All,
Have a 96 E350 7.3l Van (powerstroke) 120K. The van is having transmission issues.....


Several months back the van when you put it into gear it would not move unless you gave it a lot of gas. I brought it into the dealer they replaced the VSS and boom it was fine shifted and went perfect. Several months later it is back. Now I brought it back to the dealer and on my way it was acting crazy it wouldn't go past 35 MPH and if you put it in reverse it would go forward. The speedo would also jump. So now the dealer is saying it needs a new trans, something has welded/stuck together inside causing this they claim. I tried to pull the codes prior, but couldn't because every scanner I own doesn't do the trans codes. Including the auto engunity scanner. Can someone shed some more light on what would cause such and is a new trans the case here?


Another strange thing with this van is it will stall when you pull regular codes....any idea on this?

 

Not all scanners will work with these motors. I have a scan gauge but I would think the auto integrity would work.

 

Those are the symptoms of the forward clutch being welded together.

When you had to rev it to get it to move you destroyed the forward clutch. It worked for a little while longer, now it has totally failed. The trans needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Sorry.

 

Generic OBD-II scanners will stop the engine when you attempt to obtain trouble codes with the engine running. AE should be able to pull trans codes; is the "Ford Enhanced" feature activation turned on?

 

I have the ford total package.......Where would I turn that on? I can view the shift solonoids and things so I think its on, just no trans codes.

If it stalls it, how do you perform KOER tests?

 

Ouch! Thanks for the info. What would cause such?

 

"Ford total package" of what? Can we guess (and we'd be guessing...) that you're using AutoEnginuity? If so, Help -> Feature Activation - make sure "Ford Enhanced" has a green background.
Some generic OBD-II devices read _SOME_ of our parameters; it's basically dumb luck, and you might have gotten lucky with the solenoid readings.

A device that properly communicates with your truck won't stall it. Again, if it's AE, and you've done the above, also check Vehicle -> Communications Configuration (or something like that; going by memory). One of the drop-down selections has an option for "Non-OBD-II Only". Make sure you select that.

 

Revving the engine while a clutch (forward clutch in this case) is slipping causes a HUGE amount of energy to be absorbed by that clutch. The ATF can't cool it as fast as you're adding heat from all that energy, so the friction material burns. Once it is gone your clutch is operating on a metal to metal surface instead of metal to clutch material.