GEAR VENDORS TROUBLESHOOING HELP NEEDED

IDIBRONCO

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Now that you mention it, you are right. I had forgotten that you mentioned the ground.
They are asking if you have power coming out of the switch. The switch itself could be bad.
 

Cubey

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If you need a new controller, Gear Vendors will sell you just that part, and any other parts you may need. I bought a never installed "new old stock" unit (have yet to get it installed) and I ordered the controller and various other bits that new from Gear Vendors that were missing from the unit I got. You have to call GV during biz hours to order though, that's the only way.
 

Olds64

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It's odd to use black for anything but ground in DC electronics.

To test continuity:

1) Set multimeter to "tone ohms capacitor" check
2) Put the black multimeter wire in the COMmon port of the multimeter
3) Press the tone button on your multimeter (you should see a tone icon pop-up on the display)
4) Touch the black multimeter wire to your negative battery terminal.
5) Put the red multimeter wire in the "V Ohms Diode Check" port on your multimeter
6) Touch the black GV wire with the red multimeter wire
7) You might have to cycle the ON/OFF switch but you should get a beep from your multimeter. If it says OL that means OPEN, meaning the black GV wire has no continuity to ground.

A) You can also test your multimeter by touching the red and black multimeter wires together after step 5. The multimeter should beep.
 

franklin2

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Anytime you are doing continuity tests, you must disconnect from any power source. For instance, if you wanted to check the switch, both of it's wires must be disconnected from the circuit so you have just the switch. Then you can put your meter on ohms or continuity and move the switch back and forth.

If you leave wiring connected, it can feed back through other circuits in the truck and foul the continuity test. If you have voltage on the wires that will foul the tests up also.
 

78F150SUPERCAB4X4

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Thanks for the detailed info guys!!! You guys are awesome.

Olds64--Thanks for those steps on the multimeter. That's exactly what I needed to know.

Franklin2--thank you for bringing that to my attention. Not knowing that, I would have tested the switch just like I tested it for voltage (I wouldn't have unplugged the wires). So thanks for pointing that out.

Cubey--I pray that's all the problem is. I hate to have to buy a new control box. I'm hoping it's just a bad wire connection on the dash switch or the toggle switch on the shifter. But if you knew how my luck is, it'll be the most expensive problem.

Jesus Freak--I know nothing about ohms. I was told how to check the ohms buy one of the guys posting on this thread. I'm electricity illiterate, but I can follow instructions.....LOL

IdiBronco--I hope not because that would be the easiest fix.

So I'll work on this sometime between Friday and Monday and will post the results. I'm in the process of trying to get my 92 Mustang put back together at the same time I'm working on the GV in my truck. I usually only get to work on stuff on Sundays because of my work schedule, but I'm off Friday and Monday for Christmas so hopefully I'll get this accomplished, all while fighting the cold ass weather.
 

78F150SUPERCAB4X4

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Yeah, the Mustang project (it's a GT 5.0L) started out with a simple clutch replacement and while the 5 speed was out I decided to rebuilt it. But it snowballed into having to cut off the front two catalytic converters because I couldn't get two of the exhaust manifold bolts off and the other two I snapped off. Then when trying to change the intake manifold gaskets, I snapped off two of the intake bolts, which means I had to pull the heads to have the bolts removed by a machine shop. While I had the heads at the machine shop, I decided to have them rebuilt since they have 156,000+ miles on them. So now I'm putting it all back together.

Merry Christmas to all of you.
 

hce

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The 4x4 lockout does not lockout 4x4 it locks out overdrive. I would blow out the connector make sure there is not some crud causing it to trip. Check the other unused connections also. The red light should come on regardless of speed sensor, it is the auto overdrive indicator. What happens when using the hand switch to manually shift into overdrive?
Probably have a problem with the dash switch or wiring. For some reason the control box is not seeing the dash switch.
Have you tested the dash and hand switches are they open in one position and closed in the other? Have you tested to see if the red light is good? Maybe able to swap connector on the red and green light and see if the green light will light up.
The wiring is interconnected between the dash and hand switch. The switch harness is not simply 2 wires for each switch. There two 4 wire telephone cables for each switch and the cables are interconnected and spliced to heavier gauge wire before the switches and lights. Normal vibration could have damage the telephone wires. With no proper wire schematic one would have to pull the harness completely apart and test individual wires and splices. When it comes to the wiring harness your are at the mercy of Gear Vendors. Gear Vendors does a excellent job of keeping their products secret. Maybe try contacting them with a different email address. Possibly have someone else call, and explain your work situation. They may look for your email or offer some other way to contact you.
 

Olds64

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Anytime you are doing continuity tests, you must disconnect from any power source.
Right you are Franklin.

That Fox body Mustang sounds like a cool project. Hopefully the OP can figure out his GV with the linked manual.
 

78F150SUPERCAB4X4

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HCE--You're right, it locks out the overdrive, not the 4x4. I misspoke, but I meant what you said....

Ok guys, I got a chance to work on the GV in the truck tonight. I removed the instrument bezel and was able to remove the dash switch and do some testing.

So behind the Autodrive light there's a yellow & green wire. Behind the Overdrive light, there's a yellow & blue wire. Behind the on/off switch there's a black, red & white wire. So the first set of wires I was going to test was the yellow & green autodrive wires, which is the red light was wasn't coming on. I had a hell of a time removing the butt connector off the spade because it fit so tight (which tells me it's not a loose connection issue). But once I moved it a little so I could get my multimeter test probe on the spade terminal, I flipped the switch on the gear shift and the light came on. So it seems that even though the connections were super tight, just moving the connectors made it make contact again? Who knows, but the light came on. I haven't driven it yet to see if it will shift, but the only reason it wasn't shifting is because the red light wasn't coming on in the first place. So even though I got it to work, I went ahead and did some voltage testing on each of the spade terminals with the gear shift switch in both the on and off position. Here are the results.....

DASH SWITCH AUTODRIVE & OVERDRIVE WIRING

--Autodrive Yellow On: 13.52v
--Autodrive Yellow Off: 13.68v
--Autodrive Green On: 0.15v
--Autodrive Green Off: 13.68v

--Overdrive Yellow On: 13.47v
--Overdrive Yellow Off: 13.64v
--Overdrive Blue On: 13.50v
--Overdrive Blue Off: 13.68v

DASH SWITCH ON/OFF WIRING

--On/Off Red On: 13.55v
--On/Off Red Off: 13.64v
--On/Off Black On: 0v
--On/Off Black Off: 0v
--On/Off White On: 13.64v
--On/Off White Off: 13.70v
 

franklin2

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Being "stuck" doesn't necessarily mean a good electrical connection. And since you were pulling so hard, it may have moved something else inside where the terminal goes.

If it works, at least you know the box is good and it's a external problem. Goes to show the old "take apart and put it back togther trick" does work, it has worked often for me. And you will have a known place to look if it happens again.
 

78F150SUPERCAB4X4

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Franklin2--I guess great minds think alike. I thought the exact same thing, that if it happened again I know where to start looking.
 
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