Hello all,
Ok...I found and checked the IPR and made sure it wasn't loose or leaking as that seemed to be the prevailing suggestion.
My problem seems to be getting worse. She bogs and stalls nearly everytime I put her into reverse now. I can shift into rev and idle all day long, but as soon as I give her throttle she bogs and stalls. Everything else runs perfectly and all foward gears shift smoothly. Trans temp and level is right on and trans only has 30k on it. What should I do? I'm ready to off myself here!
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions.

 

I know you stated in your post that your fluid level was good but your symptoms sure sounds like low fluid level in tranny. A buddy of mine with a 1996 had low level and in reverse it would actually kill the engine. He added fluid and fixed leak and has had no more problems.

 

I mean I'm pretty sure I know how to read the stick...I've only checked it hot though. Maybe I'll check it cold in the AM. It does exactly that though-as soon as I give her throttle in reverse she bogs and stalls hard!

 

Oh yeah...she doesn't leak a drop either. Just thought I'd mention that.

 

NANTRUCKIT, believe you and me I am behond frustration right now. I have alot of work to do on my mule, we will gete through this. Ok so you checked out the IPR and I am assuming that the washer and nut were on there, but the unit can definately still be bad.... Your symtoms are pinpointed directly to that IPR, atleast that is what all of the mechanics that I have spoken too out here in Phoenix. Listen I just purchased a brand new one myself and the IPS whitch is the sensor that goes on the head. I am not diagnosing your problem I am nearly going off of all the information that I receive from others. Like I said I purchased them for my rig today. Somehow we need to find you one that is used that maybe somebody has leftover, or I can send you mine and you can put it in to see if that cures the problem. If so I would recomend purchasing one. I know that you are doing double the labor by installing twice but atleast you will save alot of money if that isn't your problem than you can move on. Guyes are finding them online for dirt cheap. I just purchased mine from my local dealer for $135 new. So let me know.

 

rpaquette,
Thanks for that. I'm not looking foward to this whole process but looks like I'm out of options,eh?
Yeah, washer and nut were on there and everything seemed snug. I still don't understand how the IPR could make her stall only in reverse but hey, what do I know?
Where is everyone getting these things online for cheap?
Thanks again for the help

 

Well, I heard they are getting them on ebay, both sensors for like $100. But like I stated lets do what the dealerships do and just put in a working part and see if that works. Me, since I just bought my really sick mule two months ago I am just going through and replacing everything that I can just for piece and mind. That will make me feel mutch better going down the road knowing that my baby is working in top condition. Now if I can only lets see, take out the turbo get that rebuilt, take of the pedistal and replace the o rings, replace the IPR and IPS, and all high pressure O rings on the hoses, and the who knows what else. Not including all of the other stuff that was already replaced acouple days ago. Sorry I feel your pain really.
Ok so is this your daily driver and our you still driving her? I know that my IPR is working so I would be more than happy to send that one to you, so we can see if that fixes the problem. Than if that does the trick then and only then would I purchase a new one, that is if you are trying to save the money or you can just purchase one to eliminate that part... Let me know if I could be of assistance.

 

I've been a bit quiet about this until I could figure out what was going on, but I have had the exact same problem. It started on Saturday, with no warning. Same exact symptom - it would idle in reverse but as soon as you try to throttle it it stalled the truck out.

Well, with my tranny only 3 weeks old, it was a bit of concern to me. So, I called Brian yesterday (Monday) to try to figure it out. First he told me to unhook and bypass my external trans filter - didn't work. Well, not much else he could do over the phone. So, I left at 5:45 am this morning and headed back down to BTS to get this thing figured out. Brian had never seen anything like this, and in all the years he's been building transmissions it's never happened to one of his. He tried a couple of things at the shop. First was a new filter, then he tried new solenoid packs. Neither one cured the problem. So, out came the trans. What he found was somehow the brand new pump had gotten starved for oil. No idea how though. But, there was big evidence of excessive heat and scarring on the pump gear as well as the TC input. He took apart the rest of the trans and found no problems in there.

He put in a new pump and a new TC, trans back in, and everything works as it should. Problem was cured. And, at no charge to me other than the fuel to get down there. They even fed me lunch.

I mentioned the IPR thing to him, and he didn't see how it could at all be related. Needless to say, we didn't touch my IPR today. I hate to say it, but it sounds like you've got some internal problems with the trans, and from my experience today it's the pump that's gone bad.

 

JTHARVEY,
Did yours stall everytime you throttled it in reverse or only sometimes? Mine doesn't do it all the time but it does seem to be getting more frequent. What pump are you referring to in your post and do you think it would gradually go bad? It seems to me it would either work or not work...it's driving me nuts. I'm going to start a new thread to find the most bulletproof tranny out there. This thing is not old and shouldn't be giving me problems the way I baby it.
Thanks for the insight and I'll keep posting my progress.

 

rpaquette,
I swapped out my IPR and IPS this morning for ones that I know work and had the same problem. Wow, is that a PITA!? I'm glad to have eliminated that as a cause though. Thanks for offering to send yours anyway.

 

Mine did it when the trans got up to temp. I could feel it a little when it was cold, but it wasn't bad. It felt exactly like someone was just letting the clutch out too fast, if it were a manual. I could actually ease into the throttle and feel it wanting to lock up, but if I got over the "hump" of trying to stall it would back up just fine.

The pump I'm talking about is the actual pump that's in your transmission, that pumps the tranny fluid through the trans. I am by no means a trans expert, but it is a mechanical moving part, and anytime something is moving it is subject to wear and failure. Why mine went bad is still a mystery. Brian couldn't think of any reason other than something was manufactured wrong in the pump itself. He used a brand new pump in my trans when he rebuit it. And like I said, it has never happened to a trans he's built before.

Oh, and I think you'll find that most will agree that BTS does make probably the best trans out there. Even though I had a failure in mine, it would have probably happend to whatever trans that particular pump was put into, be it a BTS, Ford reman, Jasper, etc... And Brian definately took care of me on his end of things. I called Monday afternoon and by Tuesday morning he was working on it. Over $1000 worth of new parts were put back in, along with a solid 8 hours of shop time, and I wasn't charged a penny.

 

Well I don't understand how alot of these symptoms work either but they all have there purpose. When you introduce electronics into the picture of mechanics you have a whole sortment of issues! It is a bummer that that did not fix the problem I will keep looking for the answer.

 

JT,
Yup, that describes my situation to a "T". Do you have any idea what I might expect to pay to remedy this problem?

 

I have no idea. Since BTS took care of it all, I wouldn't even begin to be able to speculate what a new pump and TC would cost. Plus the labor to have new parts put in. I can't imagine it would be very cheap though.

 

So what was the issue, did you fix it?