Well

I've read most of the advice not to change the tranny fluid in a higher mile
automatic trannys (that have been neglected) but decided its the better of two evils.

1st off I bought this 1995 E350 with 157,000 miles.Topped off tranny fluid and changed oil and filter due to it was dead of winter when i put it on road and needed to drive it.

What's strange is after the first 1500 miles after I started driving this box truck,it would stall approaching a stop sign or stop light,so thinking I had a motor problem,I started looking for vacum leaks etc but found nothing.If I quickly put in neutral approaching a stop the truck would not stall.

So after driving it another 500 miles (30 days) one day noticed the tranny shifting late from 1st to 2nd so I added fluid due to it wasn't visible on dipstick.once I added tranny fluid strangely enough the stalling at red lights stopped and the tranny seamed better.So from what I've picked up on this site,my torque converter grabing was causing my truck to stall.

Now with the 3 new quarts I added on top of 13ish quarts of worn fluid
I noticed the fluid was brown,and have read here it means clutches are worn.Well I got one week of driving the vehicle it doesnt stall,but the tranny started to shift late from 1st to 2nd again,all other gears seam fine including O/D.

I also have (no) flashing O/D light...reverse seamed soft but always backed up in the low situation and after adding 3 quarts.The 3 new quarts must of watered themselves down in all the worn leftover fluid giving me a short time (5 days)to read up here.

So to buy some more time I dropped the pan yesterday, drained the torque converter added new filter and 15 new quarts of Mercon ATF fluid.

I drove it around today with the new fluid/filter and it seamed like a
different tranny,but still found I had to over rev the gas to get it to
shift from 1st to 2nd (Shift late) it shifted fine from 2-3 and from 3-O/D and reverse seems better than it was.

As the day went on it even got better from 1st to 2nd but not like it
was.I'm pretty sure if I had the pre-1995 E4OD this tranny would be toast,but being a 1995 it has alot of the upgrades and took the abuse from the previous owner very well.


Here are my questions

1)Due to the fact that my only real problem right now is
the late 1st to 2nd shift, do I need a complete rebuild or is there a selenoid
shift problem due to all the other shifting seems smooth including reverse.Inother words a minor rebuild?


2)I have a 1995 E350 with a 351 and found a 1995 F350 351 with a E4OD but the tailshaft is slightly different with what looks to be a round clutch looking devise on the F350 but looks like I can unbolt the tailshaft on mine and put it on the F350 E4OD.Are these the same???

3)I'm also am looking for the 90 minute E4OD rebuild video if anyone has any recomondations I'd appreciate any sites.

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

Tranny seems to haved come back to life...

I'll update tranny status incase anyone else is having simular results.

Heres what one could hope for in a late shifting 1-2 tranny with low and worn out fluid on a E40D.

Day 1 when first signs showed up,vehicle would bog down with any speeds lower than 10 mph no slipping or late shifting.If truck put in neutral truck would idle perftly.

Day 2-29 vehicle stalled 50 or so times in this period with no late shifting or slipping.My torque converter must have been screaming for help.I had no Idea it was a tranny problem!!!

Day 30 attempting to drive up suttle hill doing 30 mph notice motor reving and slight slipping drove 3 miles to closest gas station no visible fluid on dipstick and put 2 quarts of mercon III fluid in vehicle still late shifted but no slipping competely stopped its stalling/bog down problem.

Day 31 added one more quart of mercon III which was a little too much but drove truck anyway.Still late shift from 1-2 but everything else ok.

Day 32 truck sat due to it was a Sunday

Day 33 Truck got back to normal,no late shift ,no stalling at stops.

Day 34 looked at dipstick and noticed how brown fluid was and started rounding up new filter and new fluid and drain pan.Shifted fine.

Day 35 Shifted fine

Day 36 shifted fine till very late in the day acted a little strange,then shifted late once around 11pm thursday night, Old fluid was killing the 3 new quarts I put in

Day 37 friday am felt mushy in reverse shifted late bad 1st - 2nd,and decided I would drive no further.

Evacuated torque converter and dropped pan.Put new filter in found fluid was real brown, magnet in pan loaded but NO pieces of metal.Sheeew!!!!

