1997 F-350 DRW 7.3 PSD E4OD transmission 179k miles

I just finished a complete rebuild of my transmission with new solenoid pack and new torque converter. Everything works fine except the converter des not lock up. I do not have any indications such as flashing OD light. Prior to disassembly the transmission did have problems but torque converter lockup was not one of them.

So what I'm looking for are ideas on how to troubleshoot this short of removing the transmission again and trying a different torque converter. The TC that I Installed from Monster Transmission.is a heavy duty multi clutch unit.. I still have the original TC.

Thanks for any tips or advice
Paul

 

Lots of things to look for, coolant temp, brake lights, LED blubs, barometric sensor, trailer harness shorts, cam sensor, PCM. Best of all these things can keep it out of lockup and not set codes except maybe the cam and baro sensor.

Do you have a decent scanner that can display data? This would help, you could watch to see if the computer is commanding TCC, this could cut you possibilities in half, either its in the unit or a control problem.

The Monster converter could be the culprit too, wouldn't surprise me, but rule out everything easy before pulling the unit again.

 

I found the center brake light was burned out but that didn't help, it's probably been out for years and the TCC always worked before I did the rebuild. I did a series of drive cycles per the manual and watched the shift points to see that they corelated with the chart. Everything looks good in that regard but it definitely is not locking up. So I found this mom and pop transmission shop down the road and he's got a Snap-on Solus scanner so I told him I'd pay him a couple of hours to see if he can come up with anything and scheduled an appointment for next Monday. Like you said there are a lot of possible culprits but my gut feeling is that it's most likely something that I messed with rather than something that was never disturbed. Still, need to exhaust all possibilities before taking a wrench to it again. I'm beginning to wish now that I had installed a drain plug in the pan when I had it off. Thought about it but decided not to d:-(

 

UPDATE: Okay I found a free program called ForScan online that I installed on my laptop and it let me do real-time monitoring of a bunch of PID's while I drove around. What I found was that the TCC solenoid signal never showed up, it just remained at zero. Everything else I could think of such as coolant temp, brake switch, cruise control, and baro all seemed to be working as they should. One thing I noticed was that the Coast Clutch solenoid stayed on all the time. I'm not sure when it's supposed to turn off, guess I'll have to do a bit of reading.

This is encouraging though, if it's something outside of the tranny and I don't have to take it apart or pull it out again I'd be grateful for that.

 

Another Update: Continued troubleshooting by removing pigtail harness to solenoid pack and inspecting all of the connector pins and wires. It all checked good so I hooked it up and rang through all of the solenoids with an ohmmeter. They all read 20.5 ohms except the TCC (Torque Converter Clutch) solenoid which read 14.4 ohms. I then used my 12 volt power supply to apply voltage across each of the solenoids while listening for a 'click' of them closing and they all did except the TCC. So, after further research it seems that either my new $379 solenoid pack is deflective or, possibly more likely, I got the wrong part number. It's possible that I got a solenoid pack for the later 4R100 transmission which uses PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) for the TCC. I know I ordered the right one but it looks like maybe they sent the wrong one. I'll know as soon as I drop the pan and can read the part number on the bottom. Luckily, fixing this will not require removal of the transmission, just replacement of the solenoid pack which is 10 or 11 Torx screws if I remember right.

I really wish now that I had installed a drain plug in the pan when I had it apart. I thought about it but decided not to.

 

I sincerely hope you resolve this without another full R&I of the completed transmission.

I've made it a priority installing a transmission pan drain on all my vehicles---I've yet to not used them at one point or another. Having dealt with trying drain a full pan without major spillage this is probably one of the smarter things I've done DIY maintenance-wise. I use these: Pan Drain Fitting

I can supply more "how to" installation info for these if interested.

 

Yup, definitely going to install a drain this time, thanks for the link.

 

I'm sure you must have figured out what was wrong by now but the on/off solenoid should be 20-30 ohms and the PWM solenoid is 10-20 ohms measured between pins 1&4. Sounds like the incorrect solenoid pack to me.

 

did u ever find out what it was bro?? i have a 02 7.3 f550 and same thing, no torque locker, i rebuilt the tranny at a shop, payed 1800$ baught a new torque converter and still same thing, at 55mph ime pushing 2k rpm,s+ i dont know what to do, tranny guy said that the snapon scanner shows truck is commanding torque converter to lockup, so ime guessing i have a new solenoid since i rebuilt tranny but maybe thats the problem, either way , anybody know where the tcc solenoid is located on a 4r100, can i manually ground wire harness to manually lock it and see if it works?? i heard something about pin 54, orange and black wire, is this correct?

