Hello all,

I have been reading thru all of your posts regarding problems with the automatic transmissions on Ford trucks.

Mine is a 1999 F350 Super Duty with the V10 engine and 4.30 rear.

The truck has about 197,000 miles on it and the transmission has been totally perfect in its entire life - no strange noises, no odd shifting, etc.

Last Monday, I took it in for new tires, as it needed them to pass the state safety inspection. While it was there at the shop, they advised me that they could also take care of the inspection since the truck was there already.

It drove from the house to the shop without any issues. They drove it from their lot into one of the service bays for the tires. They backed it out and drove it to the rear service bays for the inspection process.

An hour later, they call me up to the front desk to say its ready and to take my payment. The service adviser then says casually, "There's a note on here saying that your truck won't shift into Drive". Well, somehow, they managed to put it Drive at least twice to pull it into the service bays, but now it no longer worked. Reverse worked fine, tho.

One of the techs comes out with his OBD reader and hooks it up and says that it is showing him that the trans is "recognizing" all of the forward gears, but just not engaging. He also says that there is a very slight noise when it is placed in 1st gear (which I also heard), just does not engage. We also pulled a wiring harness plug off a solenoid (or switch?) from the right side of the trans because he said that this would make the trans default to 2nd gear (it did not). Shift linkage moved thru all of the motions.

Long story short, I had to have it towed from their facility to the local Ford dealership where it still sits because their "Transmission tech" is on vacation and does not return til July 1.

Does any of this sound strange or does this kind of thing "just happen"?
Any ideas or insights on what might have happened or what the Ford guys are gonna tell me? I do understand mechanical things well enough to understand if what they tell me is plausible or not.

I am praying that it is something simple and correctable rather than hear them say they are just gonna replace it without checking all options.

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forums Arnie R. You really should copy your post and paste it into its own thread where it should receive more attention.
Though these sorts of things can just occur, I'd be interested to hear if the Ford dealer finds evidence that something occurred during the inspection.

Good luck with your transmission,


-Kaw-Liga.

 

This is exactly what mine did. After rebuilding the transmission, because they said it was shot after it has been just fine before, same exact thing happened. So I got a new transmission and swapped it again with the one I had rebuilt just to find out there probably was nothing wrong with the one I rebuilt. Turns out the solenoid pack, even the it ohmed out properly, got some short and that was all that needed replaced. However, after got that problem fixed the computer also was fried which I was told could have possibly been caused by the transmission electrical problem. So replaced that also and truck was like new again!
So yes that could happen. Happened to me drove my truck for who knows how many miles and then parked it in the driveway one day after work backed out the next morning just to find out I had no forward gears!

 

Created separate thread.

Welcome to FTE Arnie R.

 

Did he drive it to see if it recognized all forward gears? If not, it can't recognize all forward gears sitting still.

No, it will not default to second gear. I don't know why that incorrect information won't die, but it was never right for any Ford transmission. With that plug (it has wiring for all the shift solenoids) unplugged it will default to fourth gear, not second. If it didn't, then something internal is broken. There is a possibility that the feed bolts that take pressure from the valve body to the clutches have loosened. That can cause no drive, but still have reverse.

Would it move with the shift handle in 1 or 2? Knowing that would help narrow down the possibilities.

Long story short, I had to have it towed from their facility to the local Ford dealership where it still sits because their "Transmission tech" is on vacation and does not return til July 1.

The only simple thing that it could be is the feed bolts. They are accessible by dropping the pan and valve body, the trans stays in the truck.

It is NOT something electronic. When the plug was removed from the side of the trans all the electronics were disconnected and if it didn't move, that eliminated the electronics as a possibility.

 

No, the OBD was only hooked up after they parked it and then told me that it would not engage into any forward gears. I found that explanation a little confusing because of the terrain layout of the facility's parking lot. When they pulled out of the inspection bay to park it, they would have had to put into "Drive" to move it down to the lower lot, then maneuver it into the parking space. They allege that they had a little difficulty getting into "Drive" at first and had to coast/roll down to the lower lot using the truck's momentum to then swing it around 180 degrees and then allow it to back into the parking space.

