Urgent vss sensor not the same??

Hey yall

I own a 99 Windstar with a 3.8L. I ran a search on my tranny problem and came up with a defective VSS, that being said I went to the parts store and got one. The problem is when I droped the exhaust y pipe, removed heat shield and 10mm bolt what I removed isn't even close to what the Haynes Repair Manual shows. I have removed the front wheels and other parts to get a better look at the top of thr tranny and have a good veiw. The only sensor that is mounted in this spot is a black cylinder about a 1/2 in around 2 in long with a blue and yellow wire and a gray and red wire on a pig-tail a foot long.
I referenced the manual and can not identify this part also I have located all the other sensors on thr tranny eliminating misidentifying these parts.
Has anyone else heard of this problem?:banghead:

I am normaly pretty good at this kind of stuff but this one has got me stumped.
It wouldn't be so urgent but my other car got totaled last week and this is my only transportation untill the insurance comes through.
Any help is greatly appriciated.


By the way the part #'s on the top of the sensor are as follows
XF2P-7H103-AB
10456581
3189

I have replaced the vss (OSS?) sensor on my '99 not too long ago, but even so, I'm not sure I'll remember enough to help you. It was a heck of a job! I removed the cowling just to get some light down in the area. Why they located the sensor just where they did makes no sense. It could have been located on the side of the tranny extension ... but "no", it is located directly on top of the tranny extension ... just a few inches away from where the RH drive shaft connects into the tranny. I dropped the RH exhaust manifold (as well as the exhaust connector) away from the head, and then used a hand mirrow just to see the thing.

I think you have the wire colors correct ... DB/YE & GY/RD.

Thanks 12Ounce....did your sensor look anything like the one I described?
You also put OSS in your reply are they one in the same? I probably will have to go to the delarsihp since the kids at the chain parts stores cant tell a tire from a stater without a computer to tell them.
By the way AWESOME FORUM :iceslolan! I wish I had known of it a long time ago,it would have sved me a lot of trouble.

The wiring diagram refers to it as a OSS (Output Shaft Speed Sensor), but Ford will call the same part different things sometimes ... so it may well be referred to as the Vehicle Speed Sensor at the parts counter. There is also a Turbine Shaft Speed sensor at the back (LH) end of the tranny, just outside the end cover. These sensors all have the "look" you describe.

Was Looking At Your Thread And Was Wondering What Kind Of Problems You Were Having? I Have A 98 And The Tranny Does Some Weird Things Now And Then, One Of Which Is The Overdrive Light Flashes On The Shift Column, And Then The Overdrive Seems To Switch Out And The Tach Runs Up About 1 Grand Higher Than Normal, Which I Assume Means Its Dropping Into 3rd, And When You Come To A Stop And The Lights Still Flashing, It Takes Off And Shifts Real Hard, Not Sure If This Is What Your Dealing With, But If You Have Any Info, Sure Would Help. Thanks

Thanks again 12Ounce. I havent made it to the dealership yet but I did take some pictures, as soon as I can figure out how to import them I'll post them.

As for your question kharr the tranny acted like the converter was slipping.
The van would take off from a dead stop fine then it would shift from 1st to second it would run the RPM's up to a couple of thousand higher than normal,
then sift hard, it only did this from 1st to 2nd till I got a few blocks from home and then did it from 2nd to 3rd. I checked the tranny fluid, it was a little low and added some and it got some better then got worse again. I ran a google search for "Windstar transmission problems" and came up with a lot of info. Thankfully I found this forum. I saw some posts on the Transaxle Control Switch (TCS) that might be worth checking. Good Luck!

Hey yall

I own a 99 Windstar with a 3.8L. I ran a search on my tranny problem and came up with a defective VSS, that being said I went to the parts store and got one. The problem is when I droped the exhaust y pipe, removed heat shield and 10mm bolt what I removed isn't even close to what the Haynes Repair Manual shows. I have removed the front wheels and other parts to get a better look at the top of thr tranny and have a good veiw. The only sensor that is mounted in this spot is a black cylinder about a 1/2 in around 2 in long with a blue and yellow wire and a gray and red wire on a pig-tail a foot long.
I referenced the manual and can not identify this part also I have located all the other sensors on thr tranny eliminating misidentifying these parts.
Has anyone else heard of this problem?:banghead:

I am normaly pretty good at this kind of stuff but this one has got me stumped.
It wouldn't be so urgent but my other car got totaled last week and this is my only transportation untill the insurance comes through.
Any help is greatly appriciated.


