Well, on a recent camping excursion this past weekend I had an odd situation arrise with the ol' trusty V10 (4R100). On the way to the lake I found my self bucking 45mph winds and used the truck pretty hard for most of an hour, used second gear ALOT. Got to the campground and used the truck to put the boat in and out of the water and had no issues. When leaving the campground and accelerating hard getting onto the highway I had a skip shift where the truck skipped third gear all together. It shifted hard and went from second to OD (I had forgot to turn off OD when leaving the campground). It made this shift just as I was getting out of the throttle. I looked down to turn off the OD and noticed the OD light blinking at which point I said uhoh, this isn't good. The light probably flashed 3 times. I cann't remember if I rolled into the gas or pushed the OD button at this point but I dropped the truck back to 3rd as my fifthwheel is to large to haul in OD. The light quit blinking and I towed the rest of the way home (approx 60 miles) with out any issue in 3rd. The light never blinked again and I didn't notice any adverse affects. I did let it shift into OD once about halfway home just to see and everything seemed normal.

I'm crossing my fingers hoping it was a fluke deal. I am hoping that after missing the 3rd gear shift the blinking OD light was simply telling me that it missed a shift and that since it was no longer blinking that it's fine. Although, If anybody else has experienced this I would be glad to hear some feed back.

The truck does have a 91 octane performance tune in it from Mike @ 5star which I will also be pointing to this thread for any help.

Also, it appears that torque converter does indeed lock up in 2nd but can anybody confirm this form me. I really didn't think much of it untill I had to run it 2nd for about 1/2 hour while fighting the hills and wind! I watch the trans temp gauge closely for any movement and it never moved from the normal position. I know the factory gauges are nothing more than an idiot light but it never moved at all and definately never reached what Ford considers hot. Does somebody have the heat range for where the gauge reads normal and at which point it would go to the next setting?

Lastly, I checked the trans fluid when I arrived home and although it was full and looked very clean it seemed to have that slight burned smell. The fluid was changed at about 40k miles and I now have 62k miles on it. I'm thinking it may be wise to get it changed as a precaution.

Thanks for any input, by the way the truck is any 03' F250 Crew Cab V-10 with the 4R100, 3.73 gearing, 285/75/16 tires and with an SCT turner from 5-Star installed and the y-pipe mod.

 

Tried pulling codes with the SCT scanner/tunner and the PCM had no codes stored. I'm assuming this was a fluke deal. I'll find out this weekend as I will be towing the same load to the same destination.

 

I know from experience that if you are in it had and you let off just when it's ready to shift it will go all the way into OD with a hard shift, I have never looked at the OD light at the same time so I don't know if it blinked or not.

The transmission will go into any gear unlocked and then lockup under heavy load and the hotter the transmission is the faster it will lockup and the harder the shift because unlocked it will build up more heat.

I have been pulling heavy 5vers with our truck from new so I have learned all the odd things that this transmission does especially pulling steep grades in the mountains. I know you have heard this before but a set of 4.30 gears would make a world of difference in the way your truck pulls and you will be able to pull in OD 95% of the time.

Denny

 

Do you know what was the trans temp during the problem?
Burnt smelling fluid is never a good thing...
You can change the fluid but if the internal parts were cooked you can't do anything other then rebuild..

 

Definitely change the fluid... BUT - is the speedo jumpy at all?

Sounds like the classic VSS going bad.

 

Nothing else out of the normal. I thought VSS also but I haven't noticed anyother odd behavior. As far as trans temp, it never go hot enough to trip the idiot light/show hot on the gauge, it never left normal. I'll probably change the fluid anyhow as cheap insurance. Taking the exact same load and same trip tomarrow, will post back monday with any results.

 

Mine did this when I started having misfires (very slight). When I tried pulling out of the drive way, it would get no power to the wheels at all and almost felt like it stalled but then it would catch and go. OD light would flash during that, periodically flash when driving. A scanner will catch the VSS code, changed the VSS, still got the flashing OD. Scanner got the VSS again. A month went by, still doing the OD flash. Misfire got worse, changed plugs and had to change 2 Coils. No problems since!

So check your plugs and Coils. Also heard of this happening with an alternator going out. It has something to do with electrical problems cause your trans to throw the "problem light" (OD Flashing).

Almost willing to put money on it that its your plugs or coils or both...Goodluck

 

A misfiring COP can put all sorts of EMI (noise) into the electrical system. Future_LEO has a good point.

 

Plugs changed at 50k or so. I drove into work this morning and truck behaved as always, no odd behavior. I even tried to get it to shift funny and nothing. Mike @ 5-Star sent me an updated 91 Octane towing tune that I have loaded on the X3. I'll load that before leaving this afternoon and see if anything changes. I'll report back after the weekend.

