2002 Sport Trac OBD Not working Fuses all good?

[Toneybrown07]

So, My 02 Sport Trac threw a check engine light today. Didn't notice anything off when driving, but took it by two auto part stores and neither could get the OBD reader to work. One said the Key needed to be turned on, which it was. The other just wouldn't connect.

Doing online searches I see a lot of people had problems with the fuse that works the OBD connector and the cigarette lighter. My fuses all seem good, and the lighter plug works.

One issue I do have with the truck is the ignition is kind of wonky. The shifter is pretty loose, and I have to push up on the shifter to be able to turn the key all the way off and pull the key out. I'm curious if something in the ignition/column could be causing the problems with the OBD reader? If I can't figure it out, I'll just live with the check engine light until I notice a performance issue I guess.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Toneybrown07]

I went ahead and disconnected the negative terminal of the battery to reset the Check Engine light. Will wait and see if it pops back up. Still can't figure out why the ODB connector is not transmitting data.......

 

[Todd Z]

From what I remember there is actually a second fuse for it..... Need a fuse tester or volt meter and start testing.

 

[Toneybrown07]

Well, after resetting the check engine light, it stayed off for half a day. On the way home from work it came back on. Going to stop buy Autozone and have them attempt to run the code again. If that doesn't work, I guess I will look at every fuse in this sucker!!!

 

[DILLARD000]

If serious about vehicle maintenance, truely need your own OBD2 Scanner.
ELM\BlueTooth Module & ForScan+OBDLink+... apps can be had for $25~$100.

 

[Toneybrown07]

Hello everyone I'm back! So, my previous check engine light from 2022 seemingly went away on it's own without ever getting a code. Here I am in 2025 and that bastard is back. Instead of doing the auto parts store scanner, I went to a repair shop. Their assumingly better scanner still could not pull a code.

So, today I broke out the multimeter. With the key on I have 12v to the power/body ground, power and both grounds at the obd2 port. Out of curiosity I check every Obd2 connection point and they all had voltage with the power from 7-11 volts. I checked the fuses under the hood for the pcm and the relay which both seemed completely fine.

At this point I don't think there could be a wiring problem at the obd2 port. However, something is keeping it from communicating with the computer. Does anyone have an idea of where I could look next to solve this problem?

I keep going back to my previous post about the ignition. Today on the way home from work I was driving at about 60 mph and the truck instantly died. I pulled off the road, put it in park and tried to restart. When I turned the key nothing happened. I pushed up on the gear shift again, to make sure it was in park and it started right back up. I was able to drive home with no more issues. Also, my check engine light was gone, as if I had disconnected the battery.

These things seem related, but I don't have the knowledge to put the pieces together. Help! My wife wants me to buy a new truck, but this thing is still under 170K!

 

[cadman777]

Hello everyone I'm back! So, my previous check engine light from 2022 seemingly went away on it's own without ever getting a code. Here I am in 2025 and that bastard is back. Instead of doing the auto parts store scanner, I went to a repair shop. Their assumingly better scanner still could not pull a code.

So, today I broke out the multimeter. With the key on I have 12v to the power/body ground, power and both grounds at the obd2 port. Out of curiosity I check every Obd2 connection point and they all had voltage with the power from 7-11 volts. I checked the fuses under the hood for the pcm and the relay which both seemed completely fine.

At this point I don't think there could be a wiring problem at the obd2 port. However, something is keeping it from communicating with the computer. Does anyone have an idea of where I could look next to solve this problem?

I keep going back to my previous post about the ignition. Today on the way home from work I was driving at about 60 mph and the truck instantly died. I pulled off the road, put it in park and tried to restart. When I turned the key nothing happened. I pushed up on the gear shift again, to make sure it was in park and it started right back up. I was able to drive home with no more issues. Also, my check engine light was gone, as if I had disconnected the battery.

These things seem related, but I don't have the knowledge to put the pieces together. Help! My wife wants me to buy a new truck, but this thing is still under 170K!

Typically if you can't get a code reader to connect, you have issues with your CANbus.
The way to test this CANbus is shown in this video.