Howdy y'all. Thanks in advance for trying to help me out.
2003 7.3 4x4 in the past, I've had an occasional issue where the truck doesn't go into gear. Pull up to a parking space and put it in park. Then when I go to leave the parking space and put it in reverse the transmission doesn't seem to engage. So I would put it in park or drive and then back into reverse and it would go. I've also had it do the same thing as go to put it in gear and it didn't engage put it back in park and it would go. This problem did not happen that much. But today, I was driving the truck and went to pass someone and when I did the truck acted as if it went into neutral. Now it will not go into park or drive or anything. It's simply acts like it is in neutral. The fluid is full and very clean, and there is no leaks or fluid or anything under the truck. It did not make any noises or anything when it slipped into neutral or whatever. The engine simply raced as if I put it in neutral manually while I was doing 65 miles per hour. There is no check engine light on so it did not throw a code as far as I know.
does anybody have any suggestions? It seems like a solenoid or something electrical in my opinion. Thanks again for reading this and hopefully helping me out.

 

My E99 had the same symptoms and it was the time to rebuild it.

Sorry, nothings the simple route with these. Hope I'm wrong but, prepare for a rebuild.

Denny

 

Thanks Denny.
did you rebuild yours or put in a reman? I'm asking because I want to know if you found out what the exact issue was? Thanks

 

 

That quote seems a little high. I've seen rebuilt trans online for around 2k with warranty.

 

 

The rebuild went great.

Put in a tugger kit with a billet converter.

The shop that did it charged me 1747.00 total.

They recieved the truck and scanned it and found no codes and said there was nothing wrong. I looked at the dude and said, it's intermittent. He said he wouldn't tear into it and jumped in to back it out of the bay. Guess what, he had no reverse or forward.

Before it went, you could sit next to a driveup window brick building and it sounded like marbles being rolled around a bucket.

What they found was the converter grenaded slowly and trashed the trans.

If/When you have yours done, make sure they completely flush the lines and coolers or you'll be back to square 1.

My guy threw the cooler away and installed a new one, saying there is no sanitary way to get the debris out of them 100 percent.

That was 105k miles and 8 years ago. I have 224k on it now and work it pretty hard and have no regrets or problems.

Denny

 

Yeah, that's a lot better. I've seen reman on ebay w warranty and TC included for that.
I'm hoping my problem is a solenoid issue. Everyone I know with any wiring diagrams is closed today, so I'm gonna get the diagram and check electrical Monday morning. Plus, it's raining here in S,GA now, so I'm dead in the water, literally.
I was just hoping someone on here has seen and concurred this issue.

 

Good advice on the cooler and line flush.
yeah, mine doesn't make any noise or should I say, didn't make any noise. The truck has 408k on it, and this second trans has 250k.
this thing was running like a top before it just quit. I has the hydro booster replaced on Tuesday by my local shop. That thing was making a ton of noise haha! Any chance the hydro booster repair is related??

 

Go through the linkage just to be sure some bushing or adjustment did not fail, but that is a fingers-crossed hope-and-prayer exercise.

Sounds to me like the tranny failed, but still a good idea to take care of any linkage slop before the major service. You might also have a linkage problem.

ETA: As far as electrical problems, I think the transmissions for the 7.3 all have nothing to do with electrical issues in reverse. If you go under the truck (after blocking the wheels), disconnect the linkage, and put the transmission in the correct position for reverse, then it is in reverse. Foot on brake, set the in-cab linkage so the truck starts, and it should apply some torque to the rear wheels. It that does not work, then the tranny is toast.

 

There is nothing electrical, including solenoids, that could possibly cause this.

One thing to check before rebuilding the trans is the clutch feed bolts. They are between the case and the valve body. If they loosen you get symptoms like you describe.



Your guy is absolutely correct. There is no good way to flush a cooler. If the trans has a major failure you need to replace the coolers.

 

Sounds like a linkage issue, maybe something with the shaft going into the trans. Definitely not a 'typical' transmission is worn out kinda deal; nothing to do with hydraulics, electronics, clutches, torque converter, etc.

 

Baits.

I introduce Mark to you. As a new user, you should be aware that this man engineered this transmission.

JS

 

Alrighty...the man who engineered the 4r100. I'm not being a smart a$$ when I tell you, in honored and humbled that you took the time Mr Mark. And also greatly appreciative to everyone else as well. I'm going to try the linkage and work into it from there. I'm most bamboozled that the failure didn't come with prior slipping, or chattering, or the typical tranny failure signs. It just simply "went into neutral" while passing someone on a country back roafld, and never went into any other gear, including park. I will get under it as weather allows today. Have a buddy w a Snap On scanner who will check it tomorrow (Monday), but I'm going to mess e the linkage from under the truck to start.
Happy Father's day to you other dad's following this thread.
Unlike some threads I find inline, I'm going to rife this out to the end, and let everyone know the fix, when it's fixed. I hate reading incomplete forum threads.
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Any consolation, the neighbor was drop'n off the grandkid at school last week and out of nowhere, truck was stuck in N from throwing it in D...its an 08 chevy/allison with 130k...on its 3rd trans.(2nd owner)...hopeful in your case, its just what mark mentioned