When the electrical connector was pulled off of the right side of the transmission, the tech stated that there was a little film of transmission fluid on the end of the plug. I wiped it with my finger and probably barely got a small smear. I do not know if that condition is normal, however, he seemed to think it was "not a good sign".

Yes, many things in this world can happen without prior warning, such as heart attacks in humans.

I just want to be prepared and somewhat knowledgeable of potential issues and/or simple fixes, so when they call me with their conclusions, I can at least ask them if basic simple things have been checked before they decide to just switch the trans out without really checking anything.

Still waiting for that call on Wednesday, that is, even if they get to look at it by then.

 

Also, the shift lever does move throughout the full range on the steering column, as well as the shift linkage moves along its full travel range on the left side of the transmission.

 

Mark told you what was wrong. Fix it!

 

It may have driven forward in 1 or 2, but not engage in D. That happens if the overdrive one way clutch fails.

I agree that's not a good sign, but that little bit of oil is NOT your problem. When there is a lot of oil in the connector it can cause some erratic operation, but it cannot cause neutral when it should be in drive. That can't happen.

If this small leak gets bad enough that it needs to be fixed it takes a new solenoid body. That's a couple hundred at the dealer, far less at other shops.

Ask them these questions:

 

I guess something is amiss or I do not have the type of transmission I thought was in the truck.

Question first - are the feed bolts visible on the bottom of the valve body or only the top after removal?

I went to the Ford dealer today and talked to the tech and also looked at the underside of the valve body with the pan dropped.The tech stated that he had run all of the usual tests and found no indication of problems or error codes. However, he did not seem to know what a feed bolt was and stated that he checked their online tech site and did not find any mentions of such an item. I myself, did not see anything resembling feed bolts judging from the pictures that were posted on this forum. Just dozens of smaller bolts that appeared to be holding the valve body component in place. Additionally, there were several nuts on studs of the same size so I assume they were also attachment pieces.

I did see the filter unit which had a good amount of tiny particles (goldish in color?) all around the perimeter. He thought that this may have been an indication of something either worn out or broken up inside the trans.

Since they do not strip down these units for in-house rebuilds, I suppose we will never know for sure what is up inside.

I will go back tomorrow with some feed bolt pictures/locations and verify that we did not miss anything. I am not looking forward to the cost of a rebuilt unit installed, especially on a 16 year old truck, but I am caught between a rock and hard place at the moment.

Thanks to all so far who have offered comments, especially Mark K.

 

Next question; did the fluid and filter ever get changed? If no then your likely in for a rebuild. 200K without service is gambling with a ticking time bomb. Fluid and filter should be serviced at min (IMO) 25-35K. Sooner if you tow a heavy load or plow etc...This may or may not jive with the owners manual but who reads those?

 

Fluids and filter have been changed in the past, although not as frequently as you have mentioned.

Towing has been extremely limited in the past 5 years to maybe twice a year with a horse trailer.

I took pictures and info on the feed bolts to the dealer toady and presented them to the technician. He seemed rather surprised and unaware of their existence. He wanted me to leave the pics with him, so I did, and asked him if he could at least drop the valve body to look at them before deciding to install a rebuilt unit.

I sometimes wonder if the techs are limited on what they can and cannot do according to the Ford higher-ups. If this was an option, why did he not know about it, or has Ford dictated a limited amount of procedures that they are permitted to perform before replacing a component outright? I know they do not perform rebuilds on site, but dropping a valve body should not be too far out of bounds.

The rebuilt unit gets delivered tomorrow to the dealership, but I hope he has the time or is permitted to check out my request first.

 

Dealers don't do a lot of trans diagnostics and repairs. They remove and replace.