Hey guys,

Ok. I'm going to try and explain this as best I can but I am not entirely diesel-savvy and I am certainly nowhere near an expert on my truck (I'm a 26 year old female that just learned how to change the oil and filters by myself hahaha).

Saturday morning my grandpa drove my F350 into town pulling our 4-horse trailer (With living quarters). I wasn't with him, but I was told the following: he started smelling something hot and noticed the O/D light start flashing. Now, this man is not the most intelligent man on the planet and uses the O/D to "slow down the engine" when he starts and stops - i.e. uses it as trailer breaks. I have asked repeatedly for him to quit, but as best as I can tell, he continues to do so. After the burning smell, a driver pulled up next to him and pointed down - he looked to see smoke and the truck puking fluid everywhere. He said he thought the truck lost power because he couldn't get it to move. Ended up getting it towed. The tow truck driver checked my fluid level and said I had an extremely small amount of transmission fluid left in the truck...which made sense as the fluid was all on the ground underneath, lol. Fluid was NOT red and looked really gross and there was DEFINITE burnt smell to it.

My question is this - what in the world could have caused the truck to do this (I read that is could be from overheating?), and what should be my next course of action? It is home and in my backyard right now (Classy!). It starts and runs fine, but since there is little to no fluid left, you have to hammer down on it to get it to go anywhere. It does move, however. Really looking for some friendly insight and any advice would be GREATLY appreciated, thank you!

 

First welcome
A picture of your self is a must I mean of your truckjk
Sound like the transmission overheated, 99.9% of the time it has to do with the torque converter slipping excessively and not enough cooling due to the poor design of trans cooler. Remove the trans pan to see if theres any metal shavings, if so time for a rebuild good luck

 

If he was doing a lot of backing up with the trailer, especially up a grade, it could have gotten very warm in a hurry. It will then warp the seal on the torque converter and puke fluid. If it is dark red, brown, or black, and burnt smelling, you probably have a tranny on the way out or all the way toasted.

 

Fill it up and see what happens. I did mine on the beach at pismo towing and like said above the torq converter slips and get really hot. It dumps it but most times you can let it sit and refill and all is fine. I used mine another two years before replacing it. Yours could be done but it's worth a try.

 

I would suggest that you NOT start it and mash the fuel pedal to try and move it. That is never good for a tranny in distress. You came to the right place for help and experts should along soon enough to give you guidance. At least drop the transmission pan and see what drops out as suggested above. You will also want to drain the burn fluid and put in new if you don't have to rebuild it altogether.

 

Mine puked from overheating while hauling my hue fifth wheel. I had it towed to the Stealer. They filled the transmission fluid back up and drove it. The wanted to replace the tranny (of course) but it has been running and towing just fine (so far).

As a disclaimer I still have power problems but my truck is still stock with no power mods.

 

welcome to FTE.
as the others have said, try filling the trans with fluid and see what happens. if it drives fine after filling it, drop the pan and change the filter and fluid. this should buy you a few more years.

and stop letting your grandfather drive your baby.
us old farts can not be trusted with anything that is not ours!!!

 

Welcome aboard!!

I'll echo all the above.

I plow snow heavily in the winter. Last year after a terrible storm I worked the truck very hard for a few hours straight with a "Healthy" transmission.

I noticed a fine red line in the snow after I was done and crawled under the rig to inspect it. It was coming from the weep hole on the front of the transmission otherwise known as the inspection cover.

I called my Transmission builder and was told that the seal (as stated above) on the back of the torque converter (that's what is covered by the inspection plate) is a weak link if the transmission gets hot and will pass fluid under heated pressure.

He advised me to let it cool a bit, top off the fluid and run it lightly and see if the leak stopped. In my case it did and I haven't had a drop since.

If it doesn't leak, as recommended above, it's at a minimal to have the trans pan down for a look see, and a new filter installed.

Crawl under the truck with a can of non chlorinated brake cleaner and a towel and thoroughly clean the pan and inspection plate so you can follow the trail of fluid after you fill it and let it idle in neutral with the E-brake on. This method will allow the ATF to circulate thru out the trans completely. I nosed my truck up to a tree and chocked the rear wheels for safety.

