O.K here's the story... 2003 f350 7.3l, well maintained 105,000 miles with no mods. tranny is 4R100. Originally noticed the issue yesterday when I put vehicle in reverse and it felt like the E brake was on... then after a few start and stops noticed it would not go into O/D every time... then noticed the transmission control switch on the shift lever was not lit with "off" as usual.. pushed button still no light, started truck in a.m. ..reverse fine, shifting fine.. (will look at light issue this afternoon), after investigation found one of the 3 wires broken under steering column cover.. repaired wire , light is now on... reverse is working fine... but now the truck will not shift into any gear passed 2nd or 3rd (unsure which gear approx. 3100 RPM at approx. 40-45 MPH). I am stumped as to whether this is an electrical issue or I did some "hard" damage to a solenoid or something due to the duration of the broken wire. I have checked the fluid level and condition- fine, the electrical connections at the tranny- connected. Any help you guys could give would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

Well if it is stock I would venture to guess electrical but not completely. The OD light should NOT be on when normal driving. When the light is lit that normally means that overdrive is disengaged.

You can scan for codes...I believe on that truck if I remember correctly the tranny codes will be read with the engine codes all in the one plug and scanner.

The second thing I have to say though is that in the 03 7.3 powerstrokes they were known for killing transmissions because of the way they shifted (relaxed/ unlocked TC) also they had more power than all the previous years.

I guess I am trying to say check codes see if you have anything.

 

Thanks for the response, I will be attempting to get codes if any tomorrow, also you are correct about the light being on ..I wrote it incorrectly. Could this problem be a result of a bad manual lever position sensor and not throw a code? thanks

 

The truck is shifting again...I disconnected the batteries and added some trans tune and it eventually shifted from second to third and so on through O/D. My only assumption on this is that in the process of repairing the wire on the O/D button (battery still connected) possibly I triggered a solonoid to activate and remain in partial open position even after repair not allowing proper shifts??? I dont know .. but Iam glad it worked itself out... I will be saving money for my future rebuild. Thanks to all that have responded, this will be the close of the post.