Hello, I am trying to find a place to get a 3/8 check valve for an E4OD. this is the fitting in the transmission housing that connects the return line. the old ford part number is (i believe) FOTZ-7D174-C but for the life of me i cant seem to find one or find an equivalent. any help would be appreciated.

 

5 available at Bob Allen Ford in Overland Park Kansas: FOTZ-7D174-C | RearCounter.com | 5 found at 1 seller

 

Thanks, I am going to try calling some Ford dealers today, I could probably rig something up that is equivalent using a "daisy chain" of fittings but that is not my preferred method. The main problem with this is that the threads in the Tranny housing are (I believe) NPSM (national pipe straight mechanical) threads and those are very hard to find in fittings.

 

You can surf the part supply here: Automotive Parts Search | RearCounter.com | Auto Parts Marketplace

That's how I came up with the contact info above.

 

well, ford officially does not make that part and the place that rearcounter said had one didnt, they said to call a place in kansas that had a disconnected number, sooo i think im going to just daisy chain it up!
How important is having that check valve? i think another option i could go with is buying an in-line check valve and i assume it will do the same thing.

 

Dang, I have found Rear Counter very helpful before. Sorry to send you down a bunny hole.

As far as what that valve does, no clue

 

I know what it does, it has a ball check valve in it that only allows flow one direction (in this case the return from the cooler to tranny). The purpose is to prevent the fluid from draining out of the torque converter and tranny when the motor is of.
I had toyed with buying fittings for the right size inverted flare and NPT (the threads in the tranny are NPS but with tape i should have been able to get a good seal) and then using an inline check valve to accomplish the same goal. Instead i decided to buy compression fittings for 5/16 to 3/8 tubing and i will splice the existing cooler line return onto the new tubing i had already bought. This may not be the ideal fix but it will work and may even work better than before. I guess ill find out this weekend when i try to plug it all together.

 

Might be worth a call to a few local salvage yards.

 

unfortunately the closest salvage yard is 100 miles away, i did call around but was told that ford transmissions disappear quickly. I am not willing to drive 100 miles on a long shot. I am confident in my plan, the only problem is that i wont have a true 3/8s cooler line system since i will have to use the 5/16 connector to the return, but i view this is a minor issue. I appreciate all the help, i will update with lessons learned and/or success stories as they appear.

 

As long as it's bigger than stock, or stock sized you should be fine. You don't want to restrict cooler flow, because the cooler flow on the E4OD also lubricates the rear half of the transmission.