 

Well, I have nothing to report after a weekend of hard use. Towed the train (boat and camper) to and from the lake and had no odd behavior and the truck actually continues to impress me considering how undergeared I really have it set up. Didn't have to fight any wind either day that I was towing and I swored the truck felt like it had an extra 100 hp compared to last weekend fighting the wind down and back. Heck, with 22k lbs rolling down the road I actually had to watch myself to keep it at 60-65, looked down and to see the speed tipping 70 mph a couple of times and had to slow myself up.

I'm going to assume it was nothing more than a fluke and leave it at that. I'll probably get the fluid changed in the coming weeks to get rid of the slight burn smell even though it looks as clean as a whistle. Thanks for the help and I have to give a shout to Mike @ 5-Start for the quick replys to emails that I had sent and the updated tune. Maybe it was the fact I didn't have to fight the wind but I cann't remember it towing so well with the current load, could it be the updated tune? I guess only Mike knows the ansewer to that one!

Thanks again

 

Like I said earlier the transmission in the 2V will bang into gear if you have it under a heavy load and let off just before it's ready to shift, it's been happening to mine for years. Next time it happens I will have to remember to look at the OD light and see if it flashes .

Denny

 

This is true. My HID fog bulbs/ballasts will trip the ABS Light/Speedo sometimes on initial turn-on.

 

Well, I have figured out the problem. After camping this past weekend I figured out that the shift stock must have a loose wire as I could jiggle the handle and get the OD light to go on and off consistantly. Although that's a cheap enough fix, I baked the trans this past weekend backing into my camp site and had 1/4 quart or so of fluid come out. Did a little research to learn I'm not the first to fry a trans backing a trailer up!

Oh well, I guess I knew better and although I use 4 low 50% of the time when backing the fifth wheel into place, it only takes one time to f' up the torque converter and front seal. I'll be changing my ways to 100% of the time when backing up heavy trailers any distance. I've already talk to two trany shops about the work at hand and am awaiting quotes for an R&R on the trans and a full axle rebuild front and rear with 4.56s. I'm done hating the days I have to fight the wind and always wondering how long the trans will hold up to the abuse I've been putting it through. I'm guessing the total cost to be a tick over $3k for everthing but that's not even a half years worth of payments on a new truck and the trusty V10 only has 63k on it to date.

I figure I might as well make it a towing machine since other than hunting machine it doesn't get used uless theres a load in the bed or a trailer in tow! With my 285's, my effective gear ratio will be close to a stock truck with 4.30s. I have never known the truck any different than it is today (which is undergeared with 3.73s) so I am expecting a rather considerable improvement in towing performance. Looking forward to the final product, the bill to due the work not so much!

 

Not sure about this, but isn't reverse a higher gear (lower numerically) than 1st? Which is why you toast the fluid when backing? Too much TC slip?

I would ALSO look into what size tranny cooler you have, and if your fan clutch was really locking up at low speeds/hi temps.

 

Basically from what I've been told is the TC doesn't lock up under load in reverse hence it is easy to bake the TC and fluid when backing heavy trailers up, especially up hill which is what I was doing, go figure. I drove 150 miles with the boat and camper in tow and a GVWR of over 20k lbs yet I baked the trany backing only the camper up a small incline that took less than a few minutes, that sucks!

From what I understand is you can actually get the TC and surrounding fluid extremely hot this way without heating up the rest of the trans enough to even move the gauge (my gauge never moved from center). When this happens the seal at the front gets soft and leaks trans fluid. Once cooled down they will often times reseal themselves and quit leaking, sometimes only for a short time, sometime indefinately. Mine is currently not leaking however I don't want to get half way to the lake and have it let loose. I was also told there is an update seal than can be used. And as far as the gauge goes, since it never moved from center I know overall trans temp never went above 230 degrees so the rebuild should actually be fairly simple. I did pull the camper home the 150 mile trip without any trouble at all other than being on edge a little however I had a buddy follow me and had him tow my boat to ease the stress on the trans untill I atleast get the fluid and filter changed.

The transmission problem only gave me some reasoning with the wife on getting the gears installed that I've wanted for a long time, now I have a ligitment gripe because the wife doesn't want to be stranded anywhere either, lol. It might have helped avoid this situation although that remains to be seen. For me the future holds a freshing of the trany, a new set of gears, a fresh tune from 5-star, and of course a new shift stock to fix the original concern (OD light blinking randomly). I of course will need a new set of rubber come fall but I'll tackle that when the time comes!