Well, it's been 15 years since I got my 54f100 on the road. It has about 14K miles. I posted here as I was building and after driving it.

Now it's update time. I replaced the c4 trans (behind the 92 HO 5.0) with an AOD trans which I rebuilt in 2004 and left sitting on my shop floor all this time.
Surprisingly, after the installation (many mods, including explorer diff and brakes, etc) I was pleasantly surprised that it functioned as expected. I drove it down the road and all the shift points were ok. After a few days it started a mushy shift into 3rd, so I decided to put a shift mod kit. Bad idea!

I'm trying to summarize to save space. I also have an 88f-150 with the same trans and a 5.0 which works perfectly. I think I burned the friction surfaces on the 54 because after putting the kit in the valve body, it would go to neutral instead of 4th, sometimes just 1st and 2nd. I now have replaced that trans with another one and have a total of 4 valve bodies, three E4's and one E9. Only two of the E4's are alike. All the others are different, and none of them will shift into all the gears. Some have 1,3,4 some have 1,2,3 some have 1,2. (all have reverse). I have searched the internet and found some info, but not enough to get my problem solved. I even tried a couple of the valve bodies in my 88, and they do the same thing there. So I think the tran

is ok, just don't have the combination right to match the vb to the trans.
All the trans are 86-88. I have drained, swapped the vb, refilled about 20 times in the last two weeks. I am suprised I have not stripped out the threads in the case, but so far so good.

I need the advice from a seasoned Ford tech who helped bring the AOD into the world, or an avid Ford AOD expert.



Still going since 12/2000

 

The valve body that shifted 1,2,3, neutral would be the one to work with.

When they shift like that it tells you all the shift valves moved, when it supposed to shift into 4th gear the 3-4 shift valve moves and applies the overdrive band and turns off the forward clutch. So if the overdrive band can't hold it goes into neutral because the forward clutch let go. So this valve body should be good.

If you had the overdrive servo out for the shift kit there is a good chance it did not index the band when you reinstalled it, or the band is burnt.

 

Thanks for the reply. That was my thinking also. Yesterday I took the E4 vb from the 88 f150 (which works perfectly in the 88), and put it in the 54. It works all gears, and above 40mph od is ok. However if it is slower than that, it still slips a little. I am careful not to allow that because I don't want to do more damage to the friction surfaces.
Also with that combination, it will not shift back into 1st once it shifts out, unless I manually shift it or stop and put it in park or neutral, then back to od. Also, I put what I thought was an exact duplicate of that vb into the 88, and it has its own set of problems, namely no second gear. I was very meticulous in checking each valve and spring for all the bores, as well as verifying that the separator plate was the same.
Today I am going to put everything back as I got it. The 88 vb goes back into the 88 truck, the e4 vb which came with the trans in the 54 will go back in it, etc. I am now convinced that there must be some match between each trans and vb which is not interchangeable.

Again, thanks a million for your input. I have and am still searching and open to information. I even ordered another book on the aod. This will make 3.

 

Well, I finally wised up and re-mated the vb's with their original separator plates and transmissions. Now the 54 and 88 are working mostly as expected. I rebuilt the first aod which I had put in the 54 and set it aside for a spare.

I discovered that even e4 valve bodies with the same stamping could have different internal channels, and the separator plates associated with them were drilled to match. Fortunately, I took notes as I was taking them apart so that it was fairly easy to get them back to their proper places.

Now the 54 is back on the road again, and I am enjoying cruising at 2000 rpm and 68 mph!.