I have an F-250 Lariat V10 AUTO CC SB. While I was backng in the 5th wheel (up a slight incline), the trany started to leak from the front plate area right on top of a hot cataletic converter. It started smoking and I shut off the truck, got out to look and the drips caught fire. To make a long story short it was just the atf burning on the cat and no damage to the truck (from the fire anyway). The truck has been sitting for over 24hrs and no signs of leakage. The trany fluid is still full but darker than normal so I plan to change that at a minimum. If any one has any info or ideas please let me know.

 

for 1 welcome to fte. the best ford -truck site on the web. please take some time and read our site guide lines and the area read firsts posted by monsta. enjoy the site.
as to your truck. best to get it checked out and play safe. do not tow untill you have it corrected.

 

tsmahler

Welcome to FTE and the V10 forum home of the BSEG!

Sorry to hear you smoked the trans.

drain and flush and reload new fluid then get AAMCO or some other COMPETENT trans shop to test the trans before you tell them you smoked it.

You did the exact conditions that I describe in about 6 posts here and in the SuperDuty forum that cause super heating of the fluid.

backing up = no air flow
reverse gear and slipping torque converter = great gobs of heat

Most likely the seals took a serious hit and they will still leak when hot. You will need a trans tear down for seal replacement if they do. If you caught it early enough the rest of the clutch packs and gears should have survived and you just smoked the fluid.

Being a 2000 model I assume you have a fair amout of 5th wheel time on that trans. If so and a rebuild is required.... go to Brians truck service web site (google him) and look into a bullet proof BTS rebuild. Worth every penny.

Now you know why a trans oil temp gage and auxillery cooler with fan are needed to help the factory cooling system.

Sorry you had this experiance but your post will amplify why I say to add the gage and cooler.

You and I gain a little Karma if we have helped some other "Joe" avoid all this grief!

 

Fredvon4
Thanks for the info. Everyone that I have talked to says that it sounds like I caught it before serious damage occurred to the trany and that the seals may be the only thing that need replaced (I'm keeping my fingers crossed). As for the towing time, I just bought a 39ft Alfa a few months ago. Other than that it's been nothing major. Thanks agian and if you think of anything else let me know.

 

How about the manual transmission? While its obviously not an automatic, it does have a cooler. Is there perceived to be a comparable problem, or when backing is the heat confined to the pressure plate? I wouldn't expect a problem with a manual...

 

MIne has done that twice. Once at 100k and another at 195k. Both times it was the front seal on the tranny. Everybody i asked about it said i needed to do the TC also, not just the seal. The first time i had Ford do it (mistake) they charged $1400 for a new torque converter, valve body, and a couple things else. Most recently i found a good honest reliable shop, they did the same thing for 800, plus he flushed the tranny out with 20 quarts of atf, and took it apart and inspected it. Everything inside looked great.

 

Sounds to me like you just over-heated the fluid and it puked out the vent on top of the E4OD. Change the fluid & you'll probably be OK.

Might want to think about adding some electric fans to the tranny cooler in order to prevent future occurances.

 

Sounds like you might want to do that in 4x4 LOW next time - lots less stress on the tranny. If you have a manual transfer case, it's easy to get LOW with only 2 wheel drive - don't lock the hubs.

If you have ESOF there is a mod so that the hubs do not lock - a switch in (or under) the dash to cut off the auto hubs, then you can just turn the dial to 4x4 LOW (in neutral) and the tranny will be MUCH happier.

art k.

 

BareBones

Most COMPETENT manual transmissions truck drivers have a good enough feel for slipping the clutch that they won't hurt it too bad.

I have been in more than one camp ground and watched the "back up park" dance enough times to have smelled the fried clutch stink to know there are some not too bright folks out there

Any way 99% of the time the only harm you can do to the manual box the clutch.

The problem with the automatic is in reverse, the torque converter is loaded with a LOT of slow transmission drive shaft speed, and high engine speeds, this forces the torque converter to have a very high slippage factor and generat a WHOLE BUNCH of heat. Plus drivers tend to use the motor to hold a position and not the brakes and they rarely realize that the torque converter is holding back the entire load, truck trailer and all.

This will take 190-200F degree ATF and bring it over 280-300F degrees in a very short period. With Zero air flow over the radiator and oil coolers except for the engine fan that usually only kicks in after it senses the air is REAL HOT (too late by the way)

Bad MoJo for ATF

 

Chances are real good that the front seal is toast. I've had it happen twice now. First time was a Ford rebuild that lasted another 30k. Friday I picked it up from a very reliable tranny shop which also upsized my cooler to 45k. He used a non-Ford front seal and is sure that my problem is fixed. I also had them install the new Amsoil Torque Drive fluid and a new filter. I now have temp gauges on both the send and return lines so that we can monitor changes based on different mods I'll be doing in the future .

 

To D Lake

Are you THIS To D Lake?

Robb Wing from Cincinnati,Ohio FOKISD Charter Member and President (I wasn't paying attention!)

Not trying to be funny but now I know why your posts always seem dejavu to me (grin)

 

Guilty as charged. Spend way too much time on a PSD site as a V10 owner... But somebody has got to make them see the light!

 

If it was after a long haul, it probably puked fluid out the vent. If it was cold, it would take many miles of backing up to heat it that much.

If it was cold, it's probably the seal, or maybe overfilled?

Definetely find a good shop, don't build another stock tranny with the same weaknesses.

 

Fredvon4 - Thanks for the info. A little experience can be worth a thousand words...