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Engine and wrench lights came on!!!

JACKSMYDOG

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jay
Joined
May 8, 2021
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Location
Ontario
Vehicle(s)
2020 Ranger Lariat FX4 Black
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Retired
About a week ago the engine light came on, then the next day the wrench light came on.

The engine light story is linked at the bottom, posted in another thread.

The wrench light phone app warning message said something to the effect of - powertrain issue, possible differential sensor problem. The warning are deleted from my phone now so I can't post the exact wording.

I scheduled service but they can't take it until next week. Over a few days the wrench light came on and off a few times. It seemed random at first, but twice after parking in a spot with slight driver's side lean, I noticed it was off both times. This lead me to think it was just a fluid level issue.

While waiting for my service appointment, I was doing spring service of oil change, winter/summer tire flip, etc. I was of course going to check both diffs for leaks, but then decided I would just do fluid change in both. Neither are due, in fact at 100,000km I'm not even half life of the 240,000km recommendation. But 1 - I didn't want the dealer to report them as potential causes and charge me outrageous labour costs, and 2 - I have a RC diff skid plate, that has to be removed, and again, didn't want to pay the dealer hourly rate to do it. If after changes the engine light came back on and the dealer found a bad sensor, they can change that, but I try to limit their hands on mt truck or in my wallet.

The front diff oil was not terrible, but certainly dirtier than I expected. The magnetic plug had a huge amount of build up. A glob fell off as soon as I opened it, probably 1/2 inch long by the diameter of the plug which is ~5/8" or so. Very glad I decided to change it whether it was the wrench light problem source or not.

After I did the engine, front diff, and transfer case oil changes, I had to reposition the truck.When I originally parked to do the service the wrench light was on, when I started the truck after changing the front diff fluid, the wrench light was off, and hasn't come back on since.

The rear diff and transfer case oils were about the same as the front diff. Not excessively dirty, no burnt smell, decent fluidity and viscosity still, but all three had large amounts of metal on the drain plugs. Far more than reasonable IMO, considering I'm less than half life for recommended fluid changes on all three. With that said I use my 4x4 a lot. More than most I would guess. But regardless of that, the rear diff use isn't much different than every other truck on this forum whether 4x4 or not, or if they ever use it off road. My new service interval for all three fluid changes is now 50,000km.

And the engine light story.

I came here just to post about my recent engine light and wrench lights coming on, which I will do a dedicated thread.

For this thread, my engine light came on last week. The app showed a messages that read;

1 - The turbocharger wastegate maybe stuck closed.
2 - An electrical fault with the turbocharger wastegate actuator has occurred.

When I plugged a code reader in it said - Turbocharger wastegate stuck closed, most likely repair, replace turbo assembly.

While waiting for my service appointment, I was doing spring maintenance, changing summer/winter wheels, oil change, etc. After the oil change, the engine light went out and hasn't come back on.

The oil wasn't excessively old at 6,000 miles. It is Mobil 1 full synthetic extended performance which rates itself good for 18,000 miles, compared to most Mobil 1 full synthetics that rate themselves good for 12,000 miles.

Admittedly I am not known for checking oil level on the regular, unless a vehicle is known to burn or leak. When I do changes I generally put them near the max fill level, recheck a few days later, then don't often check again. I rarely check oil level at time of change, in particular with this truck, because it has to sit for 20 minutes before I can get a good level reading, and I like to do it when it is still as hot as practical. All that is to say, I don't know if oil level was slightly low on this cycle. I do find it unlikely, but it is possible.

It's been 2 days since the oil change, and the engine light still hasn't come back on. How an oil change would affect the wastegate operation isn't obvious to me. Neither is how low or dirty oil would cause a wastegate warning light to come on.

With all that said, I recommend checking oil level and maybe doing a top up or out of cycle oil change before moving forward with any big cost turbo work.

Good luck.
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