1993 f150
4.9 e4od
I have lost fourth gear in my truck. But I have no other issues. The other 3 gears operate normal. The granny shifts fine in all other gears. It tries to shift to 4th at about 37mph but stays in 3rd.

Tranny fluid is full, no odor, good color.
Truck pulls and drives normal in gears 1-3
Koer- all pass, (6 and 111)
Koeo - 332- insufficient egr flow (blocked off egr 4 months ago, due to cruising surge issue)
-619 - 3-4 shift
-628- converter slippage

Again the truck runs great aside from this issue and another abs issue that's been there for about a year.

I have my opinion already but i would like to see what you guys in the forum think. You have all been helpful in the past.

 

Oh yes I forgot to mention. Before I completely lost 4th gear (od) last week I had another OD issue. Previously the truck would down shift to 3rd then back to 4th every now and then while driving at cruising speed (45-60mph).
The fluid and filter was replaced about 4 years ago (10,000 miles at most)

 

Some more troubleshooting notes:
manual shifting- if I hold it in 1 (1st gear) it pulls normal (but with a slight whining sound). However decelerating in 1st gear causes a surging feel, kinda like taking a boat over waves, the transmission will coast for a second then reengage 1st gear, then coast then reengage, so on..... Again like driving a boat over waves.


in 2nd and 3rd gear it operates absolutely normal. Even 1st gear ops normal if the transmission is in d(2) or o.d(3).


any help appreciated , I hate to through 2,000 dollars for a new tranny when I may could fix this one with a 300 dollar part.

 

Well my thought is that this is one of 3 problems,
1. Torque converter is failing
2. Clutch packs are failing
3. Shift solenoid failure


so I bought a filter And some fluid and dropped the pan for further troubleshooting.


while the fluid was clean (no metal flake in it or burning). The magnet looked about the size of a doughnut from al the sludge like particles stuck to it. I wiped it off and found several small shards of metal, all paper thin and about 1/4 inch wide most of them are about 1/2 to 1 inch long with one being about 3 inches long. Needless to say it appears that I have lost the clutch disc for 4th gear. And maybe a coast clutch causing that 1st gear surging.


amazingly however this tranny still runs good, I put some fresh fluid and 1 qt of lucus oil. And I've driven it this way for about 2 weeks now, really speaks to the quality of the e4od.


so I guess I'm gonna save up some money for a couple weeks and buy a remanufactured transmission. Still cheaper than a new truck.

 

Any thoughts on possibility of OD band burning up?

 

Yep that's the most likely answer which would warrant a rebuild. I was hopeful that it was just a solenoid issue but with over 350,000 miles the transmission is likely worn throughout.


so my next decision may be to buy a 500 dollar better to drive for a month or 2 while I save up 1500 for a reman e4od

 

1. How could it be the torque converter? How would it know to fail in fourth gear, but work in all other gears?
2. We have a winner.
3. Nope, not it.

No, there isn't the slightest chance this could be the problem. There is no OD band in an E4OD.

The overdrive clutch has failed. You need to replace or rebuild this trans soon, it isn't going to continue to work in the lower gears for a much longer.

 

What's your estimate on what that might cost? Mine has what to me is a weird 3 to 4 slow shift. Like the clutch slips but I have no fault codes. I still think something isn't totally right and wondering what we are out to fix this issue. Also would dropping the pan tell me or my mechanic anything? My truck shifts good except for again what to me is a weird shift into od but only when warm and at about 1/4 throttle. If I'm light on throttle or into it pretty good it shifts different but normal acceleration seems to shift different only 3 to 4 though

 

What you are seeing is the torque converter locking during the 3-4 shift. This is normal. The only way to "fix" this is a custom chip that doesn't do that.