2002 5.9 shifts into neutral every 49 seconds briefly

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mddrip

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2002
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I have been trying to figure this out for about 3 years now. The transmission will go to neutral on it's own every 49 seconds like clockwork. It stays in neutral for only about a second and then goes back to drive. So far I have replaced the neutral safety switch 2 times, governor pressure solenoid, shift cable, pcm, detent lever insulator, and transmission fluid multiple times. Another thing to note is that it only does this for a few hundred miles after the battery has been disconnected or has died. After a few hundred miles, it stops doing it until the battery is disconnected again. Has anyone ever seen this? I am out of ideas. The transmission otherwise is in great shape and shifts perfectly...the truck only has 100k miles on it.
 

jws123

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Well first off why are you disconnecting your battery or why is it going dead? If you have a crappy battery or electrical issues/draw you need to start there test battery and alternator could be the whole issue.
 
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mddrip

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Yes...something is draining the battery and I can't find it. If it sits for 3 days the battery dies. My meter show that the draw is within range when the truck is off.
 

jws123

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Yes...something is draining the battery and I can't find it. If it sits for 3 days the battery dies. My meter show that the draw is within range when the truck is off.
How old is your battery
 
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mddrip

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Okay I figured out the battery drain...my meter had a blown fuse inside and wasn't reading correctly. Pulling the interior lights fuse fixed it. Battery is new. No change in transmission isssue. What's my next move???
 

jws123

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Okay I figured out the battery drain...my meter had a blown fuse inside and wasn't reading correctly. Pulling the interior lights fuse fixed it. Battery is new. No change in transmission isssue. What's my next move???
You need to look at a wire diagram to see what's on that circuit It is probably something stupid. I am sure you checked to see if anything in the interior is on by any chance where any of the interior dash lights or dome lights replaced with LED?I have seen issues with those in some cases they can cause a drain/sometimes stay partially on.
 
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mddrip

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Ok. I'll leave the fuse out for now. The battery drain is the least of my issues. What is the next step in figuring out the transmission issue?
 

Oliver Closehauf

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Have you checked for codes after disconnecting the batteries ad erased them?

I had power related codes I didn't even know I had which I suspect were related to all of the battery disconnects I've been doing lately.
 

Oliver Closehauf

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Check out your transmission range sensor. Seems to affect shifts. Maybe it's sending a faulty signal to the computer which it finally ignores.
 
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mddrip

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Is there another term for transmission range sensor? I can't find it on the diagrams online. I did however notice on one of the diagrams that I was looking at, there is a governor pressure sensor. I never knew about this. It sounds promising. The only 2 sensors I have not replaced that I know of is the trans speed sensor and the governor sensor. I do not have a scanner that reads transmission codes.
 

Oliver Closehauf

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Oh hell, I was reading my 05 service manual. I just assumed your 02 would be the same. There are a bunch of references to it in the 05 manual.

1658507031085.png
 

jws123

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Is there another term for transmission range sensor? I can't find it on the diagrams online. I did however notice on one of the diagrams that I was looking at, there is a governor pressure sensor. I never knew about this. It sounds promising. The only 2 sensors I have not replaced that I know of is the trans speed sensor and the governor sensor. I do not have a scanner that reads transmission codes.
You should just take it to someone who can read trans codes almost any shop should be able to or you are going to forever fire the parts cannon and waste more money.
 

RamNChevz

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Not sure about the RAMs, I'm still getting familiar with them myself. I do know that everytime I unhook my battery on one of my other trucks it goes through a learning process. Had no idea until I came across it in the owners manual during my 6.0 Powerstroke build.\
 

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