After my engine died and a complete engine overhaul my o/d off light is flashing. After the prerequisite denial of wrongdoingmy mechanic sent it to a tran. shop. It was returned with a statement of satisfactory engine installation, no transmission codes on the computer and a guess that it might be the selector swich or something(?).Being of a distrustful nature I ask. Are the engine and trans. codes stored, and read, from the same location? Would the AutoZone typereaders pickup the trans. codes, and how serious is the flashing light. Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated? I also noted a P1518 code and, thanks to the excellent posts and pictures by Babyhuey, I found the connecting rod had come loose from the IMRC arm,beneath the intake manifold.

 

I don't know what tranny is in that thing. I do know that Ford and Mazda are partners. I had a Ford Explorer that had the same code. It turned out to be the solenoid inside the tranny (for O/D) that was sticking. It was a Bosch part that costs about $100 at Ford. I think the tranny was a 5R55E and the part is the TCC Solenoid(Ford part # - XL2Z-7G136-AA) You may be able to Google it.

 

Was it easy to access or did the tranny have to be pulled? Hoping to do this myself.

 

The 1518 is not a transmission code on a Mazda but relates to the IMRC that you repaired. Ford may use a similar code for transmission faults. The transmission codes are accessed in the same way that engine codes are and autozone should be able to retrieve them. The PCM or engine computer is actually a dual role unit in that it also controls transmission operation. You do not have a separate transmission computer in 2000 MY. O/D light flashing should be indicating an internal fault detected that should also then store a code. The only time this is not the case that I am aware of would either be a computer fault or the transmission fluid temperature has reached a dangerously high level. See if autozone can retrieve any codes for transmission related faults. Almost all of the trans related codes will be between P0705-P0760.
Do you have any shifting problems or anything else different about how the transmission operates??

 

Babyhuey,
This transmission has had a fairly abrupt shift since new. It does seem a little more abrupt now. Almost like when it is kicked into passing gear. After the engine overhaul I had a lot of transit codes that didn't recur after resetting (I suspect from setting idle 3 months). The O/D light doesn't blink when the car is first started until the shift is moved from Park. That should eliminate hot fluid. Plus fluid doesn't smell burnt. Could this be the solenoid and is the solenoid accessable from outside the transmission.

 

Most all of the solenoids are on the valve body accessable only by removing the oil pan. The Turbine Speed sensor is the only externally mounted sensor that I can think of right off the top of my head. Have you had any luck with trouble code retrieval?? The fluid does not necessarily have to be overheating for the light to flash if the TFT or Trans FluidTemperature sender is sending an erroneous signal. Fluid temp could be 100'F and faulty sender could be sending a 300'F signal to the PCM. This faulty signal could well cause the transmission to go into a fail safe type of mode and still never set a code as 300'F is not out of a range that could be achieved. Just a theory but have seen this on an older MPV. TFT would be fine and then suddenly send a signal that temp was around -10'F. Since the PCM disables overdrive below a certain temp the trans would suddenly downshift to 3rd on the freeway untill the sender suddenly gave a correct signal and trans would then upshift to overdrive. No fault codes were ever stored and yet the trans would just shift from 3 to 4 at random.
I would double check that no codes are being stored at this point and then take a look at what the TFT output is doing.

 

By all means, get the codes checked for your vehicle. My Explorer produced 2 or 3 codes each time the problem occured. Like I said, I don't know much about the MPV.

And FYI: It was just a matter of draining the tranny, taking off the pan, replacing the solenoid, and putting it back together again.