Last night when leaving work my transmission started slipping. It would rev up for a second, then lunge forward, rev, lunge, etc. It happenned for about half a mile and then stopped. I checked the fluid and it looks full enough. It doesn't look brown or smell burnt. What would be the best thing to check/fix? Thanks.

Aaron

 

Your tranny is from the years when they had problems. Usually the Torque Converter clutch would slip and then cause other problems related to overheating and debris. Plus I would guess you have a fair number of miles on the tranny by now, unless it was rebuilt, hopefully with upgraded parts.

Without knowing the history of your tranny I would drop the pan and inspect for excess debris. Pepper flakes are usually clutch. I would say there should be no more than a teaspoon. Metal chips larger than say a grain of rice are bad, and more than 1 or two is bad. If the magnet is really fuzzy and has metal flakes, that is also a problem.

I am not an expert on trannies, but if I saw any of the above symptoms and had a lot of miles(over say 80K) I would consider a rebuild. If the fluid was burnt and pink to brown to black then you definitely have a problem.

If everything was OK then maybe some adjustment or sensor is out of spec. I have heard that the gear selector sensor sometimes get out of adjustment and can cause these problems. Hoep one of the experts gives more detail and a correct name for it. Sometimes a fluid change will make the tranny work a lot better, but I would not bet on it if you had lots of miles and any of the other symptoms mentioned above.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Im sort of having the same problem, I own a 90 f-150 with e40d, when it would shift gears sometimes would rev up, and recently hauled 800lbs of wood and when i went to leave work today it was chattering(torque converter) and when i went to accelerate it would slip badly, im assuming a rebuild is a must, whats a decent price to pay for a rebuild along with major components that should be replaced, thanks!