Hello all

i have a new to me 2002 d2 which has a few issues so i will be tackling them

- my truck goes in to neutral but N does not show on the dash. If i move it forward as if i am going into R then for a split second it shows N. Truck runs well in this situation and normal

-from time to time my truck has M S flashing (no check engine) and appears to be stuck in gear. Interestingly enough During this time the truck does show N on the on dash If i go into neutral. This M S flashing has happened twice in the last 2 weeks on cooler morning starts and disappears after restart later in the day

- from time to time i also have the hdc light come on by itself (no check engine). Again during this time the truck runs well. The light typically turns off later in the day after a restart

any suggestions is appreciated
Thanks

 

check all battery connections and ground connections.

 

thanks for the reply. How many ground connections should I check. Or which , I should say? I can check battery ground to chassis. What else?

 

Also could be time for a new battery. If you drive around for a few trips and the alternator charges the battery up then the M&S lights wont flash. When the battery voltage drops to 11.9V it will still start the car, but the M&S light will flash. Typically your running voltage while the motor is on is 13...to 14.4V. Its happen each time I needed a new battery or my positive terminal was loose.

 

Flashing MS and disappearing gear indicator is a symptom that usually has one of two culprits: low voltage/bad ground or dying XYZ switch. Hope its the former as the latter is expensive - XYZ switch is the transmission switch that tells the truck which gear it's in, and it's like $6-700 for the part. Check battery/alternator first.

Make sure you have a tight/clean contact on your battery terminals and then clean the ground from the battery to the block (it's on the alternator mount). There's a body ground coming off of the negative terminal as well on the passenger side that you should hit with a wire brush or something as well.

 

thank you for the reply. The battery was replaced last year by the previous owner. I don’t think it’s the battery. And I don’t think it will be the charging system because if the alternator was shot then my battery would have drained by now I have been driving it for two weeks. I’m not the most mechanically inclined person so I’m not sure if I’m thinking correctly with this line of thinking? I will run the voltage metre on the battery tomorrow while it’s off and While running and see what numbers come up

 

Also, AutoZone, Advanced, Oreily's will do a free battery and alternator test, so you can rule those out. I've had batteries last for 5 years or 2 years. High temps and bumpy roads can decrease battery life.

 

why would it only be the Neutral indicator disappearing. Does that mean that the xyz switch is not recognizing the neutral position only?

these alternator and body ground are they accessible by me?

 

It was 15 years ago last month that the first XYZ switch in my truck failed. Back then it was ~$250 and I thought that was outrageous. It's true they're now $599 and up online (part #UHB100190). It's also called a "starter inhibitor switch" or a "transmission gear selector switch."

The good news is that the problem with your truck might be able to be resolved by adjusting or even rebuilding the XYZ switch, or also by buying and installing a used one (I paid ~$100 for the XYZ switch now in my truck when the second one failed 7 years and ~40,000 miles ago.)

To try adjusting the switch you'll need a helper. First chock the wheels and apply the hand brake. Grab a 10mm wrench and crawl under the truck from the right hand (passenger) side. Wiggle your way until you're looking up at the driver's side of the transmission. The XYZ is mounted on the transmission selector shaft that the shifter cable connects to bolted to the side of the transmission. Have your assistant in the driver's seat with the ignition switch turned to Position II but the engine not running. Have them press the brake pedal and move the shifter to N. You then loosen (but don't remove) to two bolts with 10mm heads that hold the XYZ switch in position. You can then rotate the XYZ shift on the selector shaft a few degrees in either direction. Have your assistant watch the LCD display in the instrument panel and the red LEDs on the shifter bezel display and tell you if and when the Neutral is indicated on both displays. If you can get that to happen, gently tighten the adjustment bolts to hold the XYZ switch in position, then ask your assistant to move the shifter through its PRND321 range to confirm whether or not the correct gears appear in the displays.

If you're lucky, that will take care of your problem. It that doesn't work, you may be able to rebuild the switch. There are tutorials for that on this and other DII forums (and maybe YouTube; I don't know). There are two versions of the switch. The earlier version had an ivory plastic cover and is the version to which most of the rebuilding instructions apply. The later version has a black plastic cover. That was the version of the first XYZ I bought that failed after eight years. I tried to rebuild it with no luck.

Again, if adjust the switch or rebuilding it doesn't correct the problem you may want to consider buying a used replacement instead of a new one. As a rule I wouldn't buy a used part that is known to have a (relatively) high failure rate, but for one-sixth the price of new I decided to take the risk. That decision has worked out well (so far ... knock on wood). That said, I have since pulled an XYZ from a boneyard truck that I keep in the glovebox as a spare (along with 10mm and 13mm wrenches).

As for the flashing M&S lights, the RAVE lists 16 faults that can lead to them being illuminated. One fault condition is "Gear position switch, incorrect outputs," so the XYZ switch may be the cause of that too. And that code (P0705) triggers "limp home mode," which means the trans operates in 3rd gear only which may be what you refer to as it being "stuck in gear." In addition to the 16 faults, it's also true that low voltage can trigger the flashing M&S lights. That seems to actually be the most common cause.

If you don't have the RAVE PDF (Rover Automated Viewing Environment) you should download it. It's linked in my signature below.

Good luck, and please let us know how this goes for you.

 

Wow this is great info thank you so much. I read on another thread that somebody went underneath the car sprayed WD-40 “into the cracks” of the XYZ switch which fixed all issues. I sprayed the xyz with rust penetrator and then some wd40. But no luck. The neutral still does not show on the dash. Tomorrow I will do a load test on battery