Torque Converter Question
 

Group,

I have a 1991 F150 / 302 with E4OD trans. Over the past couple weeks I noticed that the truck was shifting hard going into 2nd gear and out into 3rd gear. This was accompanied by a clunking (similar to a U-Joint) noise when shifting into gear out of park or neutral.

Yesterday I was driving about 25mph and I noticed tinging sound coming from the forward end of the transmission. Hoping I'd be able to make it to the doctor's office and back, before tearing anything. I noticed I didn't hear the sound with the truck in Park or Neutral when applying a fair amount of accelerator pedal. So I continued on my way, when I got onto the main road I noticed the sound worsened as I accelerated above 30mph. By the time I reached the posted speed limit of 60 there was no more torque left. (The engine would race, but truck wouldn't accelerate.)
When I pulled into the turnaround in the middle of the road the truck promptly died. I was barely able to make it back to the house (10 miles), by the time I got there the truck won't accelerate above 40mph.

I am thinking the torque converter has failed me!? I have already dropped the transmission out of the truck. Sorry about the long posting, but any help would be greatly appreciated...!

The torque converter that was in the truck was the HD model. DO I NEED TO REPLACE IT WITH A HD CONVERTER??? Or can I just replace it with a standard E4OD converter?

Brian you have jumped the gun here, the E4OD is completely computer controlled and the symptoms you describe are reported often and are ususally just a sensor problem. I suggest you stop where you are and pull the codes from the computer.. if you have not disconnected the battery already, if you have then there won't be any codes to retrieve. In many case guys rebuild these transmissions only to have it behave exactly the same aftowards.. because the transmission wasn't causing the problem in the first place.

Paul,

I pulled the following codes using the self-test procedures.

3 3 4 3 3 4 / 1 / 3 3 4 4 5 2 3 3 4 4 5 2

That's all the numbers, I get...

Paul,

I pulled the following codes using the self-test procedures.

3 3 4 3 3 4 / 1 / 3 3 4 4 5 2 3 3 4 4 5 2

That's all the numbers, I get...

From the code 452 in CM.
Sounds like you have a bad:
VSS
or
PSOM
or
RABS module
or
Speed Control module.

Any of these can cause the input to the computer speed information to be missing.
And therefore hard shifting + very late shifting of the transmission.

Ok... Where are these located and how can I tell which are bad? I am lost.

OK in 1991 forget what I posted above, that would be for a 1992 or newer truck. You do not have a PSOM and the RABS module is not on the VSS circuit.

You have a VSS problem. The sensor is mounted on the rear of the transmission and has the speedometer cable plugged into it also. You need to also check its wiring from the transmission to the computer.
Could also be a bad Speed Control Module.

OK I did notice when I dropped the transmission the speedometer cable "fell" out of the sensor.

I just checked "advance auto parts" for the transmission / vehicle speed sensor, it's only like $17 so I'll go ahead and replace this.

As for checking the wiring, besides visual inspection, how do I check this?

I thought the VSS was on the rear differential?

You would just have trace it out and check for opens and shorts.
But I would guess it was just the sensor on the transmission.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g9...rol/031-02.jpg

/

Not in 1991, the sensor on the rear end in 1991 was the ABS sensor.

Well I will replace that VSS and visually check the wiring. And then reinstall the transmission (with original Torque Converter). Wish me luck....

Thank you very much for your help, it's greatly appreciated.

Since I dropped trans already, I am considering replacing trans fluid in the torque converter, transmission, and topping off the transfer case. How much fluid would I need to fill everything up? I am also going to be replacing trans filter.

And topping off transfer case, I am just considering topping it off... Not completely change out fluid.