Unusual Occurrence

Common with the Ford units car truck motorhome. Loss of vss signal and likely sensor or wiring not very expensive and may be easy to find. Probably if I remember right a tsb for that concern.

Possible intermittent ignition switch. Had the same problem, 2000 Tropical. The switch does not always make full contact. When it doesn't and I try to drive away two things occur. 1) The transmission goes into some kind of limp mode and shifts extremely hard. 2) The speedometer also does not work. The first couple of times this happened the check engine light came on and would not reset by itself but it drove just fine once I restarted. Took it to Ford dealer after a couple of weeks when we returned home (we were in Wyoming at the time). They replaced the speed sensor and reset the check engine light. A couple of weeks later it happened again. It was then that I realized the ignition switch problem. Occasionally (every few starts) I noticed that the jacks had no power. I had to shut off and restart engine, then I would have power to the jacks. The reason I did not connect the dots right away was because when traveling and stopping for breaks, lunch etc I don't set the emergency brake or use the jacks. I just start the engine and drive away and occasionally would have the problem. Now every time every time I stop I set the emergency brake and before I take off again I start the rig and verify good contact by turning jacks on and off (emergency brake needs to be on). I don't actually have to put jacks down, I just need to make sure the jack light comes on. About every four or five starts it doesn't make good contact and I have to turn engine off and restart. I believe if I changed ignition the switch the problem would go away. However it doesn't seem worth the trouble since I have had no other problems because of the switch and I have been using this procedure over three years.
It has been several years since I wrote the above and what I wrote is still true today. I religiously go through procedure every time I start.

2000 Southwind v10 32v. came back from a 1400 mile trip, got within 100 miles of home, speedometer quit, wouldn't run over 55 and the light on the shifter was blinking. The VSS on top of the rear end is held on by 1 10mm bolt. At home I pulled it off. it was covered in fine metal powder material, it has a magnet inside it and it attracts any metal in the gear oil. I changed the rear end oil,(aprox 4 gallons). Mine has 108,000 miles on it. I changed the VSS but the old one worked fine after cleaning with a rag, all the lights went away and everything works fine. The rear end is silent.

chuckbear wrote:
Thanks Tiger02, I will check that out. Dennis12, How do you find a transmission man you trust when you're traveling and a thousand miles from home in a place you've never been before? Chuck

It's nearly impossible except to read some online reviews, so I've made it a rule of sorts, to use a chain and so that if it gives us later trouble, we can take it somewhere else with the slip in hand.
Needed a rear differential seal in the boonies of TX once, so found a Chevy garage to replace it, rather than a local mom and pop place.
Something like buying at Walmart, if you will and certainly so if one should need to replace batteries while on the road.

Captain_Happy wrote:
The same thing happened to my 2000 Damon Intruder, V-10 I use to own. Going down the highway, started slowing down, looked at the speedometer was at 0 mph, and my cruse control disengaged at the same moment. I pulled into the first rest area I can to and started looking the problem. Pulled off the cover to top of the engine looking for something that might have come disconnected. Didn't find a thing. Crawled under the motor Home looking the problem. don't really know for sure if what I did fixed the problem or not. On the side of the tranny there's 2 cables plugged into the tranny. Unplugged them both and then plugged them back in. So I just figured that I was going to have to drive the remaining trip home with no speedometer or cruse. started the Motor Home, pulled out of the rest area, speedometer is now reading, and after I got up to speed I engaged the cruse and it worked all the way home. Never happened again. Weird.

Actually it is not weird at all. After a few years exposed to the harsh environment and bouncing down the road, electrical connectors work loose and can have a certain amount of corrosion that effects their electrical conductance. Simple unplugging them and replugging them will usually fix the problem but it also shows that the connector is not sealing properly. Coating each connector with dielectric grease can help stop this from happening again.

Thanks Captain Happy. I have done that also, hope that's all it takes. Chuck

The same thing happened to my 2000 Damon Intruder, V-10 I use to own. Going down the highway, started slowing down, looked at the speedometer was at 0 mph, and my cruse control disengaged at the same moment. I pulled into the first rest area I can to and started looking the problem. Pulled off the cover to top of the engine looking for something that might have come disconnected. Didn't find a thing. Crawled under the motor Home looking the problem. don't really know for sure if what I did fixed the problem or not. On the side of the tranny there's 2 cables plugged into the tranny. Unplugged them both and then plugged them back in. So I just figured that I was going to have to drive the remaining trip home with no speedometer or cruse. started the Motor Home, pulled out of the rest area, speedometer is now reading, and after I got up to speed I engaged the cruse and it worked all the way home. Never happened again. Weird.

10forty2 wrote:
" Just for grins, I reinstalled the 5 Star Tune and the speedometer came back and for the last few days, the transmission has behaved itself."

After I read this again...not knowing what the 5-Star Tune encompasses....is it a plug in device? If so, then could it have been lose? Or have needed resetting like computers sometimes do? I have a tuner on my Harley that basically modifies the fuel curve AFTER it comes from the ECU and BEFORE it gets to the injectors. The connector came loose once when I was 300 miles from home and the whole engine went haywire before it finally quit. I unplugged it, re-seated it and it's been running fine for the past 7 years since.

This is a custom tune for the vehicle computer. It's installed via an SCT scanner that can program the computer, read computer output for vehicle diagnostics and read error codes. It's not left plugged in. Lots of RVers use the 5 Star Tune. Chuck

" Just for grins, I reinstalled the 5 Star Tune and the speedometer came back and for the last few days, the transmission has behaved itself."

After I read this again...not knowing what the 5-Star Tune encompasses....is it a plug in device? If so, then could it have been lose? Or have needed resetting like computers sometimes do? I have a tuner on my Harley that basically modifies the fuel curve AFTER it comes from the ECU and BEFORE it gets to the injectors. The connector came loose once when I was 300 miles from home and the whole engine went haywire before it finally quit. I unplugged it, re-seated it and it's been running fine for the past 7 years since.

When you're traveling, and might need service, check RVServiceReviews.com in your area, or along your route. I'd take the reviews of owners of RVs about shops long before I'd take the opinion of someone at a dealership. I also check with RV park owners about who they recommend. And check them in the online reviews.