Imogene Pass Wheeling-PRND2L no lights-popping out of Loe

[kayaked56]

Hey all, I have searched over and over and not found a similiar thread, so I must ask.

I can share the photos first. Wheeled Alpine Loop, Imogene Pass, Blackbear all in the San Juan mountains. Snow is all clear, and plenty of views.

Problem 1: Lost the lights on the Dash for P R N D 2 L

Problem 2: When in Low coming down a steep grade, the Transmission would pop out of Low and into 2nd. The problem persisted once I went back to 4x4 high. I have placed into Low in the street and same thing. The darn transission has a mind of its own.

Problem 3: Reverse lights are not coming on when in reverse.

Here are a few stats:

Before leaving for the trip, I did move all of the tools. jack in the rear DS panel. May have jiggled the wires. Also the battery went out, and I replaced with an Optima.

About this time I lose the lights, thought no worries, and now the wheeling challenge.

I think they are all related.

Stats:
1997 40th with 195,000 miles on it.

Any help would be great. I have looked into Fuse, wires, Transmission contacts. etc. Still nothing.

Greg

 

[puulboy]

I don't know your truck, but that sounds like a partially shorted wire somewhere. The battery went out while you having symptoms? Pull the negative cable and put a test light between the cable and battery. It does all sound related. You can pull the tools out of that compartment and check for damage to any wires in there If there's a harness there move it around . I'm just throwing out some obvious stuff you can try, but the battery may have shorted because of the the short you have.
I hope this helps some
Don

 

[kayaked56]

I have been reading and trying the various threads and have a few updates:

Still no lights, tracking down the short without any leads so far.

I tested the shifter in 2nd gear. If I start driving while in 2nd, slowly allowing for a shift, then immediatly I manually shift to Low. Nothing happens, so hence the Low gear is not engaging from the manual mode.

There are a lot of rough shifting when I do perform this. For example if I rev the motor, drive up to 15 MPH then shift to Low, I have a quick gear change. However not sure if the shift is allowing L.

Any tips would be great.

Greg

 

[donutfj80]

Do you have a body lift? If so did you adjust the shift linkage. I see a small gap between your bumpers and body and cannot tell if you do

 

[MaddBaggins]

If you're losing the lights, the neutral safety swithc needs adjustment more than likely. If it's popping out of gear, your linkage is off a bit, more than likely.
Both are a 5 minute fix and the FSM is helpful.

Similar issue with mine earlier this year.

 

[GeoRoss]

Another thing to consider is the Neutral Safety Switch. There is likely something off on the linkage, but if the NSS gets corroded or its electric connections you get weird dash light/reverse light issues.

 

[kayaked56]

Found it

NSS (Nuetral Safety Switch). This was it.

For any 1997 LC owners there is a small difference on the wiring. From prior posts you may have seen a plug that is close to the Starter or PHH. On a 97' the wiring for the NSS is loomed into the main wiring harness.

The wiring harness then wraps over the Transmission, into the top of the NSS.

On this particular NSS one small tab going into the NSS was broken off.

Pulled the NSS off the transmission housing, gently soldered a the broken tab back into place. Slid the plug over the top, and

BOOM!!! Lights.

D light is good, as well as all other.

Will post photos later.

Greg

1997 40th
Lifted, Locked, Slee, 35's
200,000miles