96 windstar tranny for the same reason. You didn't say who rebuilt your tranny. Even though you may have taken it to a Ford dealer to do the work. Not all technicians are transmission specialists. They could have missed something. A well known tranny shop can in most cases tell you why it keeps doing this with a phonecall.

Johnstro

Well my 96 windstar transmission started messin up on me a few months ago it would slip once past 2nd gear in OD but it would kind-of work in 2nd gear setting only up to about 38 MPH after that the RPM's get into an unsafe area. I attempted to change the fluid and filter but no help at all so i was checkin on Google and found some posts people were having luck with there 95-96 Windstar trannies, Simply by replacing the (Transaxle Range Sensor) which supposedly frequently goes out on these vans due to water and moisture getting into the sensor and its a 68.00$ part so im gonna give it a try tomarrow and hope my tranny isnt screwed. Ill post what happens. Oh and my OD light also blinks constantly!

Hey, thanks for the help, guys! It looks like I'll be making a stop at the mechanic VERY soon! I'm a few days away from purchasing a Freestar but I'm keeping the Windstar. The slippage is happening daily and now I'm starting to smell something funny when I get to higher speeds.

Ford had a problem with the foward clutch piston cracking. When it cracks you start to feel slippage in low or reverse. The flashing light usually means the system went to high pressure. This is a feature to get you home or to a garage. Eventually this will not work either. I just rebuilt my 96 windstar tranny for the same reason. You didn't say who rebuilt your tranny. Even though you may have taken it to a Ford dealer to do the work. Not all technicians are transmission specialists. They could have missed something. A well known tranny shop can in most cases tell you why it keeps doing this with a phonecall.

Johnstro

Hi Joihnstro,

The difference here is that my tranny doesn't slip, it just will not go into overdrive once the light starts to blink....Ever heard of this? By the way I tried the Range selector.....it didn't help....someone else told me to replace the overdrive switch....I found one at the junk yard and tried it.....didn't work either.....good thing it was only $3 used......any more ideas are welcome.

Thanks,
Jason

I had the same problem with my '98. I thought maybe it was electrical and replaced what sensors I could to no avail. Eventually it stopped going into 3rd gear and then 1st gear started slipping. The next step was tranny fluid pouring out all aver the street and luckily, my driveway.

I got the transmission rebuilt at the local speciallist and so far so good. It was a flat fee of $1,800 to totally rebuild and replace all the electrical stuff too, they did it in two days.

The blinking light indicates a problem that is being detected by the electronics - as was stated in almost every post thus far.

The very first thing I would do is a fluid and filter replacement. My light was flashing occasionally on my 99 and I changed my fluid-or at least what I could siphon out of the dipstick tube 2 times and the light has not re-appeared in 6 months AND it shifts a lot smoother.