I don’t know if anyone could possibly help but I cannot figure out what the problem is with my 1993 2WD Ford F150. It currently has a E40D transmission in it. When I try to manually shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear it shifts perfectly fine; but when I try to manually shift from 2nd to 3rd/Drive it automatically kicks back into 1st gear (it does not slip at all). I don’t know if it has anything to do with it but I have recently taken all the fuel injection off the engine and replaced with an intake carb and header from a mustang, but I didn’t mess with anything on the transmission. It ran fine for approx. 3-4 months then I was rear ended in the passenger side rear end by a vehicle going approx. 40MPH. I was in low gear at the time of impact. I was still able to drive it home after the impact and it drove just fine. About two weeks after I began to have the problem I mentioned above. The only other thing I can think of, when I got the vehicle I was told it could possibly have a shift kit in it because it would shift very hard every time it shifted gears the original owner used it for a first responder vehicle and used it to haul campers and 5th wheels. I was told I could just find a C6 transmission to put in it and that would take care of the problem, but I am having difficulty finding one to fit with a 2WD. Any advice at all of what the problem could be or how to fix it would be extremely helpful. Thank you in advance.

 

Yes my wife put the original post on here. When i got the truck it always shifted hard. About a year or so ago the EFI went screwy. So I did away with all the EFI, and tore the engine down; port and polished the heads, put headers, four barrel intake and carb, along with a msd ignition setup. I drove it fine for about four months. I had to shift the truck manually because it shifted so hard in drive.

I came home and shut the truck off, the next morning I started it and went for a drive; I shifted it from low to second gear then went to shift it into drive and it went straight to low gear. There is no slip, just straight to low gear when shifting manually. If you put it in drive it will not shift out of low gear at all. This happened shortly (about 2 weeks) after i was hit in the rear passenger side of my truck. I had it in low gear and was turning when I saw that i was fixing to get nailed square in the butt. I nailed it and tried getting out of the way. So would any body have any clue what could be going on, and possibly know a way to fix it with out having to just rebuild it. I know how to rebuild it just don't have the money.

 

The E4OD transmission is electronic controlled. By removing all the "efi stuff" you probably no longer have a TPS to send throttle position back to the computer. That puts the system in limp mode which jacks the pressure up. That would explain the hard shifts and screwy operation.

Long story short the same computer controls the engine and transmission. You need a stand alone transmission controller or reinstall the efi parts.

 

You will be opening another can of worms when you go back to a C6. You'll lose some gas mileage because there is no overdrive.

Like was said before, you need the stand-alone computer for the transmission. It won't function properly without a computer to tell it when to shift.

The E40D had some issues, but after 20+ years, they've been ironed out.

 

He states that it shifted fine (other than hard shifts) for 4 months after he converted to a carbed unit. I don't think it's the ECU. It's either going to be a bad sensor or a coil pack, that's my guess anyway.

Pull codes, have you KOER it yet?, Have you dropped the pan to see if metal chunks were on the pan magnet?

 

But that's just it the transmission didn't shift fine, the only reason the OP says the transmission "worked fine" before the accident is because the trans has always been operating in limp mode and we know this because he said he always had to shift it manually and it always shifted hard even when the EFI was present, and that ain't right the damn thing should shift relatively smoothly through the right gears at the right time all by itself with no driver intervention.
The bad news is that by removing the EFI system the OP has completely crippled the computer that controls this trans so there is no fixing this "problem" without reinstalling all the EFI components and troubleshooting whatever was causing it to misbehave in the first place. Other solutions are no less complicated and expensive, install an aftermarket trans controller(big $$) or swap the whole thing out for a C6 or AOD, the latter probably the best option to maintain some gas milage.

 

That's what I thought because when it had the EFI on the 302 it shifted crazy. The computer for just the transmission is about $1500 dollars, and it will cost me just as much or more to go back with the EFI. It runs so much better and also has almost 200 extra horses since i did the conversion. Also when i was driving the truck i never used overdrive because I live in the hills of north central Arkansas, so I couldn't drive the 80 miles per hour for the over drive to kick in. That is why I just used 1st through 3rd (which is drive) and i got over twenty miles per gallon even with a huge load on the truck. So yea, I am going to just buy me a C6 and do away with all the electric stuff, But I would like to say thank you to every one for all the help. If anybody knows were to get a good 2wd C6 transmission that will bolt up to a 302 please give me a shout.

 

Seems to me that you give your truck the 'feather touch' like I do.

Yeah, these E40D's shift very smoothly. It's an eerie kind that feels like something is slipping, but it isn't, until it does a hydraulic shift to second.

 

There's actually quite a few transmissions around the Little Rock area. at reasonable prices. little rock auto parts classifieds "C6 transmission" - craigslist