 

UPDATE: Fast forward a year and a half. I used the truck around town okay, never took it on the highway and kept putting off digging into it again. Finally I decided to just drop it off at the mom and pop transmission shop down at the corner and let them take a crack at it. I figured all I would be out is the labor to R&R the transmission since I'm not really well set up for doing that in my driveway plus I'll be 70 years old next month. So Andy pulled it off and checked it but couldn't find anything obviously wrong. I made the decision to get a new torque converter and we decided to also just replace the pump. That didn't work so I had Andy replace the valve body which didn't require pulling the trans. That didn't work either. Basically these are the things I would have done on my own if I had gone that route so really the only extra cost was for the labor and I'm happy to pay that.

It's odd, I had an option along the way to just get a new transmission with warranty but decided to gamble on getting this one working. I will note that if I were going to read every internet thread on an E4OD with TC lockup issues I could easily spend the rest of my days doing nothing else but that.

Now however, I'm gonna get drunk on it and consider a path forward. I am beginning to suspect that maybe the problem is on the truck side and not the transmission after all. I had sort of made the assumption that it was the transmission because well, it worked before and I hadn't messed with anything on the truck so I can't really fault myself on the logic. Other option is maybe just sell the truck saying it needs a transmission, I don't actually really need it anymore to be honest and now that I'm retired it's time to downsize anyway.

Well I'm going to mix up a batch of Margaritas and get started on licking my wounds. As far as the money goes hell, it's only good when it's getting passed around anyway.

 

Please tell me you ran your fuses...dont just go by test light on the test holes...gotten burned by a few E350 Budget trucks with the fuse burning out at the leg...tests good every time...remove the fuses and check from the contacts themselves. Do this all the time...and buy BUSS...those cheapies are crap. I really loved the Blow-N-Glow. No test light needed..if its blown, it will glow red. Kimball Midwest used to sell them but they said the cost got too high so people quit buying them.
See if u have cruise. Brake light switch replaced?
Replace ALL the brake light bulbs, including the 3rd brake light too. Seen working bulbs wreak havoc in diagnosis.
Professional Rebuilder from 1990-1997, just when the E4ODs came out...the overheating on those were insane...had a Centurion that got so hot, it melted our hard plastic line as I was feeding it in...lost about 3 ft that ended up a blob of black plastic in the pan. If you tow, put a massive cooler on. The factory one is just too small. Seen people use AC condensers for coolers which work surprisingly well for a car...pretty restrictive for the size lines however to be used in these trucks.

https://www.kimballmidwest.com/283632

Just some helpful FYI...

 

Thanks. Although I feel defeated at this point my plan is to concentrate on the truck and eliminate any possible culprit even though I've already been down that road and scanner shows that trans is getting all of the proper signals at the proper time. There has to be a cause somewhere but so far my troubleshooting logic has failed to find it. Bear in mind the guys at the trans shop are experienced and sharp too and they couldn't find it despite spending a lot of time looking. We are missing something somewhere.
I had the option of just ditching this transmission and going with a complete new rebuild from a reputable vendor with a warranty and all but to be honest I'm not sure at this point if that would even work. As ironic as it seems it could be as you suggest, a simple two dollar part.

 

I left the automatic transmission industry in 1997, (90-97) right as the E4OD started coming through the doors. Man, those things ran HOT if you towed...like way to hot.
Always used the Gil Younger Shift Kits...these were the trademarked Shift-Kit. Not real good for novices. I just did my Tahoe 4L60E and did the same to it...more than the vehicle deserves...of course I made it for a hotrod, right down to the Vette servo.
Any ways,there is a split teflon ring or o-ring on the pump stator. That seals the converter from the pump. Are you sure the ring is on there? Seen people use too thin of an oring or just forget altogether.
I know I could find it, just cant do the diagnosis from here..sorry
Went out and snapped a pic just in case

 

I'm not a transmission expert, but I can't see an O ring used in that application. If you did, it would fail early since there is a rotational issue there. I do know [since I had mine out last weekend and checked it] mine was a green split teflon ring. 95 E4OD.

 

FINAL UPDATE AND CLOSURE: I hate to leave a thread hanging so here's the last update. A buddy of mine recommended a transmission shop so I took it to them and said, just get it working I'll pay $6k for a replacement rebuilt transmission if that 's what it takes. They did a complete diagnostic, confirmed it was not an issue with the truck and ended up completely re-rebuilding my transmission and installing a new billet torque converter.

So, bottom line, I guess I'll never know what the heck it was but it works great now and they gave me a 5 year/100k mile warranty. Maybe I bit off more than I could chew, maybe it was just a bit of bad luck. At my age I'm not ever going to rebuild another transmission so I guess it doesn't really matter. I got the truck mated up to the old Lance camper, had to replace the carburetor on the Onan generator but everything else is in working order. It's too late now to head up to Alaska but I'm ready for next season. I'll probably go around July/August next year. It will be a long road trip, probably 2 months or more. Thanks to everyone who tried to help on this forum, I appreciate it.