And here we go again.

1997 F250 7.3 W/ E40D.

Bought truck in 08 with 55k miles on it, "off" light was flashing, turns out the transmission was no good. Had it rebuild, and installed (guy said he put in something to make it better for plowing. I imagine by that he meant an upgraded valve body or something along those lines. I didn't ask, i wasn't interested in working on my own stuff then.)

Fast forward to now. 161k miles. Truck ran and shifted flawlessly all day. Turned it off, started it back up, started driving, got about 3 miles down the road and noticed the "off" light was flashing. Not sure if it was flashing when i started the truck back up or just started.

Things i've noticed;

1. Shifting into second gear seems hard. As in it revs up, and then slams (but not crazy) into second.
2. Pushing the button on the end of the shifter that used to toggle OD on and off no longer works.
3. I'm 90% positive the truck no longer shifts into OD. (55MPH is like 2100RPM) 4.10 rear end gears.
4. Seems like it forgot how to downshift when i'm coming to a stop. When i brake the revs drop to 500 and the only thing stopping the truck is the brakes (ie; it doesn't go 3,2,1 to help slow me down.)

Other thing i've noticed is that the taillight fuse has blown twice in the past month (probably unrelated but worth a mention.)

Ideas?

 

My idea? That would be to get the codes read. Anything else is just plain guessing.

 

That's what i figured. Going to drive it to the guys shop that put the transmission in tomorrow and ask him to read them. It's only like 10 miles away if that so i'm not too worried.

I did read something about pulling the codes with an analog volt meter? Any idea about that?

 

Reading the codes with a meter isn't possible with a Powerstroke. It worked with earlier trucks.

 

Ok. Got the codes.

P1728 - Transmission Slip Error.

Sounds like the torque converter clutch burned up and now debris is being pumped all about the rest of the transmission. Lovely.

Anyways, looks like i'll be pulling this out and figuring out what course of action i'd like to take.

Figure since i'm going to be towing this camper i've been talking about in my other thread while it's out i should probably toss in either a double or triple clutch billet converter.

Any other ideas?

 

What do you use to pull codes? Is there an error code reader I can buy?

 

Maybe, but probably not. In this vintage torque converter the usual failure was a crack in the torque converter clutch apply piston. This allowed pressure to leak, which let the clutch slip. This tends to glaze the friction material, not wear it off.

 

This is actually not as bad as people think. Buy a new converter, I suggest one from Florida Torque Converter in thier diesel performance section. You can get a triple disk, billet case converter with torrington bearings installed for $450. I've had one in a 1995 F250 and it was awesome. I also made a whole bunch of other upgrades that saved my transmission from overheating, and can be read here.

I've also done a ton of experimenting with different configurations, measuring pressures with various coolers and temperatures before and after modifications. Here is another post with my thoughts on the problems associated with the E4OD.

 

Wait, is there a way to verify this by visually looking at it once it's out of the truck?

I guess what i'm getting at is do you think i could just pull the old torque converter out, put in a new triple disc billet one, and bolt it all back together without worrying about the rest of the trans? (seriously only drove it 25 miles with the light flashing)

Or since i plan on towing with the thing should i hand it over to the guy that rebuilt it before and let him go through it to check things out?

If this was your truck, what would you do?

EDIT; I've also read a few posts about the brake light preventing the TC from locking up or weird things like that. As i said earlier my taillight fuse keeps blowing. Could this be related? Or is the code i'm throwing definitely because the TC is messed up and not because of some electrical gremlin? Even if it's not is there a step by step on checking brake lights and things of that nature just to give me some piece of mind?

Thor, just read through your mishap with the torque converter failing and you diving into it yourself and getting it done. Gives me a little hope that maybe with enough reading i can actually do this myself, but honestly, i'm hesitant as i'll be towing a 7000# trailer 2,200 miles right after this is done and i really really don't want to make that a learning experience.

I think i'm going to go ahead and order Tru-cool as well. Which size did you get?

 

I believe the part number is 4739. I don't own the truck anymore unfortunately. Moved up to a 6.0L.

 

You sure that's moving up!?

 

Oh yeah. I bulletproofed it myself. Couldn't pass up the extra 125hp and 175 ft.lbs. Not to mention the superior quality of the interior and better ride quality.

 

Hahahahaha. Not laughing at ur work quality, just at the fact that u think uve bulletproofed a 6.0.

 

LOOK AT WHAT I GOT. First picture is the transmission pan magnet. I think something might be wrong here. Haha.

 

Apparently you don't know much about the 6.0L.