I went down the street to a little locally owned diesel shop yesterday and they pulled and cleared the codes that came up on my tranny last weekend on the way down to the lake. The last few hills are pretty big and as I pulled off the highway I noticed the OD light flashing. The codes were P0733 Gear three ratio error and P0783 3-4 Shift malfunction. I was really listening for any strange sounds or shift problems on the way home and everything ran great. No codes on the way home, no other symptoms at all. I'm hoping its just maybe VSS malfunction or something simple but I'm hoping someone might have some more insight in to those codes. I'm heading to lake powell in a couple weeks and don't want to be nervous about the drive. I'll probably change my fluid this weekend and change out my filter, which has not been done. Truck has 65,000 miles.

On another note as we were leaving the lake coming around a tight curve I saw this white chevy coming up the other side of the road. I was on the outside of the curve, he was on the inside. I could tell instantly he was going way too fast. He tried to make the curve and I could see his whole chasis stress his tires. He moved over in to my lane so fast I acually moved my body away from my door in anticipation of being side swiped. He got so close to my rig that as he passed I looked in my side mirror and saw his side mirror totally blow up as it hit my boat trailer centering posts. I pulled over and checked for damage, luckily no damage to my boat. If I had been 50 feet back, a split second in time, I have no doubt that he would have side swiped my whole rig or worse. It would have been a really, really bad situation. Stupid A**!!!!

 

I'm bumping because I didn't get one single reply . Someone has to know a little more about what might cause these codes. Please........

 

p0733...component- SSA, SSB, or internal parts....description- 3rd gear error....condition- no third gear.....symptom- incorrect gear selection, depending on failure or mode and manual level position. shift errors may also be due to other internal transmission concerns (stuck valves, damaged friction material) engine rpm could be higher or lower than expected...check for debris in pan, if there is alot of debris it should be rebilt and a new TQ converter installed

p0783...every thing is the same except for condition....engine RPM drop not detected when 3-4 shift was commanded by PCM

 

I'll drop the pan this weekend.... And if there is not a lot of debris in the pan?

 

than there my be problems with SSA or SSB. i believe that stands for shift selonoid A and shift selonoid B but i am not sure. my auto trans knowledge is pretty limited however i just replaced the shift selonoids in my wifes olds aurora and it is a 4 speed and they where listed as shift selonoids A and B

 

in the 4r100 its a solenoid pack, so if u replace one you gotta replace the whole pack b/c they don't separate from each other. Mine through this code and i pulled the pan and installed a factory ford solenoid in it b/c it had an aftermarket one. Helped fix my shifting problem but right after i did my trans just crapped out and wouldn't pull. Had all kinda debris in my pan though and the fluid smelt burnt. i had just bought the truck and fount out it had a jasper trans after i bought it. i drove it about a month and i had replace the trans.

 

yes SSA & SSB do stand for shift solenoids. And wlihntr' s decription is very good, i would definetly drop the pan install a new filter and change the fluid at least. If there is debris in the pan i would contact a good trans shop like BTS or john wood and see what they suggest.

 

dropped the pan last night and everything looks great. A little sludge at the bottom but no significant debris or shavings of any kind. I changed out the filter and added 7 quarts of new Mercon. I'm going to just drive it and see if it happens again. I guess if it does I'll look at that solenoid pack. Tholt, how hard was it to replace those solenoids? Did you pick them up from a dealer? Thanks for the help guys!

 

i beleive the only place you can get those is from ford. They are fairly easy to replace. Glad to hear that there was not much debris, you will probably be ok with a filter and fluid change. Just keep us posted

 

I hade the same problem but with a diferent code and we discoverd the alternator was not working properly I know what you are saying what does the alternator have to do with the trany but it fixed my problem