By the way the part #'s on the top of the sensor are as follows
XF2P-7H103-AB
10456581
3189

Hey 70Z22, I have the same windstar and sensor as you. Can't find anything on the web with this sensor part #. Did you ever find the correct sensor?? If so, send me a link. Thanks....

pt# xf2z -7h103-aa sensor.this is what i bought for my winny but never installed. it has two wires grey and a blue

pt# xf2z -7h103-aa sensor.this is what i bought for my winny but never installed. it has two wires grey and a blue

kvn4, thanks for the reply. Yes, the Motorcraft xf2z -7h103-aa is the only sensor I can find online that looks like mine. The "aa" on the end is throwing me off though. Mine says "ab". Too bad you never installed it to see if it works. I might end up just buying this part and trying it out. I could always put back my original part...

P.S. Not to step on anyones toes, but on my 1999 Windstar 3.8L I found getting this sensor out via the cowling area is the only way to go with this part. The "remove motor mount" or "remove Y exhaust" is like driving to Ohio to buy a gallon of milk. Can't understand why someone would go this route on a 99' Took me about two hours to remove and put it back it. And I'm no mechanic.. thanks...

I think the '98 will be similar to my '96.
My Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) went out while I was on a trip, so I had it replaced at a transmission shop outside Tracy City TN.
They got to it from under the vehicle.
They did NOT have to remove the "Y" pipe, but it IS right above one of the catalytic converters.
They did the job "by feel".
The speedometer cable connects to the Vehicle Speed Sensor on the pre-99 unit.
I am not familiar with the 99 and newer.....but expect that the VSS is located in the same, inconvenient, location.
The VSS for the '96 has a shaft that you mount the gear from the old one on.
I looked up the VSS for the 2000 windstar recently, and it looked like a magnetic pick-up style, so at some point they must have switched from the gear type to the magnetic type.
1999 being the major change year for Windstar, the '99 may have the magnetic style also.
I do not know if you have a speedometer cable or not.
My Sienna speedometer is electronic, even though it has the needle (non-digital) like my Windstar did......which was mechanical.....cable from sensor to speedometer.

In short......the VSS may be different for 1999 and newer.
The TSS, Turbine Shaft Sensor is measuring the speed of the shaft that comes out of the Torque Converter......before it goes into the gears (tranny).
So, the computer is monitoring the speed of the shaft going INTO the torque converter (via the motor RPMs), the speed of the shaft coming OUT of the torque converter, and the speed of the wheels (speedometer).
If it looses one of those inputs, it will have a difficult time controlling the transmission.

P.S. Not to step on anyones toes, but on my 1999 Windstar 3.8L I found getting this sensor out via the cowling area is the only way to go with this part. The "remove motor mount" or "remove Y exhaust" is like driving to Ohio to buy a gallon of milk. Can't understand why someone would go this route on a 99' Took me about two hours to remove and put it back it. And I'm no mechanic.. thanks...[/quote]

As mentioned earlier in this thread, the Ford Part # is XF2Z-7H103-AA. This part is currently hard to find. My local dealer located one on the west coast, Ford's supplier wasn't going to ship until after Jan 3rd, 2011.
Had erratic speedometer operation and ABS light when mine would act up, 2000 3.8L.
Didn't pull any codes from my generic code reader, might need a special ABS code reader.

As another poster stated, it is possible to replace this part without removing the Y pipe or motor mount. I decided to scope out the method from above. Remove cowling assy and blower duct work. You can reach behind the exhaust manifold from the #3 cylinder area. It is all blind, by feel only. There is rectangular box heat shield mounted over sensor with one 8mm hex head bolt securing both shield and sensor. You can drop a 1/4" drive 8mm socket on a swivel with extensions through the exhaust manifold valley between cyl's 1 & 2 and guide onto bolt head with your other hand. The bolt is on the right hand side of heat shield. I found accessing connector from top also easier. During this process you are literally laying on the upper intake manifold. Found reinstallation difficult in that it was hard to push sensor with new O ring into bore. Ended up drawing down mounting bolt about "screwdriver tight" then pushing down on sensor with rod through exh manifold valley while holding end of rod in place with my right hand, felt sensor seat in tranny. Before removing I cleaned by feel and compressed air. Hope this helps, don't want to do this job again anytime soon. I broke the pass side wiper arm during reassy, it snapped back and broke the cast metal end. Also, while cowling was removed, good time to access and replace spark plugs.