Howdy folks..

lost my transmission last winter in february. couldnt afford a rebuild so i waited until i found somebody parting out a truck. last month i found some body parting out an 03 f250 sd 5.4 etc. i checked the vin with ford and the transmission was the same as mine they said. i have a 99 f250 ds 5.4. both trucks are 4wd.

a friend of mine did the work swapping the transmissions. the new (to me) transmission went in no problem. drives and shifts fine. the only thing that isnt working the way the old tranny did is when i hit the OD button the light flashes. at first i thought it was steady flashing. ive tried it a few more times and now i think that instead its sometimes flashing sometimes it seems more like a loose connection on a light would act, going out, staying out, flickering etc. i cant remember if there is an od indicator on the dash or not, but when i hit the button the dash doesnt light up or anything.

now again not sure if i have an issue or not, i hardly ever turn the OD off anyway so if i dont have that ability its fine, but im slightly concerned because the tranny from the 03 had sensors for the turbine speed and output shaft, where mine didnt. there is a ford plastic plug bolted into the turbine speed sensor hole, and i dont see anything where a sensor would go on my tail housing (unless the oss is on the transfer case which i didnt notice and its raining so im not gonna go out and check this minute) far as i can tell the transmission is working right, its not shifting hard, its shifting when it should and nice and smooth. it does take noticeably more time to shift into gear from park and neutral (or from reverse to drive and vice versa) but from what ive read, and from another post from the resident master tranny tech he says a couple seconds is normal.

anyh thoughts? do i have an issue? anything to watch for?

i still have my old transmission and ive decided that when i can afford the parts to do it im going to rebuild it myself. i ahve watched it done and it took the mystery out of it for me. the guy who took it out said theres a good chance it was my torque converter that went, which sucks cause its quite a bit of money... anyway, thanks in advance for the help.

 

It's pretty common for the wires to break where they come out of the shifter arm. To repair you have to remove the covers around the column, from there you should be able to see the wires clearly. It's not uncommon for them to break with the insulation still intact. You're also going to want to have your truck scanned with a tool capable of reading transmission codes to rule out the possibility of something wrong with the transmission.


Yup, watch for another blown up transmission. What makes you think this used transmission is going to be in any better condition than the one you pulled out of there? Used transmissions are a gamble that I would never make, especially if I didn't have much cash to tear it apart(again).

Post some PICTURES! I've always wanted to tear one apart, but have never had the opportunity.

 

I debated this for almost a month. the cheapest rebuild i could find was almost 2 grand, plus the labour to swap (cad$)

i got the used transmission and had it installed for less than 1000. this was a chance i was willing to take because im not made of money, gf and wee one to worry about too.

I plow snow in the winter, and if i didnt have that to worry about i wouldnt have bought a 3/4 ton. the truck came with the plow mount already on it when i bought it 4 years ago. i know the guy who owned it and hes very good with his vehicles.. he wont do anything to them if it might hurt them. that being said, it went 320000km (200000 miles for yall south of the border.) thats a lot of distance plowing, and ya i realize it wasnt 200000 miles with snow in front of the truck, just saying.

again the used tranny was a band aid for now. when i get a bit ahead im gonna rebuild my old one, then swap again. rebuild the 03. never have too many spare parts.... george carlin did a stand up routine on used parts..

on a side note, you are a moderator.. can u figure out why i cant send/recieve private messages pweeeeeeeeze??

 

I suspect it has to do with the number of posts that you have. Used to be you needed 25 posts to have access to PMs, but that changed recently and I can't find the specifics.