I have a 1996 F-250 Crewcab 4X4 7.3l with the automatic E4OD transmission (223,000 Miles), and this morning I experienced some sudden shifting issues that I'd like some help with.

After starting my truck, I shift it into drive and noticed that it was a little sluggish or hesitant when accelerating. I noticed it primarily happened when attempting to proceed from a complete stop, as when I arrived at stops and intersections, then attempted to proceed. Once I arrived at my destination about 10 minutes away. I pulled into the parking lot, went to shift into reverse to park, and the truck didn't want to move. I shifted it in and out of gear, and nothing. Not even a budge in neutral. After a few more attempts to shift into reverse, it finally began to to reverse, but seemed to have some sort of shuttering or slipping. I then proceeded to drive around to test it in drive and reverse, and it continued to do the same thing, but never like the no response when I first attempted to park. It continued to shift as if it was slipping at times, but then all of a sudden, the issues quit all together, and everything seemed normal as before this began this morning.

The truck drove great yesterday with no signs of any issues at all. In fact, I actually thought it was shifting a little smoother than ever before, but it could of just been in my head.

I do have an Edge Evolution programmer that I run the lowest setting with, but other than that, there's nothing previously to this point, that may seem to contribute to the symptoms I'm experiencing. No lights, no warnings, nothing.

If anyone can please help, I'd greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

 

UPDATE: I drove back home, and it seems as if my truck is shifting at a little higher RPM's through all gears in drive. Even when I accelerate from a complete stop. When I shift to reverse, it doesn't seem to be shifting into gear, and when I accelerate, the truck doesn't move in reverse.

 

If there is anything I've learned from dealing with my E4OD it's definitely to check and clean ALL electrical connections. There is one connector on the passenger side of trans, behind a heat shield that connects the solenoid pack. Make sure the connector is clean and free of oil and debris. There is also the MLPS sensor on the driver side, which is what the column shifter tells the transmission what gear to shift in.

 

Thanks for the reply on this Frank250Tank. Do you have any other specifics on these connections, so that I can troubleshoot them?

 

Ill Let Mark K chime in on what you can do, he's the Transmission expert on here. Its likely either your MLPS or Solenoid back are going out.. but before throwing parts at it, an inspection of the connectors would ensure you dont have a poor connection issue down there.

 

Thanks again Frank250Tank! Hopefully, I can get some advice from Mark K, but until then, I will do some research on the MLPS and Solenoid Pack connections to see how to check their connections.

 

Neither of these can cause the problems you're having. Can your programmer read codes? There may be codes stored that will help diagnose this.

My SWAG* is that you have either a clutch sticking (and that can only happen from a clutch failing) or you may have shift valves in the valve body sticking.




*SWAG = Silly Wild A** Guess

 

Thats why you're the expert, not me.

 

Thanks for replying in on this Mark K.

I hooked my programmer up, and the only code I received was this:

P0344 Camshaft Position Sensor "A" Circuit Intermittent

I'm looking into checking the connection for the CPS, and will replace the sensor if needed, but I don't think this is related to my current issue. Unless, I'm mistaken, and please correct me if so.

Thank you.

 

Yes, that CAN cause all sorts of problems. Get it fixed before doing anything else.

 

Will do Mark K. I'm headed to the Ford dealership this morning to get one, and I'll replace it.

Are you thinking this could be the issue with the specific symptoms I'm experiencing, or just a contributing factor?

 

I thought that I could toss in my 2 cents worth of E4OD experiences, A year ago I had trouble with my 96 f250 e4od. it had intermittent shifting issues, one day it worked fine other days it would slam into a "limp mode" other times it would shift oddly. well to get to the point my problem was the speed senor on the rear differential, but wait, i replaced this senor 3 times with an after market version, I went to rock auto and found one that is similar to the original, the senor part was round rather than hexagon. I placed the new one in and poof never had a problem since. So what i suspect was happening was the circuit path was from the sencor to the PCM then to the Speedo then back to the PCM on to the transmission. the sensor failed giving a false reading telling the speedo an incorrect speed which inturn told the transmission to shift up or down at incorrect speeds, the possible conflict caused a fault and the transmission by default went to a safe mode. I know all this sounds garbled but its the only way I could grasp it. bottom line is that the aftermarket sensors dont seem to work properly. I hope this made some sense to you and maybe helps in the future. I know my problem haunted me along time.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this Skape, and taking the time to reply in on this for me. What specifics directed you towards the speed sensor?

 

UPDATE: I replaced the CPS with a brand new one from the Ford Dealer. The CPS that I removed from the truck looked fairly new, and may have been replaced by the previous owner that I bought the truck from.

Once installed, the truck fired up better than ever before. I then took it for a drive around the neighborhood, and no problems at all. I tested all the gears out several times, and it worked like a charm!

I then left to run a few errands, and after driving about 15 minutes on the highway, I pulled into a parking lot, and once again no darn reverse! I was forward parked towards a building, had to shift in and out of gears, and finally put it in reverse, and it barely reversed out of the parking spot.

Drive is still a little sketchy like yesterday, but reverse is not happening. I'm having flashbacks to the events that unfolded yesterday!

I ran the diagnosis on my programmer, and it comes back clean! No code issues.

Anything else on this guys?

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Please help!

 

Most of my problems began with the speedometer was not steady the needle was bouncing. suddenly i would slip into neutral and had no power to the transmission then it would slam into gear again thus leaving the OD light flashing. after awhile the OD light would blink off and all was fine again until the next mishap. the codes I pulled showed the speed sensor.