Freedomline transmission issue finally solved

[lockmup68]

International 9200i, Cummins ISX, Meritor Freedomline

Reported a few times over the last five years, intermittent trans goes into "SM" or system malfunction mode, ABS lights on and off, sometimes dies in gear and cannot restart because it is not in neutral, etc. 

So after a ton of testing, replacing some sensors, and finally, just getting International on the line and waiting for days and days. Finally, there was a TSB on the transmission and the wiring harness. There is an overlay transmission wiring harness, ~$500, that seems to have fixed the issue. Since it was an overlay, vs. a plug and play harness, had to remove each individual pin in the various connectors and replace with the new wires, was a total pain, and took 19 hours of shop time to get it installed. However, issue is finally resolved. NOTE: if the ABS light is on, the transmission will not auto shift, defaults into manual mode. 

HTH someone with the freedom line. 

Shannon

[Nuke-E]

$500 for the wiring harness sounded expensive until I saw 19 hours of shop time!

Is your truck able to read out a diagnostic code on the dash? Just curious what the first symptoms were.

I had a SM code years ago on mine, and the instrument panel gave me the two digit code.  I found a service manual published somewhere that had a code description that said the neutral button switch was erratic.  I was able to unplug it from the shifter (which also unplugged the button you use to shift to reverse), and finish the trip relying on it shifting to neutral automatically each time I turned the key off. Fortunately, in my case, the problem was the spring under the plastic button cap getting caught on the microswitch.