Hi,
I have a 94 nonturbo with an automatic. It was purchased new.and has 115,000 miles on it.
Last weekend I had to make a 100 mile run,and the trailer was empty one way and loaded comming back the other 100 miles. The load with the trailer was 5000lbs(no biggy). but when I got home the tranny was spitting out a stream of fluid and i put in 5 quarts.now the truck is not leaking at all(around town). We had an explorer do this just before the tranny let go.
Anyone have this same thing?
Is it an easy fix?
thanks Russ

 

Was your OD light above the OD button blinking when the tranny overheated?

Is your OD light blinking now?

Have you had the truck codes scanned to see if there is any indication as to what is going on?

The factory tranny coolers and cooling lines are undersized and may cause the tranny to overheat when towing. A larger tranny cooler is definetely recommended when towing.

Did you lock the tranny out of OD when it started hunting between 3rd gear and OD? Constant hunting will create a lot of heat and has been know to overheat the tranny. The reason for the OD button is to keep the tranny from shifting into OD during thoses times. 3rd gear is straight thru so the heat generated by the tranny will be minimum.

Does your truck still have the factory torque converter with the weak torque converter lock?. Under heavy towing the locking clutch in the torque converter could slip and generate lots of heat causing the tranny to overheat. The slip would have shown up as a bit of a growl/grinding sound when you were towing.

The E4OD tranny is not the best tranny in the world I am afraid and most guys will tell you unless you have spent some money on a aftermarket rebuilt, towing with them is not the best thing for them. The factory E4OD tranny just were not built strong enough for towing and the first generation electronic control system has also got some significant shortcomings.

If you are going to do nothing else, a larger oil cooler and lines would definetely help. Also drop the tranny oil pan and change the oil and filter. If you find any significant metal in the pan on the magnet it usually is a strong indicator that the tranny is starting to come apart.

 

I work at a transmission shop and would like to add it also helps to add the correct cooler. I have seen several people who go to the store and buy the biggest cooler they can find never paying any attention to GVW or cooler design. I have several trucks that live with a trailer attached to them. You need to get what is called a stacked plate cooler not the more common tube and fin. A tube and fin cooler looks like a tube running through a set of fins several times. A stacked plate cooler circulates the oil through the entire area of the cooler before it leaves. Hope this helps prevent any migraines from happening.

 

good to know brimmstone, could you possibly find an enternet site that sells thses so we can picture what your talking about, ive got the c6 behind my diesel and i want to make sure i keep it nice an cool, so if you could find a site, id appreciate it very much!

 

I haven't been able to find a decent picture of one after a quick search online. I know you can get them from Summit Racing or J.C. Whitneny. I think the autoparts stores can also order them if they don't stock them. Myself I buy them from a supplier we use for transmission parts. Thinking about it I wouldn't see why a local transmission shop wouldn't sell you one if you asked.

 

I just happened to look at one more site and they had a good pic. Here is the link

http://www.bakerprecision.com/trucool.htm

 

MY first question would be did you back up the trailer when you got home, did you do a lot of jockeying around........this will cause an overheat condition and the trans will puke oil out the vent on top.

 

Yes, I have to back my trailer in, and on slight upgrade, and it's killed my tranny twice!!! Fortunately while under warranty. Now I reverse in 4W Low and that keeps the temps down. But the real problem is the fundamental flaws in the Eo4d.

 

before my tranny blew up it did that to but it happened five or six times before it finnaly let go. it mgiht be something with the seal i dont know as said mine blew up. and it dident leak unless it shot it all out