Good luck and let us know how things look.

In the future, give a snapshot of the truck: IE mileage/last maintenance of trans etc to help us evaluate the issue.

Denny

 

Why are you trying to drive it with low fluid??? That's a sure way to cook the tranny! Once it was discovered to be low it should not have been driven till refilled. It only takes a minute or less to burn up an automatic when it runs dry.

I am not so sure taking it out of overdrive for engine braking hurts anything, I always do that when I am descending steep, winding mountain grades, otherwise it wants to run away.

 

Because I'm a girl and I have limited access to reliable, knowledgeable, diesel "peers" in the area and didn't know any better. That would be the reason I'm here now

Thank you to everyone for your friendly, helpful advice! I will get the pan dropped and the filter changed and keep my fingers crossed. Another question - does anyone have a roundabout guess as to what having a new transmission will run? I know there are several options regarding rebuilt and new...but I will have too have it installed professionally, as I would prefer it to be done right for sure, hahaha.

Douglas is a black 1999 F350 with 190k miles. I last changed the oil at 187,000 and he wasn't due again until 193,000. We changed the oil/filter, the fuel filter, and the air filter (Which was really, really gnarly) at the same time. The serpentine belt was getting eaten up, so that was changed just a couple hundred miles ago as well. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head, he really has been a great truck. We have pulled the trailer and have had zero issues - always worked like a beast for us. I honestly wasn't aware that a transmission could just go out in an instant - I thought they usually give a little warning at first. It's never slipped, never kicked.





And just because it was requested so politely, a picture of my girlfriend and I. She's black, I'm red. She actually is the one who normally pulls the trailer, I'm not 110% comfortable with that job just yet.

 

It would not be cheap and it might be hard to find a reputable shop to do it depending on your location. Others will have more specific amounts but you are looking in the $3000 range. One other thing on your truck is its build date since it's a 1999. 1999 was the first year for these things and there were some changes mid-year, nothing too serious. So...check for a build date on the sticker inside your driver's side door jamb, it will be important on some things.

 

You're asking all the right questions here. Just as a practical matter, refilling it with fluid and seeing how it drives and if it leaks is FAR cheaper than just rushing off to a transmission shop for a rebuild - so do that, first. If it shifts well and doesn't leak, I would then have the pan dropped and the filter replaced and refill again, and run with it.

Many transmission shops will go at this with the understanding of 'well, if it has 190K on it, it probably needs rebuilding anyway' - which is thinking that aligns with their desire for money. Of course, it may really need a rebuild, so you have to be ready for that. Since you tow a large trailer, I would find a shop that has done a bunch of these, and/or one that may be willing to use some higher quality internal parts in the transmission, based on their experience. So, call around your town (or nearby) and/or ask some local diesel-heads where they would go. Ford also sells a heavy-duty reman. transmission that has been discussed in this forum.

There is nothing wrong or inappropriate about turning off the overdrive function (end of the shifter stalk) when descending a hill. It saves the truck's brakes and shouldn't cause the transmission to overheat.

Please report back with what you learn from all this, as we all learn from each other.

 

and to add to the rest of the good information, DO NOT let any shop, no matter how good their "reputation" is, do a chemical flush on your transmission.

a filter and fluid change only.

 

Great info, you guys are awesome!

I will let everyone know what is found after the pan is dropped and fluids/filter are changed. I pray it's nothing serious...but a rebuilt tranny is a lot cheaper than a brand new truck, so....lol

 

If your serpentine belt is getting eaten up then you should probably change your belt tensioner. If it fails, you'll replace it, the belt, and possibly the dip stick, a/c electrical plug, etc. It can get expensive.

It costs about $50 for a decent one and takes about ten minutes to change. OEM is a bit more expensive.

Links to great places to get OEM Parts as inexpensively as possible:

TENSIONER | Genuine Ford | BT-50- -verify that this is the correct one

RIFFRAFF FORD DIESEL PERFORMANCE PARTS

DieselOrings