Hello,
I hope someone may know the answer to this. I'll try to explain this as briefly as possible. I have an 01 Dodge Ram Sport. It will not stay in overdrive. It will go in overdrive when I start the truck, and sometimes when I press the button, but it will randomly go out of OD and downshift. I have changed the OD button, the rear speed sensor, and the throttle position sensor. None of those things did anything. I took it to a well known transmission shop, and they came to the conclusion that there is an issue in the wiring on the steering column. I have a mechanic friend that I'm taking the truck to. I asked him if he could trace the wire issue, and he said it would be easier to change the steering column.

So, I went to a junkyard and got a used steering column. At the time I picked it up, I was in a hurry and didn't pay a lot of attention. When I got home with it, I realized that they had cut all of the wires for the wire harness. I was assuming there would be a plug on that wire harness that would plug in somewhere. So....all of the wires are cut. That means, that if I were to have my friend change this, he would have to cut all of the wires on my truck, and individually splice all of the wires, which is probably 20 of them. That's not going to happen. The thing is, I have not been able to figure out anything about this wire harness from researching. Should this wire harness have a plug at the end of it? Or is it part of a larger wire harness that runs further throughout the truck, and therefore the wires had to be cut?

This then brings up another question. If the wire harness does have a plug, then it would seem to me I could just get a new wire harness for my truck, and have that changed instead of changing out the steering column. If that is the case, what would the wire harness for the steering column be called? I've not come up with anything while searching for "steering column wire harness".

Any input is appreciated. I am attaching pics of the steering column with the cut wires that I got from the junk yard.

Thanks,

Anthony

 

Connectors and such are further up the column. I am surprised there isn't one just beyond where that one is cut though....

When the truck kicks out of O/D, does the O/D Off lite come on??

 

Thank you for your reply. Yes, when truck kicks out of O/D, the O/D light comes on. When it does go back in O/D, the light goes off, and it shifts as it should in O/D. It just disengages randomly. Sometimes when it's out, it will randomly go back into O/D. The light will start flickering and it will go back in. Then it will go off again. It's as if there's a short in a wire.

So with the wires, you're thinking that the harness wires that are cut will disconnect somewhere further up the column, and that there is another smaller wire set that goes to the O/D button on the steering column gear shift? As in, maybe the problem is in that smaller wire set, and I wouldn't be using any of the wires that are cut from the used steering column anyway?

 

The O/D switch just sends a signal to the PCM, that you want O/D on or off..... PCM takes it from there. The wires in the column are quite tiny, and I could see them fatiguing, and breaking over time. (the switch is just a momentary switch....) If you could find the correct wires further down the column, would be a simple matter to just wire in a different switch. (and mount it elsewhere....)

Keep in mind though, that the PCM will automagically disable O/D if trans temp gets to high, and that happens BEFORE the trans temp light would come on.

 

Ok thank you. That's a good idea on wiring a new switch if we could figure out which wires it is. Well, it would be my mechanic figuring that out. I don't have time to even try to figure anything out with it. How would I know then if the trans temp were getting too high, and potentially causing the issue? I don't recall ever seeing a trans temp light come on at any point. It will sometimes happen just within minutes of first starting the truck for the day and driving down the road. I wouldn't think the trans temp would have time to get too hot in that time frame, but maybe.

 

Do you have the service manual for your truck yet? If not, get one here.

 

Have you had any aftermarket radios or other accessories put in?

I was trying to do something and accidentally cooked a ground in the dash harness. Od light does not work at all but the button still does as does the normal operation.

I would be looking under dash and follow the wire to ecm. Sucks but ... yea. Takes nothing to damage those ones.

 

Thank you for the link for the service manual. I downloaded it and have been scanning it trying to find anything about this wiring.

 

No I haven't done anything to the truck as far as adding accessories. I'd say it's just a small wire that's degraded over time.

 

I have 2 basic questions i ask people on intial contact if they dont actually know whats wrong with their vehicle.

Have you had any work done lately? (For mechanical issues.)

Have you seen any signs of mice? (For electrical issues.)

You'd be amazed how often they answer yes and the call turns out to be related.

Im about to pull my dash to fix the known ground issue but half expecting to find a nest due to other issues. I have definitely seen signs of rodents... like 10 babies in my chain box. 😄