Hey guys, I read alot of the horror stories on here about E4OD's and am SCARED! I have a '94 F150 2WD and it has 215,000 miles on it. I got it from the original owner when it had 213,000 on it. I changed the fluid (all of it torque, trans cooler, and lines) anyway, it shifts good and does well, I was just worried.


If it does die, I may swap in a C6 instead? As of right now, its doing fine, but you never know? Also, what does it costs to get one of these beasts rebuilt? Does anyone have a trans shop who builds them and ships them out??


Thanks guys

 

It's not junk. Good auto tranny. Most people will tell you that.

Third owner of my truck and I've found evidence of tranny problems in the past.. nothing rock solid, but like finding circles around tranny shift patterns in the manual. This doesn't mean there was a real problem, but eh.

Tranny is tired and lags sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't. I plan on changing the fluid and filter and see if this helps. I'm thankful it's still operating within good working order more or less.

By the way my truck has over 211,000 miles. A lot of Super Duty guys have E40D's. The Gen 1 Lightning came with the E40D.

 

For what it's worth, I pulled a broken E4OD out of my current daily driver when I got it and that unit was obviously not the original to the truck.. (I installed a ZF 5 speed in its place)

 

224,000 here......my valves floated first.......hope no tranny problems for a while.

 

truxx
I've had a bunch. Ford was continually upgraded through 96.
Heat is your enemie. Get a good aftermarket trans cooler if it doesn't already have one.

I have a F350 4WD 175K miles
94 gen 1 lightning with 300/rwhp 230K miles and 1 rebuild

The 94 lightning race truck 600 RWHP has a Hughes performance race trans built last year for under $2K.

Over on NLOC look up the punisher. He builds e4Od's for club members all over the country. Not sure there is anything he doesnt know about Ford transmissions.
Mike

 

Thanks guys, this truck was ordered with the heavy towing package from Ford, with a heavy trans cooler, and engine oil cooler. They guy said he just wanted all that stuff and never towed his boat boat but twice. So all the miles it has on it were NOT hard miles and have been with a real nice cooler. I hope it lasts a long time, cause I dont have 2grand to drop in a trans.

 

I wouldn't be worried if it has been and continues to be properly serviced. Mine is equipped similar to yours, has 108,000 miles, gets flushed every 20,000 miles, and still performs like new.

 

I havn't had real good luck with the E4OD. 94 Bronco shelled the over drive at 120K. Shop in Boulder CO rebuilt it out of the truck for $1500. Mechanic said he made all the Ford recomended mods during the rebuild, including lube holes in the overdrive area. No warning when it went out, just failed. Has run perfect since.

Bought a 91 Bronco with 180K, tranny took a while to engage, but paid $1000 for it. Found a E4OD on Craigslist with 36K, out of a wrecked F150 for $200 and put it away. One day the truck would not go, foreward or reverse.
Swaped them and sold the bad one as a core for $100. Looking for a 5 speed now cause this one hesitates when cold going into gear.

Not real impressed with this tranny, cant imagine towing much in a heavier truck. Glad I have the 5 speed in my 90 F250.

 

Its a good trans. Has never let me down. I have a E4OD in my F250 I use for my business and I haul a trailer thats loaded over 1000 lbs. I also heard that these trannies last when doing proper fuild change intervals.

 

I bought my truck with 157K, it now has 165K, in this short time I've sunk half the truck and flooded the trans completely with water. Two transmission flushes and two new solenoids later and I used it to tow a car last week. I can't complain.

 

I have a 1994 F150 4.9L with a E40D and 3.55s 149,000 miles its a good tranny in my eyes. Through all the abuse I put it through ecspecialy all the heavy highway pulling Ive done with it, it dosn't get hot. Maby thats somthing to do with the I6s had stock tranny coolers. Or maby cause i baby it alot. I change fluid every 3 oil changes cause I had a drain plug put in the pan. Bottom line its a close call between C-6 and the E40D. Ide stick with your E40D becuase with the C-6s you cant go down the highway like a E40D cause of the one less gear plus it dosent have OD. So less mpgs!

 

First, I must qualify myself, "I am an Unqualified Expert, meaning, I know nothing, just my experience with my Truck". I have heard lots of pros and cons on the E4OD, and have been a victim of my trans blowing most of it's oil all over my shiny 21ft Aluminum boat. However, saying that, below is my experience.

I bought a 91 F250 4wd SC long bed w/ 122k miles 6yrs ago, rebuilt the E4OD at 128K on the second summer I owned it Trans blew out the TQ seal, I found out that, the previous owner 5th wheeled a 38footer, (claimed to be @ 18.5k gvw and was a snowbird to Pheonix from Eugene). Furthermore this was the 3rd tranny installed when I bought the truck. I had the trans shop upgrade the TQ, and make it compatibale to a 96 E4OD, along with an extra trans cooler, it cost some $$ but now at 142k, when I go out for vacations, I am at 15.5k gvw average, 9.5ft camper and the boat, running through the mountains of Washington and Oregon. Keep the OD off in the passes, can go 45mph at 3750rpm's, everything so far seems decent. just did a trip to Boise, Idaho and back from the Portland area. Going there, I avg 14-16mpg empty, coming back I was at an astoninshing 17k gvw on the truck scales, with a slight head wind and got 9-11mpg. Did everything to keep the truck right at 2100 - 2250 rpm and the truck purred. Even used OD on the flat spots along the way throught the Columbia Gorge.

( I know), Who needs deisel @4-5 dollars a gallon, when gas is at $2, and maintenance is much lower and so are repair costs. Besides, I am not convinced that the fuel economy offsets the cost of fuel. Maybe, if you drive 30-40k a year, but for me, it is anywhere from 3-6k miles a year. All that down time I don't think is good for Diesel engines.

So I am pretty happy with the E4OD. Time will tell. I will do the maintanence this spring, flush everything out, filters etc.

I do have one question though, what do folks think of using Synthetic in the Transmisison, IE: Royal Purple is supposed to have a decent oil, as well as the Amsoil Family. I have had really good luck with engine oil, use it on my wifes 98 Hyundai Sonata V6, curenntly at 240K no oil burn, no compression loss, etc.

Any thoughts.

Thanks, Happy Holidays,
DB916gt