Good evenin everyone! Haven't posted in a while.


I just took out my 1991 E250 Club Wagon out for a run, gonna be my DD again for this summer since winter is gone.

Not starting off to well though.

E4OD in it, is stuck in 3rd, won't shift at all on it's own, I can get it to hit 2nd if I manually shift it to 2 or 1, but won't go into 1st, stays in 2nd, and if I go back to Drive, it goes back in 3rd no matter what speed i'm going, even stopped, it'll take off in 3rd if I don't manually shift it to take off in 2nd? OD doesn't work either.


OD light isn't flashing, but it is very dimly lite. Can the problem be the actual OD cancel switch? I don't think it works anymore, it broke into 2 pieces last year, I glued it back together, had no problems, now the van sat all winter, with no batteries in it, and when I noticed the tranny stuck in 3rd, I hit the OD button a couple times, and the switch broke into 2 pieces again, it's back together, but light doesn't work anymore, and button doesn't do anything. TC doesn't lock either, but it's never did since i've owned the van. Never bothered enough to look into it, I replaced the TPS last year with a Ford one (120$ later) and made no difference.

Tranny only has 47k miles on it (was rebuilt some years ago), last season I exchanged all the fluid from it, changed the filter, and it's still perfect looking, level is in range as well.


Any ideas gang?

It works and shifts great between 2nd and 3rd manually shifting it, but that's the only gears it's got.

 

Dimmly lite od light means your dome light fuse (fuse 5) is blown, tranny won't work right with that fuse blown.

 

Dome lights work fine, all the electricals in the van all work fine.

 

the dome light fuse is on with the speedometer memory actually.though this messes up the E40D too,your issue is equally as simple.
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with high gear starts,and a dim OD light (not flashing and approx half it's normal brightness when canceled) it just means the TECA isn't getting power.check the fuses and the relay under the hood.easy peasy.


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just so i don't confuse anyone,this is side info.unrelated to your issue at hand.
a FIPL/TPS can be had for about 20-25 bucks at rockauto and im pretty sure they ship to Canada.i never support my local ford stealership because i feel that if as long as we do,they'll continue to price gouge.
i was like you and wanted oem as well.i got mine on amazon.it's Motorcraft CX1448 for a bit over 40$ (and free 2 day shipping w/ my prime.)

 

What's the TECA? and from those pics, looks like the fuse box under the dash? not under the hood...?

Thanks for the tip though! I'll look into it next weekend when I return home again from my long haul.

 

Transmission Electronic Control Assembly.
the little control unit for the trans (other names used,EEC,PCM,TCM). nope.the relay for it is under the hood.for my '93's in right there in the power dist box.for your van,it says it's besides the right side battery.

 

Well that was easy, I took the relay out, looked good, no corrosion at all, just hit it a couple times on the rad, and it started working again.

TC still isn't locking, but no worries to me. I already bought a new relay so I will replace it anyways. I noticed the new relay has an extra pin in it though.

 

yeah,this trans is as electrical stupid simple as the engine is stupidly simply mechanically.it's really nothing to fear.it's just a little basic control box,a few sensors and some shift solenoids.
you might be able to get the converter to lock up without much more effort than that.it's worth a try for 2-3 mins of inspection.did you take a look at the bulkhead connector yet?
E40D: The Importance Of A Clean Trans Harness.

who knows,you just might find something obvious like a broken wire there,or up along the frame.corroded wires in a connector where it comes up just above the frame,or the harness at the teca.perhaps 2-3 mins spent spraying each connector with electrical cleaner could fix your problem.you know how all these contacts and bulb sockets get in these old trucks (and vans lol) over the years.

 

I know a read a thread somewhere that outlined how to rig up a switch to manually lock and unlock the converter. It didn't sound very difficult. You could always try it and see if the converter locks. This would tell you if the issue was the trans/converter or if it was something with the electrical circuit.

I am pretty sure a burnt out bulb with keep the TC from locking. You probably already checked the bulbs, but in my van the PO had replaced one of the bulb sockets in the rear. When he did he went by wire color which was incorrect and causes some issues. Both of my rear bulb sockets have had issues with the ground clip inside the connector not staying in contact. Would cause my cruise to kick off whenever I turned on my left blinker, but only if the lights were on. Just something easy to look at.

 

I checked all the wiring for the trans, all nice and clean, I didn't check inside the pan tho, as I read through that post after changing the fluid and tranny filter, and i'm not gonna take it off again just for that.


When I first got the van, the TC would work and unlock once warmed up going down the road only sometimes, or right after you start the engine warmed up already it would lock, stay locked till you let off, and wouldn't lock again after.

