I've gathered that not all E4od's are not equal. I know that the E4od is built off the C6, but that's about it.


Give me the low down on the E4od and 4R100. I've heard rumors and thoughts but don't know what part of them are facts.


I've got the 460, what years of E4od's are the strongest. I remember in the mid 90's they had a bad reputation but it seems to have been fixed. How? What parts were upgraded, was the software changed? Im doing this in my spare time, what parts from what years should I collect?


About the 4R100, I read that guys who had swapped in an E4od replaced it with a 4R100 and just didn't connect the extra electronic hook ups. That doesn't sound like the best strategy to me, wont that shorten trans life?


Is the 4R100 an E4od with all of it's weak points beefed up and fixed?
The only reason I keep thinking 4R100 is because Ive been told it's a super tough tranny with no bugs or shortcomings, kind of like the ultimate C6 with an overdrive.
Is that true?
Is there any books magazine articles on building these transmissions for power? I bought a book on the C6/C4 but cant find one on the overdrive trannys.

 

when they do a rebuild at a reputable dealer or Ford all upgrades are automatically included. I am see prices from $1200 to $3000 for a rebuild based on where you are at. Here in Houston about $1400. The one on my truck is at 206K and its starting to hunt for OD so I am also looking to rebuild soon.

 

By 97 they upgraded the internals a lot. You have a 460 so a 4R100 is out of the question, the bell housing won't match up to your engine.

What year is your truck? Buy 1997 they had upgraded planetary gears, better oil pumps, and improved on the center support bearing from a bushing. That's all that I know of for sure, but I know they did a good amount of upgrades.

If you want good amount of literature on an e4od transmission, private message me with your email address.

 

the ford c6 family consists of the c6,e4od and 4r100.

'89 the e4 was introduced.it was riddled with failures.the case isn't even a trans you ideally want for a reman.

90-94 the trans still had issues and needed some more work.

1995 was a major year for the e4 with a multitude of hard part upgrades.making the e4,stronger than ever before.

late year '97 e4's also received a few minor upgrades.

by '98/'99 the trans underwent more upgrades and changes and ford renamed the trans to the 4r100,even though it was basically the same trans.
some of the changes was the addition of PTO,speed sensors,a pulse width modulation pump and a digital range sensor.

as stated,all proper e4 remans should meet a minimum of '95 spec.

9 times out of 10,all issues with the e4 and 4r are simply easily fixed electrical gremlins and failed sensors.
to the uneducated,one might see all these transmission issue threads and think the trans is no good.it's not the case at all.overall it's a very heavy duty transmission ('95+ spec) and should last many,many years with proper maintenance.
they hold up well behind diesel engines.torque monsters.so it's obviously not a weakling.
these transmissions can be built to withstand massive,monster cummins and power stroke diesel engine builds,making them the go to trans for high performance race and hd towing.

there is nearly 200k miles on the '93 spec (now with a upgraded pump,due to pump failure) in my f450 w/5.13.
the '93 trans failed at 100k miles in my f250/converted dually dump,w/ 3.55 gearing.now sports a proper updated hd e4.

 

Having rebuilt the E4OD in my '94, it was a fairly easy job (minus the drop and replacement of the 200+ pound trans). What a few of the people I have talked to is installed a shift kit and pressure booster. Did all that myself and it shifts just fine.
The pressure booster increases the pressure on the clutch plates, reducing the slipping of the plates and increasing the life of the plates. The down side is a more firm shift, but nothing to snap your neck with.

 

The PCM that controls a 4R100 needs these two sensors (turbine speed and output speed) to control the trans. The PCM that controls an E4OD doesn't use these sensors. There is no way to get that computer to read those sensors, so just leave them unplugged. It won't shorten trans life.

A big problem with putting a 4R100 in a 460 truck is that there is no 4R100 that will bolt to a 460. You can take all the internals from a 4R100 and put them in an E4OD case.

 

I am interested in this topic also. Tired of plowing snow and driving in traffic with a 5 speed. I just bought a 94 f350 idit 4x4 with an e4od. Short of looking for rebuild tags, are there any of the upgrades that can be detected by just removing the pan or something short of dissasembly?

 

No, there is not. And just because it's been rebuilt doesn't mean it has had the updates. Not all rebuilders are good rebuilders.

 

there is 1 i can think of.if you happen to see a ford reman sticker,then you'll know it's been reman to meet '95 spec.

 

Thanks all. I imagine that getting a 97 e4od is pretty hard since everyone wants them, plus, how do you know it's a 97?
I hadn't thought about the bell housing not fitting, well there goes that idea.
Thanks for your guys help.

 

What area of the country are you located in?

 

I got a trans with a sticker in the pan that stated it was above 94 specs, so that's that, but apart from getting lucky with a sticker that might or might not be there (even if the trans was upgraded) there are little signals if any to look for. I wonder if there are casting numbers in the original models to help pick them.

 

I live around the Portland OR area.

 

I see a lot of upgrades available but what Im interested in is are the early versions of the E4od that you CANT put the upgrades in?
Like, is there a production year that used bushings, but the newer years use a bearing so you cant put the bearing in the old version.
If I can buy any E4od and all the upgrades can go in it, then I wont worry so much, but I would most deffinetaly search out a year that had bearing and not bushing. I hate the idea of tossing power and torque down the toilet and just creating extra heat.

 

I'm not sure what year is the cutoff, but when Ford does a reman, they won't use earlier cases, I think 93 and before. I was told something along those sorts but forget what year was the cutoff. By 99, the E4OD/4R100 was a great transmission.