Warning! This is not a bashing post whatsoever!

Do the Excursion transmissions fail on a regular basis? What kind of miles can one expect before a rebuild is necessary?

Reason I ask is I'd kill for a manual 7.3 PSD X ... so I figured if the transmissions tend to fail after some miles, I could have a chance of picking up an X, with a shot transmission and go for a manual conversion.

So, are the transmissions weak in any way? Is my scenario likely to ever happen?

 

Its hard to say. I have a 2000 Ex with a V10 and 92000 miles.

I have had 2 major transmission issues, but neither seemed to be the transmission just randomly failing.

The first was at probably 60000 (really rough guess) and the transmission started slipping really bad. It turned out it was a computer problem that caused the transmission to 'fail', but this wasn't discovered until a brand new one had been installed. According to the dealership, the ford repair manual says to replace trans before checking the main computer. (Yeah, looking back, we got totally jipped, but we were in the middle of nowhere in canada, and the first day of school was in a week and we needed to get back to dallas.)

The other time was at about 86000 mi. and the transmission randomly started pouring trans fluid everywhere. Diagnosis was a blown intenal pump seal or sumthen. The transmission had to be conpletely torn apart I had just had the trans flushed as part of a service (i did the 90000 mi service a little early a few days before) and my theory is that the flush dislodged some sludge that clogged the filter, increasing the backpressure, and eventually blowing the pump.

so to answer your question, im not really sure about trans life, but at least in my case, the only two problems i had were not the trans itself randomly failing, it all seemed to be caused by something else.

By careful though, a manual swap into an X is gonna be a HUGE job. I saw another post recently about that, but thats like all new electronics, sensors, etc...

good luck with it though.

Isaac

 

The 4R100 is a strong, well build transmission. It's only weakness is the one way clutch that Ford changed and messed things up on. HOWEVER, the said issue only affects vehicles built between 7/27/2000 and 3/23/2001. So if you're in the market for one and it was built between the aforementioned dates; walk away unless it has a rebuilt or aftermarket tranny.

 

Tranny blew at 40K, replaced (50/50 $$ split between Ford and I). Blew again at 65K, this time "repaired" under the 36/36 warranty on the replaced tranny.

A few times a year I tow a race car trailer (with load leveling hitch and brake controller). The rest of the time it's just hauling people, dogs, and gear.

Replaced the factory tranny cooler with a bigger aftermarket one, but still the tranny temps move above the temps when driving logging roads in the mountains for a hour.

So my experience, the tranny or it's programming are a very weak link.

 

Good news for me, but bad news for the owners

Isaac, funny you should mention your tranny pouring oil everywhere after a fluid change, I had my transmission fail on me the exact same way. Flushed the oil (actually just dropped the pan and put new oil in) ... 100mi later, a cloud of blue smoke is chasing me down the highway. Crap.
Some say you're not supposed to change the oil if it has not been done regularly, because all the grime is what makes it grip ... or something like that. Auto transmissions may just be even more complicated to understand than women ...

 

The big thing is heat, my 99 pulled about 25k lbs up the hill, and a big hill it is! that didn't hurt it, it was backing the trailer w/dozer up that cooked it. If your tranny is hot, DON'T BACK UP. Friend is a Ford mech, said they have a heat problem. However, having said that, my 02 Ex has 85k, it has towed the toyhauler way more than my 99 and it is as happy as a lark,,, go figure, except now maybe I jinxed it?! These trannys don't cool in reverse, it's an airflow thing apparently! go figure,

 

Re: reversing with a trailer. A trick that works and keeps the tranny temps down is to shift in 4WD low. I don't why it works, but it does.

 

I had a thermostatically controlled fan on a transmission cooler on my Suburban, and the only time the fan came on was while I was backing up the boat.

 

The fans spins faster since the RPMs are higher thereby helping to cool the fluid faster.

 

With all these posts about failure after flushing, should I flush? I have 92,000 miles, and don't know if the fluid has ever been changed.

 

I just changed and installed new filter. Flush never. I know many support it, but I let the clean fluid do the flushing under normal operations. In the last 40 years the only transmission I had fail had water from Katrina and I could not change it soon enough.


On my Ex the manual states 18 qts for total refill. I drain the torque converter and pull the pan. Put back 17 qts. Jim

 

Another trick when backing a long distance is to prop the hood open a few inches. I have a 2000 F350 2WD I use to tow a heavy 5th wheel. The prop trick seems to allow more air flow and helps keep temps down. Most important thing is keep an eye on that gauge and stop before it's too late.

 

The factory tranny cooler is not designed to be flushed. When it fails, it's has to be replaced.

 

The 6.0 cooler is 4 times the size of a PSD transmission cooler. It can also be flushed and resused. That's what i have with my BTS.

 

Is there any warning of the one way clutch going out?