After I finished replacing new fluid I drove about 15 miles reverse was very sharp and smooth,like never before.1st-2nd still shifted late but 2nd-3rd great and 3rd-O/D great.

Day 38 noticed first thing I put too much fluid in, but drove vehicle 20 miles gently,still had late 1-2 shift but everything else was great.Drove it very gently.

Day 39 me deciding I didnt like the tranny drain plug kit I bought,I decided to not install it and it now was a delema on me having too much tranny fluid.

So I pulled the torque converter plug out and took one quart out,put plug back in.Drove around town and the late shift problem from 1st-2nd was gone,truck drove fine and only notice one slight time where it tried to act up a little, the more I drove it the better vehicle felt In all gears.Still noticed I had too much fluid in truck and will pull torque plug again to drain another quart.

I will keep this thread updated to let anyone thinking about trying to save their tranny and money.

I really dont have my hopes up,Im sure there is some clutch wear,but am totally satisfied that I attempted this even though quite a few people said it wont last.

I have a hunch that if I watch the fluid levels and baby this 160,000 tranny,I can buy time to plan either rebuilding the tranny myself or lacate a rebuild.

Yes I am mechically inclined but never even saw inside a tranny until yesterday but would love to find what makes a tranny tic.

 

One week later....

Sorry if these are long

Welp, I was gonna try and get two full weeks of use to move around all the deposits in this high milage tranny but fluid color darkened drastically on day 6.

Days after total full fluid evacuation. fluid color and shifting.

Remember all late shifts are from 1-2

Day 1 Sunday minimal driving

Day 2 Monday pink/red shifted late 1 times out of 40 stop and goes

Day 3 Tues pink/red shifted late 3 times out of 40 stop and goes

Day 4 Weds darker/red shifted late 2 time out of 40 stop and goes

Day 5 Thursday Darker red, no late shifts out of 45 stop and goes

Day 6 Friday brown/red 1 late shift out of 50 stop and goes.Felt kinda mushy
a few different times in reverse.

Day 7 Saturday Fluid Dark/Red 1 late shift.

Pulled pan,the color of the filter was black,last week the filter was only a medium gray and a ton of miles on it.This week...black.Plus the magnet had less stuff on it,but it was darker than last week.

Also noticed Last Saturday I didnt get that new filter in right. When I pulled down pan today the filter fell right in drain pan.So this time I layed in a different direction as to look up in hole where filter goes and I see the old filter seal stuck up in hole.No wonder why I had such a hard time getting the filter to go in last week....Doh!

Due to fluid was slowly dripping in my face,I tried putting filter in at a bad angle,not this time...got it in perfectly.

Also read alot about the valve body all week and decided to take it down to look at 1-2 valve spring.Glad I did,no bad springs but got a good look at what a valve body upgrade kit would take and cleaned some black stuff out of a few areas.

Anyone thinking of doing a valve body upgrade it was pretty easy to pull down with the tranny still in place.

Drove truck 2 miles after 2nd new filter,It was jerking me slightly in the seat on take off and no late shifts.Torque converter was really grabing and almost stalled a few times.I didnt want to push it cause it felt like a new tranny

Wow.

I just hope I dont need to change the filter once a week

Stayed tuned......

 

Almost four weeks later shifting late 1-2 is completely gone but was worried filter was backing up with deposits,well it was black again but the fluid looked good.(I should have saved this batch of fluid)

I did what someone else suggested on the fluid removal and that was drain 6 qts from torque converter put plug(bolt) back, start truck up for 3 minutes to fill torque converter back up so i didnt have to deal with the mess of balancing the drain pan full of fluid.

Well I never let it sit long enough,so when I pulled the bolt out of torque converter the second time,I got a face full of fluid.Apparently the torque converter built of pressure and I took a red shower.

Its a nice trick but let truck sit for 5 minutes before pulling plug that second time.

So anyone thinking of changing fluid on a high mile tranny,there's hope.I spent 3 saturday's and $120.00 (3 filters and 9 gallons of mercon)and now have a drivable E4OD.

I'm going to order the valve body upgrade shift kit and a new TC now that I'm confident in this tranny.

Thanks to all the info on this site,I save alot of $$$$$$$$$$