Hey I was hoping to pick some ones brains on the e4od. I recently decided I wanted to learn more of this transmission and rebuild/upgrade the one I had since it was worn out and shifted extremely harsh. I opened her up. The rebuild went pretty well and straight forward only real signs of damage in the transmission was a bit of burnt fluid and most the clutches were gone. Now I got a 1996 e4od as well to pull any parts that were good/upgrades to the 1989 transmission that was in my 1992 truck. (not sure why, but it had a 1989 casting number). For months I read about the transmission as well as the upgrades in it. To make the 1996 work with my 1992 PCM I decided to put the 1992 solenoid pack, but keep the 1996 vavle body and anything associated with it. I also installed the sonnax tugger kit and a boss hog torque converter. The Clutches are all alto red and kolene steels all clearances where checked and I did everything I could to make sure the sprags were reinstalled correctly. (granted this is my first time so human error may have occured).

Now the problem is is after I installed it into my truck it seems my reverse is more like neutral and it will go into 1st gear and 2nd gear both in drive as well as manually. But won't go into 3rd gear no matter what I try. Not sure if overdrive works either. I already dropped the transmission and rechecked my reverse sprag as I was afraid I put it in wrong, but the rotation was correct on it. the transmission is back in my truck, but I have no idea what could be the problem now. I also believe I put all the check ***** in in the 1996 spots, but my only other concern would be if maybe I should of put them in as the 1992 check ball locations instead. I have no codes and my overdrive on/off works perfect so I'm at a real loss here.

 

The direct clutch must not be engaging. Needed for 3rd and reverse.

 

I had a similar problem after installing a shift kit, and it was just that I didn't tighten the valve body bolts enough. You can check that write-up in my signature.

 

Thank for the advice on what to check. I have a feeling since I don't have 3rd that it had something to do with the direct clutch, but didn't realize that also is engaged when in reverse though it makes sense. Any Ideas what all the check that might be causing the direct clutch to not engage? I'm racking my brain on this one.

And thanks encho though I believe it's all torque properly I already removed the entire transmission a 2nd time tore into it to make sure nothing was in wrong still had the same problem. I torqued the valve body bolts down to spec using a inch/lb torque wrench both times still same problem though. All I could think was that the 2-3 valve was stuck, but that didn't explain my lack of reverse.

 

Aright I'm finally going to be able to go home this weekend to work on it again. I need my truck badly for school and work. So Anyone have any advise and what particularly to look at for why the direct clutch isn't engaging. Since I have the weekend a large list of what could be causing it would be great so I can go through and double check everything.

 

The OD one way clutch or sprag needs to hold in 3rd and R. Any chance you installed it backwards?

 

it's a possibility. It would explain why my reverse is a neutral though I did try double checking it. Would it affect any other gears and wouldn't it free wheel in 3rd then causing 3rd it to go into neutral in 3rd? (This is my first time tackling an automatic so I'm trying to learn as much as possible.)

 

That's not correct. The OD one way clutch holds when the OD clutch is off, so it holds in 1,2, and 3. If it were in backwards you wouldn't have 1,2, or 3.

There is something wrong in the direct clutch, or the hydraulic circuit feeding it. You've got a big leak there. The most common cause of that is a damaged seal in the direct clutch.

 

I was doing some reading in the manual. Missed the part about holding in 1,2 also.

 

that's what I thought with the overdrive because that's why I upgraded it to a steel planetary since all gears run off of it. Before installing the drum I checked that it clicked by putting pressure air through the feed hole on the drum so I figured it wasnt the piston gasket. At this point I'm just praying I dont have to drop the entire transmission again and open it back up as I dont really have the time to do that.... But of course if I have to I will. I was thinking maybe it could be a circuit fault somewhere or a stuck valve? Though I'm not sure exactly what to check there. As the internals make complete since to me it's the electric and valve body that I'm a bit lost on with the e4ods.

 

There is no electrical input to engage reverse. No valve (except the manual valve connected to the shift linkage) is needed to engage reverse.

 

Ah okay. I just kept hearing people talking about limp mode and how the computer can stop the transmission from engaging certain gears. And didnt know if it was possible for a bad connection or something in either the neutral safty switch. (Which my dad did find out yesterday was bad from the ohms it was running) or if the connector could of done it. But if there is no program in the computer to dissengage reverse in limp mode then I guess that rules out that and the valve thoery. And then I was thinking maybe the valve that sends fluid to the direct drum was stuck. But I guess that ruled those ideas out.... so the only thing it could be is a bad gasket in the direct drum?

 

Something else my dad just reminded me of is he isnt sure if it's actually goin in reverse or if the shifting linkage is off. Because when put in reverse my back lights dont come on and he noticed the neutral safty switch the N didnt line up and wouldn't no matter what he did (Almost forgot about that. Good old dad reminding you when something weird is goin on in the truck.) So I guess the first thing I'll check is the shifting linkage

 

So an update. I'm more confused than when I started this weekend. Found out the shifter cable was frayed inside so though at the wheel I put it in reverse it wasn't always moving at the linkage. Fixed that, but still the same problem persisted. Ended up taking the transmission out retesting the direct drum. When air was applied to it the piston compressed the clutches and held. So Direct drum seal was good. I put it all back together the exact same way I took it out. Double checked the sprag rotation. Put the transmission back in the truck. And now It won't shift to 2nd it stays in 1st even when engaging the manual valve. Still no 3rd or reverse. So I only have park, neutral, and 1st. Reverse seems to be a neutral still drive and 2nd seem to be stuck as first..... At this point I'm just getting fed up with this transmission.... I guess I'm just gonna have to do a zf swap instead.

 

Na don't give up on it! From what little E4OD experience and knowledge I have, it sounds like a valve body prob. Curious to read a comment from Mark.

I rebuilt and upgraded mine with no issues, lol lucky, but am always interested in troubleshooting fixes.