First off, sorry if this has been covered I couldn't find anything when it came to Google and was hoping the hive mind could help me out. Recently acquired my grandpas truck, it's a '91 f150 custom with a 4.9 and E4OD 82,xxx miles pretty sweet. Today was not a good day to be that truck. I replaced the alternator and serpentine belt and drove it to town to return the alternator core. It was about a 15 minute drive, about 5 minutes into the return trip I hear a harsh rattle so I pull over and pop the hood, lo and behold my new belt was partially shredded
Problem the second, and this is the big one, I continue driving trying to get home watching my temp gauge just incase and three blocks from the house the truck did not want to move, at all. I get it home and it pukes what appears to be tranny fluid all over the gravel. Pop the hood again and EVERYTHING is covered in fluid. My first guess was tranny lines but has anyone had this happen? If so all input greatly appreciated.
Also sorry for the long poorly formatted post, I'm using my phone so its hit and miss.

 

Also also, checked the dip stick and the trans was bone dry

 

Clean it up first then check your serpentine belt alignment. There has to be something going on with it and it's not related to the tranny puking it's fluid out. Unless maybe the belt was slipping due to tranny fluid on the pulleys and the slipping tore the belt up.

I may be wrong so do some searching here and on google but I think your symptoms with the tranny puking it's fluid may be due to the filter dropping out of place. You will have to drop the tranny pan to check. Those with more experience with the auto transmissions will be able to confirm for you.

 

I doubt that the filter fell off because of the alternator replacement. More likely is that the trans overheated because the fan wasn't turning due to the belt issue.

 

Of course. I never even thought of that. I don't normally associate transmission cooling with the fan but with the integrated transmission cooler in the rad it makes perfect sense.

 

I gave the pulleys a quick once over with the eye-crometer when I first put it on the only issue I saw was a little run out on the smog pump pulley but I'll be sure to really comb over it when I put the new belt on. Thanks for the speedy reply

 

That would for sure make sense, the belt was still about 80% there but I'm sure it wasn't turning at full chooch whilst shredding off. How serious would the overheating be in terms of repair. It stopped moving all together as soon as I tried to back into my parking spot here in the alley so I got fairly lucky there...given the circumstance

 

My guess is the shredded belt whipped around and broke a transmission line to the radiator. The belt was probably one or two grooves off on one of the pulleys. Very easy to do.

 

That's a much better guess than mine was.

 

That's kinda what I was thinking at first but didn't know for sure. Glad i came here

 

I had a issue with my transmission and I ended up in a stranded situation similar to you. I was able to get it home, fix it, fill it up. and the transmission has been fine. So unless you drove it crazy far, you probably din't trash the transmission. Do you have a secondary transmission cooler? Another possibility is a rock hit the second tranny cooler, it sprang a leak and your driving on the freeway covered your engine in tranny fluid. I had a friend with that issue. Our first thought was the fluid came from the dipstick tube but further inspection revealed a small hole in the cooler, which under speed covered all of the engine from top to bottom.

If the fluid was coming out of the bottom of the transmission bell? that is a symptom of a blown front gasket seal(also called a torque converter seal i think) common on the e4od with the non viton seal (was updated int he later 4r100 transmisson i think). but that doesn't sound like the issue you had, because that fluid would only be around the bottom of the engine/transmission.

When you install a new belt, its a good idea to crank the engine a couple times without starting it, then checking to make sure your belt is perfectly aligned.

Do a visual inspection, then fix your serpentine belt assembly issue. Then do a test at home and check for leaks.

 

I had a chewed up belt once, ended up having to replace the smog pump pulley.

 

I'd guess an idler pulley bearing is grinding up after sitting that long, and is slowly walking the belt off, which in turn weed-wackered a tranny cooler line causing a leak. But it's hard to say -

 

Based on the map I drove about 8 miles so fingers crossed I didn't entirely hoop it. The only tranny cooler onto it would be the stock one but with the way everything was blown around and wetted down I wasn't able to see if anything was actively leaking so once I clean it I'll be able to see hopefully. I don't beleive its the front seal just based on how much tranny fluid was up on the top of the engine unless it got blown around the back of the engine and up the firewall. Thanks for the tip on the belt
Edit: I should say i was 8 miles from home when the belt went into self destruct mode hard telling when the tranny juice let loose

 

Hopefully you get it straight. Not long ago I replaced the idler arm pulley on my I6 because I was changing the belt. No idea how old the belt was, it looked good so I kept it as a spare but the idler arm pulley was starting to rattle a little bit and am pretty sure was original.

I envisioned in my head something similar to what you had happen as I drive almost 130 miles a day round trip for work, it's better safe than sorry. I also added an external transmission fluid cooler (wasn't hard at all) and an inline magnetic filter on the return line to the transmission just for added insurance.

clean everything up good then when the tranny is full of fluid I'd set the parking brake and let it idle in gear for a while and look for any leaks from the lines.

Fingers crossed for you.