Transmission Saga

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Jan 19, 2014 | 06:19 PM

metalbender1

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Joined: Oct 2007

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Transmission Saga

Hello All,

I would like to start by saying how much I like this forum. It is great to be able to reach out for ideas, discussion and advice. I don't get to post very often because I spend most of my time out at sea For the Navy (internet to slow). I do most of my on maintenance routine upkeep or major repair on my 2003 Excursion 7.3 2wd.

My transmission story begins back in October of 2007. It started shifting out of order and giving solenoid codes. I jumped the gun and swapped out the servo pack which did not fix the problem. The solution was actually a corroded terminal between the transmission harness and the PCM harness. A can of terminal cleaner and dielectric grease was all I needed. This left me with a good servo pack. I did enjoy learning about the transmission and love to wrench on my truck anyway.
The next problem happened in February of 2011 at about 131,000. My wife was driving around the neighborhood running errands when she calls me and says the truck won’t drive. I had it towed to the house and started the troubleshooting from ATSG manual and info on the FTE. I checked fluid color, level, and pressures. I pulled the transmission and disassembled it down to the reverse gear assembly. There was nothing out of the ordinary. While I was cleaning everything up and bottling up the old transmission fluid for disposal, I drained the torque converter. As I flipped it upside down, it sounded like a baby rattle. A quick look inside with an inspection mirror revealed bearings and clutches broken inside. I cracked open the filter and it was packed with material from the torque converter. I picked up a stock converter from Tanstar in Norfok, VA (very nice people). I put it all back together with the hopes of one day upgrading.

Two years and 30,000 miles later; including a cross country trip from Virginia to Washington for home port change, the transmission started acting up again. While my ship was on patrol in the Arabian Sea my son sends me an email that the check engine light was on. I replied he should take it to AutoZone to read the codes and tell me what it says. Sure enough, TCC solenoid and slippage. So ounce again I started to consider that upgraded transmission. I asked my wife to describe how the truck was driving. She said it was pretty normal maybe a little harder on the shifts. She only drives a few miles a day for groceries or school band events. I had my 14yo son check all the connector for obvious damage. None was found. I figured the only drawback was the transmission was not locking the torque converter. From reading other post, some people do this intentionally. They limped the truck until I came home from deployment in December. After all the holiday visiting family went home, my son and I got busy trouble shooting the problem. I was confident it would be a connector again but everything checked good for continuity. The ohms check however confirmed the TCC solenoid. After opening up some boxes in the garage I found the original solenoid pack I took out five years ago. We checked all the pins and it was good to go. A clean up with dry-cleaning solvent and we were back in business.

After buttoning up the pan I did a fluid flush using the FTE method. I am not sure if I followed the direction correctly but I read many time before starting. I might have another issue with internal valve alignment. I filled the pan with the exact 7 quart that came out, I disconnected the return cooler line from the rear of the transmission. I attached the clear vinyl hose to the return tube. I started the truck and watched as the old fluid filled the clear tube. When I saw air, we shut it off and added the fluid about two quarts. The second time I noticed fluid dripping near the rear of the transmission. I thought the hose clamp slipped off then I realized fluid was pouring out of the return port of the transmission. Fortunately I left a drain pan down there so it didn’t make too much mess and I could measure how much came out. My question is, is it normal for fluid to come out of this hole? Should it be plugged? I continued pumping out and adding until it was all clean. I used about twenty quarts. After driving around to warm up the fluid I checked the fluid on a level surface; it was low. I put a quart in and checked it. It seemed to be a bit high. I drove a few more blocks and checked it and it was low again. The next day I drove it to the auto parts store and added another quart and it appears to be full. Which brings up another question; how many quarts are does the dipstick indicate from bottom of the tip to the top of the full. Also, do the little dimples have to be wet to indicate the fluid level or just a light red color visible? I’m normally pretty good at putting back exactly what comes out but with some spillage from the flushing I am left guessing and worried about over or under fluid level.
Thanks for reading,
Edgar

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Jan 19, 2014 | 07:51 PM

Mark Kovalsky

Frmr Ford Trans Engr

Joined: Aug 1999

Posts: 24,717

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From: SE Florida

No, fluid should not come out of the port on the trans. Maybe a little dripping, but if fluid is pouring out you have a problem. You do NOT want this plugged while flushing. That will just hide a problem.

If fluid is coming out of there and you've had a torque converter failure, I'm 99% sure that your coolers are plugged. Disregard that if you changed both the radiator and the aux cooler when you replaced the torque converter. If you didn't, then junk from the failed converter has at least partially plugged the coolers.

When the coolers are restricted there is a bypass on the side of the trans that opens which maintains flow in the return port. Without this flow the rear half of the trans won't get any lube.

Jan 19, 2014 | 08:26 PM

metalbender1

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Mark,
That makes good sense. I did not replace the cooler, just a rattle-can-foam flush. Can I check for an obstruction by removing both lines and back flushing LP air?
Ed

Jan 20, 2014 | 07:55 AM

Mark Kovalsky

Frmr Ford Trans Engr

Joined: Aug 1999

Posts: 24,717

Likes: 2,642

From: SE Florida

You can remove both lines and blow air through it. I don't understand what you'll learn from that. You can fool around with foam flushes, air, brake clean, etc, and when you're all done with that you will still have plugged coolers.

There is a flow test you can run. Instead of typing the whole thing here, I'll just give you one part. If fluid POURS out of the fitting on the trans the flow test fails because the coolers are plugged.

Jan 20, 2014 | 11:26 AM

metalbender1

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Well, we already know the results of that test. My coolers are pretty much scrap metal. Hopefully autozone has one on the shelf. Is there any value to adding a filter element up stream of the new cooler? During this most recent flush I did crack open the pan filter. There was a little bit of chips that resembled the TC debris. I hadn't experienced any high temps but, I haven't towed much.