Ford now recommends using Mercon V for all E4OD transmissions. Personally I figure this vintage truck was designed and filled with Dexron/Mercon III back in the day. Whenever I do any transmission service on this vintage I put new Dexron/Mercon III back in. No reason to pony up for the synthetic stuff either.

 

Ok thanks and I turned the hazards on and drove the truck. No more shudder! So the clutch inside must be shot. The truck is parked and next week hopefully I can get the new converter in. I have front end work to do on it in the mean time. He has a horrible death wabble and I noticed the pitman arm does have a decent amount of play in it and one tie rod end doesn't look to good. Thanks everyone for all the help! I never knew any of the stuff you guys said! Thanks a lot!

 

I have a stupid question. What is the best way to unbolt the TC from the fly wheel/flex plate?

 

The test you just did only proves you have a classic case of torque converter shudder. Jumping to the conclusion you need a new torque converter to fix the issue may end up costing you $$$$$ in unnecessary expense.

I stated before you only changed about 30% of the fluid. Before ponying up some serious bucks for a new torque converter and time why not follow through, like I suggested before, and do a COMPLETE fluid change. I had this same torque converter shudder on one of my Lightnings. Once I changed the fluid, yes the fluid was a nice red and no burnt smell, the problem was resolved.

There is a write-up on this site for how to do a COMPLETE transmission fluid change. Look it up if you would like to try to avoid paying money for something that may not be required.

 

I understand what your saying but unfortunately my friend jumped the gun on this and already bought a new TC. I did tell him what you said though and he assumes with 250k on the truck it's just time to switch it. I have no clue if the previous owner towed with this truck or anything. Also if we were to switch all the fluid and the problem wasn't fixed would the fluid be junk? That was my friends other question.

 

That is a good question that merits some thought. If the old fluid looked relatively clean before flushing out the old fluid then I would say you would be okay to drain out as much of the new fluid as you could to re-use after installing the new converter, assuming the new fluid made no difference. Others may disagree, but my litmus test is: Would I do this to my rig? The answer is yes I would.

 

thing is,if he's got 250k on an oem converter behind the idi,it's twice long overdue to simply explode and clean the trans out.
here's what happens:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...some-pics.html

 

Tomorrow we will finish taking the TC out and before we put the new one in I think it would be wise to crack his old one open and see just how bad this is. I'll just inspect everything very good. But when I looked up at the TC in the truck it doesn't look very good. Very dirty and rusty in spots. I even saw some wet marks but I'm not to sure what it was from. I'm pretty sure this is the stock TC. When I get it out and open tomorrow ill crack it open and take some pics to post my findings on here. I want your opinions on how severe it is and if the trans should be rebuilt. Because I don't want to throw this thing back together and take it apart again in the middle of winter. And again! Thanks for everyone's help!!!

 

Alright guys we got the old TC out but I didn't have time to cut it open so hopefully tomorrow ill have some pics for you. On the other hand. Now my friend is paranoid about this transmission breaking next week on him if he doesn't rebuild it. In my opinion I thought the transmission shifted very nice and didn't slip at all besides the TC. So now my question is. Do you guys really think this transmission should be rebuilt? 250k on the truck and when we dropped the pan last time the insides of the transmission looked great. Since we have to take the pan off again should I pull it off and take some pics for you guys to see then give me your opinions? Keep in mind this truck will never be pulled with. I think he piled 1000 pound in the bed once but that's all it ever saw.

 

if forward and reverse gears have no slip feel at all,there's no point in rebuilding it yet.
250k she's just getting broken in. seriously though,i wouldn't rebuild it for anything if it's fine.

 

Cracked?

 

Is this normal? We can pull it out but it slides back in like normal.

 

Best picture I could get of the fluid inside the TC. I noticed a decent amount of black looking stuff mixed with the fluid. But if that is a crack wouldn't that make the TC not build pressure like it should? This truck always seemed to take off at a higher rpm than what I thought was normal.

 

Yea the input shaft sliding in and out, that's normal.

But that TC, its was dieing / dead unless you did that to it opening it up.

 

All I did was grind around the TC and lifted it apart didn't pry on it at all and there's no signs of grinding on the cracked part because I thought I did that myself also. But I'm pretty sure I didn't.