od light intermitent all the time- 3.8 1996

[frfpatty]

My windstar 1996 3.8 od light started flashing all the time. When the car is starting to move on 1st, it is very week, it feels without power, then after a few seconds it picks up and it seems to drive normally and it shifts gears normally, but the od light is flashing. I took car to autozone for code reading and it is telling me that the speed sensor is malfunctioning. I spoke to parts person in ford dealer and he told me that it could be a whole bunch of things, so I need some advice.

[wiswind]

Speed sensor, there are 2 of those.
1, the most common to be discussed here (also the most difficult to change) is the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) which is what the speedometer connects to.....and also has an electrical component that tells the PCM how fast the vehicle is moving.
The other speed sensor is the Turbine Speed Sensor (TSS) which tells the PCM how fast the shaft coming out of the Torque Converter is spinning.

There may be additional codes that they cannot read at autozone.
The Generic OBDII code readers read the "P" codes, which are the same over all vehicles manufactured and sold in the USA starting in 1996 and newer.

There are still Proprietary codes (including "C") codes that require a reader that can read manufacture's specific codes.
Your local dealership will have such equipment.
They will charge for this service, but it is well worth the cost to properly diagnose what is going on.

Many other repair facilities will have this equipment also, but that is hit and miss, depending upon how much call that they would have for that particular item of test equipment.

Often times this equipment costs thousands of dollars, which makes it impractical for the average DIY person to purchase to diagnose 1 vehicle.......and most likely it would not work on the next vehcile that you buy.

[frfpatty]

Could it be the vehicle speed sensor the cause for the od light to be intermitent and how about when the car starts moving on drive and feels like is very heavy and moves slow for a few seconds until it shifts to the next gear, could this be caused by the vehicle speed sensor. Also, the od light now starts blinking as soon as I put the car on drive.?????

[knl25]

Originally Posted by frfpatty

Could it be the vehicle speed sensor the cause for the od light to be intermitent and how about when the car starts moving on drive and feels like is very heavy and moves slow for a few seconds until it shifts to the next gear, could this be caused by the vehicle speed sensor. Also, the od light now starts blinking as soon as I put the car on drive.?????

Can you post the numeric code you got from Autozone?

[tomj76]

A faulty VSS will cause erratic shifting. This can also occur if the connector is not securely in place on the sensor. It can only be accessed by first removing the exhaust Y-pipe. The VSS generates electrical pulses used by the PCM to control the engine and transmission. In addition, cruise control will not work if the VSS signal has been lost.