This year, and most of last summer, it completely stopped locking period.

 

If its as simple as a 12v signal to a pin, why not test it with a manual signal? Then you would know if it is the trans or an issue with the circuit providing the signal. Or at least that is what I would do.

 

Did you check the wiring electrically? Just inspecting it is only slightly better than not looking at it at all.If you didn't check the lockup circuit for continuity, short to power, and short to ground you wasted your time.

 

so to elaborate on this.



continuity.
so take a 10mm and unhook the TECA.very easy.
next remove the heat shield and unplug the solenoid pack/bulkhead connector.not so easy.just make sure you press inward on the clip while pulling up.no screwdrivers!!!!

so then,grab a new section of wire.set your meter to ohms.touch each lead together so proper ohm settings reads: 0
ohm the test wire.insure it reads 0.
use this to reach from the solenoid pack connectors TCC pin and up to your meter.touch the wire connected to the TCC to your meters probe (either one) then insert the other probe on your meter to the TECA connector pin 53 CCC
you should read 0 ohms.if you get more than this,then this means there is a break in the wire.replace this wire if so or inspect and repair.

alternatively to using a length of wire and having a person hold the wire on the TCC pin while you test, you could of course simply remove the whole wiring harness to test it,but this would take much longer.
anyway,so very easy to test for resistance.that's how this part is done.

short to power.
this would be interesting! if this happens i guess it probably means the TECA is going screwy hey Mark?
well easy test here.
leaving the TECA harness plugged in.turn the key to RUN.
with the bulkhead connector unplugged,test the TCC pin for power.set meter for 12V.test pin with red lead,while holding meters black lead to ground.insure to use a clean ground! if using the frame,sand up the spot.a quick way to test that your ground is good, is to just check between bulkheads 12V power pin and your cleaned up ground.should have 12V there,but no power on TCC.

short to ground.
well if this happens the converter will remained locked.so no need to test this.your engine would stall out if this wire gets shorted to ground.so we're cool there.
to test it however you would simply read OHMS with your meter on the TCC and the frame.your now verified cleaned spot that is. (and as always whenever testing OHMS/resistance,you always do so with power off/unplugged.) your meter reading shouldn't change.just as if you were touching nothing together.


if all that checks out,then there's a simple little light test you can do while driving,that will turn on the test light whenever the TECA signals the converter to lock up.
since you may not care or get into this,im not gunna write up instructions lol.if you did these steps (which will take like 10 mins maybe) and you found it easy and or interesting.let me know,i'll help ya to see if the TECA is working as it should and then if that is,then this means it's something in the pump or converter and your sol without removing the trans,and then you might just wanna run her for all shes worth lol.


well too though i shouldn't forget that of course you can test the TCC too while right here.if you leave the TECA unplugged,and you just verified the line from the TCC to the TECA is all good (0 ohms) then with the solenoid plug,plugged back in now the TCC can be read from the TECA harness.insure it's got it's 20-30 ohm reading.if not.then you know you can replace the solenoid pack see?
this would be between pin 53 of the TECA (while unplugged) and ground (with the connector at trans plugged in.after verification of the wire.)

 

Didn't do any tests. And I spoke to soon! It locked up again today! 3 times.

I'm able to tell when it's about to work. It shifts completely differently when it does lock up.


It shifts really slow and mushy like, like a stock E4OD should. When it doesn't work, it shifts like a C6, nice quick and firm.


I'll save that diagram and this thread for future reference, as an OTR truck driver, i'm only at home on weekends, so I don't have all the time in the world to mess with things like this. And I'd been a long time since i've looked at a diagram, never was that great at understanding them, takes me a while, and i'm useless even with basic electronics and circuits.

But once I get all my more important things done and have abit of tinkering around time, I will get into this, I do want the converter to lock, it's nice to have working, it works good in my F350 and it sounds great exhaust wise when the TC does lock, and saves fuel keeping the RPM's direct instead of always slipping an extra 200-300RPM with the open TC.

 

yeah you want it working right,especially if there's no mechanical work involved.tracing out some wires and fixing that stuff,is easy compared to having to remove a trans to frig with it.

easy peasy lemon squeezy.
here's some basics so it's not just french to ya anymore:


but no worries.knowing your not strong on electrical,you'll see when you have time to check things out,that i typed out all you need so you don't even need the schematic.

to find the pin numbers on the TECA harness,you'll see the numbers on the clip and rather than a single row it's actually 3 rows of pins.there's enough numbers posted on the clip,that you'll find pin 53 plus you've got the wire color as shown in the diagram to help ya find it.