Hey guys I have a 1998 XLT 4.0 4x4 long bed ranger with about 276,000. I’ve had the truck for the last 230,000 miles so I assume it’s the original tranny. Yesterday I thought I would try to use it to help pull my little skid steer out of some mud. My wife was in the truck and I was in the skid steer. She said she was pushing the pedal down but it wasn’t moving much and the wheels weren’t spinning/losing traction. I just assumed the truck didn’t have enough *** to pull the skid steer free. I drove the truck a 1/4 mile back to the house with no real noticeable issues other than when I went to back in the driveway it seemed to take longer to engage in reverse. This morning I left the house and after a few miles I noticed starting from a stop the engine was reving higher than my acceleration would require. I then noticed the O/D light was flashing. I brought the truck back home and jumped in my other truck to get to work. I haven’t had a chance to hook it up to a scanner to check for codes but any insight into what might be going on? Thoughts on options? Could I buy a remanufactured trans and just swap it in? I see some guys rebuilding their valve bodies but I feel like with the amount of miles I have the tranny has lived a good life. Would I be better having mine rebuilt? Thanks for any insight.

 

If she held the pedal down for more than five seconds the torque converter overheated. If it was more than 10 seconds the torque converter has been cooked. Much more than that and the trans itself is cooked.

I think a new trans is probably what you'll need. But first read the codes in the PCM to find out why the OD light is flashing. It might be something other than a new trans.

 

This vintage transmission has a known tendency to blow out the valve body gasket. The symptoms depend on where it blows out. There is a TSB that suggests that a separator plate be used with the gasket bonded to the plate so it can not blow out. If you pull the pan you can look around the edge of the valve body to see if bits of gasket are sticking out. If so, see if you can get the bonded plate mentioned in the TSB and install it or have it installed. I was able to get one about 5 years ago from a Ford dealer for my '99.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I haven’t had much time to dive into it yet but I did just get the computer hooked up to it. I use FORScan and had a couple of codes P0733, B1869, P1878, B1352. The main one that seems like it would be relevant is the P0733 which sounds like it has to do with shifting into 3rd gear? That doesn’t seem to apply to the symptoms I was experiencing. I did let it come up to temp while I had the computer connected and took it for a quick drive and got through all the gears. Everything seemed OK and if I didn’t know about the previous problem, I wouldn’t have realized there was ever an issue. The blinking O/D light didn’t come on during the test drive. I’ll probably still drop the pan and get a look at the valve body gasket in the near future and take a couple more around the neighborhood test drives.

 

Just an update. I dropped the pan and cleaned it out. Oil looked kind of cooked, definitely not clean. Nothing too suspect in the pan or on the magnet. I replaced the filter and reinstalled the pan with 5qts of fresh fluid. I took it for a test drive down to Home Depot and it seemed to be running fine. On my way home the O/D light started flashing again but without any major symptoms. I checked the trans oil
when I got home and it didn’t look as clean. Not sure if it’s just because with was mixing with the other fluid in the system. I’ve kind of come to terms with the fact that I will need a new transmission with 276K on the clock regardless of what the issue is. I watched a couple of videos of guys swapping trans and it doesn’t look terrible? Any advice or good sources for a transmission? Saw some remanufactured trans on auto zone which I figure could save me on shipping if I have it delivered to the store. Also saw on one of the videos some other related gaskets that are required on pieces that mate to the trans that wouldn’t necessarily come with the trans itself.

 

Remember to flush the lines and cooler and always a new torque converter.

Good luck!