Hi there - We have a '92 F350 Crewcab long bed 2WD 7.3 diesel with less than 100K miles. It has now blown it's 2nd transmission (first was prior to our ownership). This time the transmission cooler went out and everyone is telling us the transmission itself is toast and to get a rebuilt one.

The question is are all E4OD transmissions the same? just found one in the area off of a van and am wondering if it would work (once we get it rebuilt / looked at). Also would you consider ours a good core to be rebuilt or is completely shot? We would also need to find a new cooler (possibly going larger) and from reading other threads make sure we have the newer torque converter. So I'm going to be throwing money at it.

My husband doesn't want to give up on the truck (even thou its now been sitting for a year) because the engine is so young and runs great now that we killed all the diesel gremlins and fuel leaks. Do I convince him to part it out and sell the engine (we've beat the body to death as we used it with our tree service) or do I put more money into it? As its a 2WD it has a hard time pulling just itself out of the mud let alone having anything like a trailer hooked up to it (we use it to haul a dump trailer around for the tree service)

We are currently running a 2000 7.3 diesel crew cab / chassis 4WD with dump bed as our main work vehicle that we just had the front end replaced on so I don't really need the other truck.

If the 92 were your truck what would you do? Anyone want to buy a good engine? We ran it for an hour last weekend.

Thanks!

 

So the trans cooler went bad? did it leak all the trans fluid out? Or was the truck worked so hard you overheated the trans with to big of a load?

I don't know which E4OD's are compatible between trucks. Sure somebody else will help you out with that question.

As far as business concern you might not "need" another truck but if your 2000 was down for a few days you could use the 1992 while it was in the shop. Or if you get a really big job a second truck might be helpful.

 

not all E40D's are the same.some are early and late model.some use different electrical connections.some have bell housing patterns to mate up to small block,big block gas engines and some like yours are built to mate up to navistar international's diesel 7.3l which also come early/late model.some are even later model renamed to 4r100 and list would be massively huge of all the different internal parts used in the whole family.

yes.your trans can be rebuilt unless something catastrophic happened to it's case or something.

i share emspjay's questions above along with:

what year is the van and which engine does it have?
what happened to the first transmission and how many miles did it have on the first one before it blew?

if it were my truck,id probably first insure the trans is for a fact no longer any good.not just empty on fluid.
then since it's a backup truck,not your primary,id source a used e40d (preferably from a salvage yard with 30 day warranty/exchange.) it's nice to have a backup.when people call for tree work,they're expecting you.when your truck's in the shop (getting a front end rebuilt ) it's nice knowing you could hop in old trusty and keep going.



here are my tree service rigs.



as you can see id be a little partial to your '92. however i can honestly say id recommend keeping it going with a used trans as a backup no matter which year it is.she's paid for an has no miles.you can't part that old gal out yet.she's still got a whole lot of life left in her.as a tree service owner myself i can fully understand her limitations with just 2wd,but backup truck all paid in full,all set to go for just a couple thousand or less.....easy decision imho.

 

Thanks for the info so far. I'm going to convince him to pull the tranny and take it to our local transmission shop to have it looked over. I'm of the opinon that there is nothing wrong with the transmission itself. And its not like its going anywhere anyway, it can sit in my yard with or without a transmission.

When the cooler blew the truck was under load (pulling the dump trailer with a load of wood) and he actually though he had started the truck on fire from all the steam / smoke that was coming from the truck. He immediately shut it down and got his butt out of the truck and away from it.

The story we have from the previous tranny failure was they were moving FMEA trailers across country and lost it under load on the expressway somewhere in Texas. They trailered it home and let it sit for awhile before putting a rebuilt Japser in it which is what it currently has.

 

it sounds promising! if he pulled over and shut the truck down right away then the odds are very high he didn't hurt the trans at all (especially if he didn't even have time to feel it start slipping.)
all the smoke and such was the fluid hitting the hot radiator/trans/engine not the transmission itself smoking and burning up (by the sounds of the smoke show,it probably was squirting on the exhaust.) it probably just needs whatever trans line or cooler to be replaced.filled back up with fluid and she'll probably be right as rain again.this is what i would do.no need to pull the trans.pulling the trans and having it rebuilt is the last resort.since the line or aux cooler blew,this will need to be replaced anyway.might as well start here and then test to see if the trans still works.not much doubt in my mind it will be fine based on this story.

 

all transmissions are not the same. you will need a trans from a diesel. gas and diesel use different transmissions, the bell housing bolt pattern is different, and the internal parts are different.

 

And you have to get one from a 4x4. Vans were not 4x4.

Before pulling the trans I'd replace the cooler, refill it, and see if it works. If he shut it down before it started slipping there is almost a 100% chance the trans is fine.

 

she's got a 2wd actually,but no matter as more than likely the trans in it is fine anyway.i might have confused ya with posting my 4wd chip truck.

 

Like others have indicated, you don't want to pull the trans yet.

 

Any replacement option will have to be a Diesel case with matching Valve bodies, especially the Solenoid Valve Body as they are not the same as gas applications. Only a 89-94 Solenoid Body will work in your 92 truck because Ford moved the protection diodes (small electrical spike protection) from the solenoid ECM (control board on solenoid valve body) to the Power Control Module in 1995)

Was the 1st rebuild a Factory re-manufacture swap in or after 1995 ? If so, you could have the best trans to rebuild but, it depends on if any hard parts were damaged when you lost the cooler. If not sure, of what year case is now in your truck, you can look for a case casting # on the driver's side of the case above the pan lip, rear of the Shifter lever. If this number starts with "RF-E9......" its the original case & most likely weaker parts. If it happens to start with "RF-F5......." its most likely a Ford update replacement. You can't go by numbers on the extension housing as the original housing fits on a 1995+ case. It could also have the factory tag just above pan lip a little more to the rear that should indicate year / part number of the transmission as well.

The cost to have a diesel E4OD rebuilt is often between $1500-2500 depending on hard parts replacement. Forward and Direct Drums often get destroyed and some people tend to go for some of the updates. Like installing a better converter and adding extra clutches either by appropriate mod or use of a thinner pressure plates. Also using valve body & pump valve/spring "cure kits".

Then some people (like myself) who mainly did engine repairs chose to overhaul this beast of a trans and do it successfully for $500-$675.

Here is some information that might help you decide which way to go.

E4OD Free Tips eBook This eBook has been downloaded over 7,100 times from Download.com It gives you a better understanding of the E4OD transmission.

For E4OD Parts Matrix to open the PDF file. click here: http://e4od.com/ebook/download/examp...ion_detail.pdf
Bobby



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