Greetings to everyone. Sorry for the lengthy post but in this instance, I think more is better. I have a question for anyone with transmission experience. Specifically, the E4OD. Here is additional vehicle info. 1992 F250 XLT. 7.5/460. Over 8500 GVW. 129,000 on odometer.
I was driving to the store the other day and the hose attaching the auxiliary transmission oil cooler slipped off. I did not notice anything wrong until it started slipping.
In a most Grand Moment of stupidity, I decided to try to limp it home instead of pulling over Immediately. I got around a mile further down the road before stopping. Popped the hood. Discovered the issue. Reinstalled the cooler hose and filled it just to the full hot area of the dip stick. It took 6 quarts. While driving it home, selector lever in D. It would drive well-ish in 1st gear only. 2nd gear would slip a bit with a slight shudder. 3rd gear was washboard central with slipping, engine revving. Never even tried to push it harder than that. Never got above 35 mph. Once in the driveway, I added another quart of fluid to bring it up to the top of the "full when hot, idling in park" mark. Still drives the same with no real difference when the overdrive is off or on. Any ideas on what got damaged? Local shops want 2500 to 3500 to "Remanufactuer".

 

The intermediate clutch is damaged, and the direct clutch is destroyed.

 

Fluid? We don't need no stinkin' fluid!

Pun intended.

 

Thank you for your quick response. I was hoping that clutches would be all that got damaged and not planets or other hardware. Now trying to find someone I trust to reman the beast is in order.

 

That's all I can tell without tearing it down. Everything inside could be destroyed.

 

Torque converter.,... The wash board as you call it is torque converter shudder replace converter and it will be fine

 

Two things gathered from the description in the original post:

A torque converter clutch problem will not cause the transmission to not shift.

The torque converter clutch isn't commanded to be applied until at least 35 MPH in 3rd unless he's hammering on it in 2nd (all calibration dependent stuff) and he said it was doing this all while never exceeding 35 MPH.

Have you ever experienced destroyed clutches in a transmission?

 

Absolutely wrong.

 

Mark

I've turned a bunch of wrenches through the years and I agree with you on the tear down. Because of this I feel dumber than a bag of hair.
Looks like I'll be busy with my newly acquired project for a couple weeks.
Any ideas on where to get a converter? I suspect that it is toast as well.

 

If you're going to rebuild the trans you need to replace the converter. If you reuse a converter from a failed trans you are almost guaranteed to have to rebuild it again.

Dieselsite.com has some good converters. There are many other places, too.

 

Call a local trans shop as to where to get rebuilt/replacement converter.
First auto trans I rebuilt was an e4od, with the help of these forums, took me 6 months, cost about $1500 in parts and taxes(CAD), was a success.
Torque converter was $400.
I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

 

Well I bit the bullet and rebuilt the transmission myself. Upon teardown, the damage was extensive.
As Mark mentioned in an earlier reply, thank you Mark, the direct drive clutches AND steels were indeed destroyed. Pics of some of the damage.

Intermediate clutch were burnt and completely worn down.
The direct drive piston and Belleville spring were damaged and had to be replaced.
Thrust bushings and bearings on either side of the drum were bad, replaced.
Used a deluxe rebuild kit that had most of the components that were damaged included. Ordered other parts as needed.
Remanufactured Torque converter and solenoid pack were bought from a local auto parts chain.
Reassembly went smooth-ish! It has been a while since I was this deep into a tranny.
Auxiliary oil cooler flushed and fresh Mercon V added, 16.8 quarts to be precise.
Runs and shifts great, Except!
It likes to hang on to first gear unless I maintain a high RPM for a few seconds then it shifts hard into second, third and fourth really fast.
After coming to a couple complete stop and goes, it shifts normally. I can also manually shift to second then OD.
After doing many hours of research, I suspect that the transmission oil temperature sensor was not replaced in the pack.
Tested the TOT sensor resistance and it comes in at 34.9 k ohms, which is within specs. Multi-meter set to 200k. Displayed 34.9.
Could that sensor still be defective or is it possible one of the solenoids is defective, or is it something else?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for reading my long winded post.

 

Thank you for explaining your experience and showing the damage that was caused. It's a good data-point.