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O/D OFF light on SVT ???

fobCSVT

CEG'er
Joined
Jul 25, 2006
Messages
140
Location
Trois-Rivières, Qc, Canada
today while I was going to school the O/D OFF light started flickering for 10 sec and then stayed on. The light is also on when I put the key in ACC mode. My SVT is manual (all SVT's are manual) so I assume this is supposed to say something else than my Overdrive is off?
 
Can you take a picture of your gauge cluster? I'm wondering if you O/D light was put in the wrong place from the factory or your cluster has been swapped.

On my car, there is a O/D off spot on the cluster, and a bulb behind it, but it has never lit up, even with the key on ACC.
 
That's strange, the owners manual says it only funtions for the ATX:

manual.jpg


Kind of like how my ABS light flashes when i turn my headlights off even though i don't have ABS... one of these days I'll look into it.
 
Yep when I searched in the old forums all the posts were related to ATX problems such as torque converter slipping, oil temp, valve and things like that. Are there sensors on the manual tranny that could have triggered this light?
 
What model year is your car? Is your instrument cluster stock? How old is the instrument cluster?
 
It's the stock instrument cluster with stock gauges. My car is a 1999 SVT 838/2760. I bought it this summer with 259k kms and it's the first time this light goes on. I truely believe it's the original cluster.
 
Possible it's just a glitch in the ECU? :shrug:

Unhook the battery for a little while then hook it up and see if the light is still on or comes back on.
 
its possibly a glitch/bad connection in the cluster. Mine came on a couple times before the speedo/fuel side of the cluster shorted out.
-mark
 
The circuitry is all there in the MTX, same as the ATX, it just isn't implemented.

I'd suspect either a glitch in the PCM, the cluster interface module, the cluster PCB, or a wiring fault to the cluster or in the car's chassis.

In the meantime, I'd just pull the bulb from the cluster.

Interesting fault!

Steve
 
I'm gonna try that.

It could be this since I boosted my car yesterday because I forgot the parking lights on for the night.

Get the battery checked. Bad battery can cause all kinds of electrical gremlins. I've had my interior light package go out as the ATX shifted into 3rd.
 
FYI and not sure if it would apply to your case, but there have been scattered instances where the SVT clusters have variances throughout the run. Some have CEL where lets say the O/D light would be. Basically, not all of them have things where they are supposed to be. I'm not sure how to tell the differences either but there are posts in the old forums.
 
So if I understand this light, in an MTX driven contour, could not have been triggered by a sensor or something. It's just a short in the cluster or somethin like that?

FYI and not sure if it would apply to your case, but there have been scattered instances where the SVT clusters have variances throughout the run. Some have CEL where lets say the O/D light would be. Basically, not all of them have things where they are supposed to be. I'm not sure how to tell the differences either but there are posts in the old forums.

I think the concern would be that this is really a CEL (check engine light) that is mislabeled. Do you have access to a code scanner? If there are no codes, then I'd have to say it's just a gremlin. If there are codes, the light might go away when you clear them:shrug:
 
It has to be a glitch in the wiring since it just started and is being triggered by various conditions. While it would bother me not knowing what has crossed causing this problem, if you don't have the OD feature being a MTX then you can just pull the blub or wait for it to burn out (that was the advice I got from FORD about a seat belt light that wouldn't clear when the seat belt was in the connector). By all means check the OBD for possible engine codes and if clear you might just be ok. That is until the next weird thing happens. :D

my 2 cents
 
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As stated previously, I would check the car with an OBD scan tool, usually can have this done for free at advanced auto. Just go in and ask if they will scan your car, they'll give you the tool and tell you how to use it, you walk out and scan your car, bring it back in, and they'll print up a slip of what codes came up, and you can clear them too if you need to. Otherwise my next idea would be, to check and make sure someone didn't put a fuse in the wrong spot that doesn't need to be plugged in, not sure if that's possible in the fuse box, but i'd check it. My last thought is maybe whoever put that custom logo in the cluster, may have messed something up while playing around with the cluster... Guess the only way to test that, would be to get the same cluster and plug it in, and see if the lights still come on.......
 
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