During all the tests, your looking for circuit low ohms, not for voltage or just basic continuity on the circuit line. At least in these tests.

Meaning,, when the test/check guidelines asks if the reading comes back ' less' than 5 ohms',, if 5 ohm or less basically it's a "health check" of that circuit for anything that can cause resistance issues. Lower the ohms=the better the circuit can flow=good. Higher ohms, may indicate a poor connection, corrosion, chafed wire or short (wire to wire or grounding) and even a complete open like a wire separation from the connector or wire break. Even failed contacts within a component, high resistance within and so on..


Sometimes when working in cramped quarters, or on connector plugs that are small, narrow, over populated with pins etc and don't have room to probe easily,, or get any kind of gator type clips onto the pins, you can sometimes make home made extensions with small roll pins or red butt connectors etc with a pig tail wire crimped/soldered on one end. Crimp them a bit if too big for the pins for a snug slip fit to hold them on and in place.

For the connectors with female (accept male pins) terminals, small cotter pins cut so the legs are of equal lengths and spread slightly to add some 'side tension' when installed work well for a hands free gator connection or to test with pin type probes..

Mirrors, angled/long extended needle nose can be of help sometimes and good old enginuity most times will prevail..

Sometimes getting access is a challenge like your finding out, and removing the sensor is an option for a final go/no go test before replacing, but like with a new sensor, would require an alignment prior to install.

 

I had my meter set on Ohms, not volts. I was testing for the Ohms. As stated previously, I had it set to 20K on the ohms seeing I was testing for 5 ohms, when I got nothing on that setting, I took it to 200, nothing, then to 2K, nothing, then to 200K, nothing, then to 2M, nothing, then to 20M and again, nothing. Each time I changed it I touched the tips of the probes to zero it out...

I found several videos on how to properly install the sensor without the special tool. Plus I have the Haynes repair manual to my escape and it shows how to replace it.

 

Was responding to...

Quote.
Only part of all this that confused me to the point of giving up is, how am I suppose to get a reading off the trans sensor with the wire harness off it and the key off?? Wouldn't that throw a infinity/open reading bc there is nothing going to it??

No,, the test is looking for a low ohm passing 'through' the sensor, so it doesn't require voltage. Like testing a fuse or bulb if it's burnt out in ohms it would indicate infinity/open,, OR, again in ohms,, if the caps, prongs, or lead/solder contacts were corroded at the contact ends, the meter may show high residence on a good fuse/bulb. A clean good fuse would zero your meter, yet a bulb may show slight resistance through the bulbs filaments. A continuity test would be the same results for either a bulb or fuse. So, resistance tests are to put a value on any restriction to the flow...

 

Well either way, the meter read zero when I tested the actual sensor....

 

Hey aggrevated Ford owners, i'm looking at an Escape cruise problem right now. My servo would not free wheel. replaced with used and of course still not working. Going to run the self test. There is no brake pressure switch in the master cylinder. let you all now whats up.

 

fogosfishin- My Escape doesn't have the brake pressure switch on the master cylinder either.

What do you mean "servo would not free wheel?" As in the steering wheel is locked?

 

So, I've been doing major research to this problem. I've come up with several different reason of "why" this cruise control could have failed (doesn't engage). With much searching, I've come found another reason as to why it might not be engaging... The actual position of the brake pedal, aka going to the floor/squishy or being to hard to press/stiff. So, I put it to the test and to me, my brake seems a little "squishy". What I mean by that is with the vehicle off, I pumped the brake several times (5 I believe) and on the 5th one I held it down, turned the key to the "on" position and the brake pedal went almost immediately to the floor (well not all the way but it dropped a good distance)... So, I pumped the brake pedal with the car running and it got stiffer, then I held the pedal down, turned the car off and held it for 30 seconds and pumped it several times and it was between 1/2 and 3/4 of the way to the floor. So, with this finding and research and experiment I'm wondering if my brake pedal is out of adjustment and is sending a disengage signal to the speed control actuator/cruise control?

Any input or suggestions?

 

Until Hayapower has a chance to reply to your most recent post,

I read just about all of the communication postings and it has become so complicated that sometimes we go off the deep end looking for a problem that isn't there.

For what it's worth, somethings to consider,
that switch you replaced , not sure if its position is adjustable, if so and it is not close enough to the brake pedal arm , it could be leaving the switch open as if the pedal were depressed. There has to be 2 parts to that switch, one to make a circuit to make the brake lights come on and release the shift lock solenoid and the other part to open a normally closed circuit that opens when the pedal is depressed to cancel the cruise control. Switch position is critical, as is also , and this is a major problem these days , could the switch you installed itself be faulty? You can verify this with just your ohmmeter and checking the pins/contacts , in the normal position ,one part should have continuity and the other should not.The one with continuity should be for the cruise circuit and the one that only closes when the pedal is depressed should be the circuit that turns the stop lites on. It might be a good idea to confirm this much before going on a wild goose chase looking for a problem that may not exist. What do you think?

 

Hanky- Thank You for your input. I don't believe the cruise control brake switch is adjustable, it didn't seem to appear to be anyways. I'm going to do the ohmmeter on it when I get a chance, it's been way to hot here. I'm also going to check the actual brake switch (mine has 2 different ones, 1 for cruise and 1 for the brake lights) and see if maybe it's bad or needs adjusting...

 

The LFC/lamp flash codes may be the key if your consistently getting a #4 code..

If the stop lamp switch had a short/open (switch closes on pedal application) when applied or a switch issue, the self test should have reported a flash code #2 Plus the stop lamps would be INOP.

If the deactivation switch was open (normally closed during cruise ops,, opens on brake application to cancel) or a circuit/switch issue,, the lamp flash report during self test should register a #3

A simple test/check like Hanky mentioned would quickly prove them out, and it seems to have gotten pretty involved, but if the LFC reports a #4 and the trans range fails the resistance test, giving the sensor a good looking over and a bench test prior to a new unit being sourced may answer questions if testing it in place is questionable because of access..