97 f350 7.3 192,000 miles
when cold, as in not up to operating temperature, transmission shifts fine. After several miles, if i come to a stop and take off it will not shift into second without either letting off the acceleration once it reaches 3,000 or keep pushing and it shifts hard. Once in second it will lazy shift into 3rd at low rpms. Once up to shifting speed it will shift into 4th very easy. Also, 1st, 2nd and 3rd feel like it is pulling a maxed out trailer. Once passed third it feels like it is pulling nothing and cruises very smooth.
What i have done so far, replaced third brake light and tail lights. Tested vss and it Ahmed out at 1,100. Replaced the brake fluid because it was dirty. The float functions as it should and no abs or brake lights on dash. When I bought the truck a few months ago, I changed the fluid. It looked like a strawberry milkshake. After a couple of times running through the gears on the farm, I drained the torque converter and the transmission. Replaced with orielys global trans fluid and replaced the filter. Trans fluid didn't smell burnt or brown when i replaced it wither time. Fluid level is exactly where it needs to be. Speedometer and odometer work fine. No bouncing at all. Connections on map sensor and the sensor by the shift linkage looks very clean and no signs of corrosion. I have no way to pull codes. I know its not an obd2 and have heard there is some way to pull fault code for the transmission. The vacuum line on the map sensor is in good shape and doesn't appear to leak. No check engine light either. Any ideas are greatly appreciated. All wiring harnesses look good with no corrosion present.

 

You can pull codes with forscan

OD light on or flashing?

 

No, the od light is not flashing.

 

You need to get Forscan and read the codes. Without the codes, all I can tell you is to start buying parts until you get lucky or run out of money.

 

I second the Forscan method. Some problem codes will not come up in your standard OBD2 plug, thus needing something like Forscan.
It is very easy to set up:
1. You can find Forscan compatible plugs that go from your laptop computer to your OBD2 port in your truck on Amazon or other online sites. I used the OBDLink EX FORscan OBD adapter, but there are plenty of options.
2. Once you get your plug in the mail and after you purchased their service from the Forscan website, follow the instructions that come with your plug. For mine there was a bunch of tabs to select when mine loaded and I went under something like "run diagnostic".
3. After getting what codes are thrown from this method, its a simple online search for what the issue is then YouTube to fix it.

Another way to do this is take it to a shop but they are going to do the same thing as I described above.
Hope this helps!

 

Sounds like its overheating or low pump pressure once warm

curious to check the flow of the fluid through the radiator by removing the return liine at the trans checking for flow cold and hot

 

How much fluid should flow? Been a long time since I fooled with an automatic

 

Im assuming that the pump is working good. I cracked the line about a full turn and started it. Fluid was pouring.

 

Fill a quart up and see how long it takes cold and then hot

IIRC, its about 5 GPM of flow

 

Looks like my fluid has gotten water in it again or I didn't get it all out. So im going to get five gallons of Global fluid and do a flush on the whole system. I smelled the dipstick and it smelled like atf and it appears that someone has changed antifreeze to the red color. The antifreeze isn't milky. I sure hope this fixes it at least until I can rebuild the thing if it hasn't destroyed it yet. I noticed on the dipstick that the color looked good but it is a white background so that could have been the reason I thought it was good.

 

Follow this

https://www.ford-trucks.com/articles...-transmission/

 

Thanks. I have read where Mark recommends mobile 1 so thats what I will be getting to do this. Glad to know he doesn't think draining the torque converter is necessary. Hopefully will be able to do this in the morning if the parts store doesn't drop the ball on getting the fluid.

 

It's about one gallon per minute, not five.

 

Recommend upgrading to a 4R100 pan with drain plug as you are going to want to drop the pan to get the water out

 

I was going to drop the pan again and thinking about cleaning off the shift solenoids with ether or brake cleaner to make sure there is no water in that part when I start to flush the system. As far as getting a deeper pan, I will wait and see if this fixes my issue. If it does then I will definitely get one and replace it when I change the filter and fluid again. If this doesn't fix my issue, I am highly considering converting to a zf6 if I can find one relatively cheap. And by cheap I mean about $1,500.