<HR style="COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1 itxtvisited="1"> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --><TABLE width="100%" border=0 itxtvisited="1"><TBODY itxtvisited="1"><TR itxtvisited="1"><TD vAlign=top itxtvisited="1">I've got a '96 F-350. We do some snow plowing with it. One storm, the o/d light came on and flashed for a bit. A few days later while plowing, the trans lost all fluid and wouldn't move. When I got it back to my shop, I read the codes and one that came up was a trans over heat code.


Pulled tranny and replaced main seal, and all was well for about 3 hours. This morning while plowing about 3-3 1/2 hours in (Enough to get hot) the trans lost all fluid again. It was pouring out of the inspection cover so i assume it is the main seal again. I am heading back over to the shop to read the codes and pull the trans again.

Would an overheat cause the seal to fail like that? I have been plowing with this truck for 4 years, and haven't had it overheat. Could the cooler lines be plugged? Can a tranny cooler fail?


Thanks

Derek
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That is odd. I can't offer much help,
I do know though, that the E4OD are knows to dump fluid somehow when they overheat. It happened to me one day as I pulled into the police station, I was talking to a cop for a second, turned around only to see tranny fluid pouring out from the front of the tranny somewhere. I moved it onto the street, but by then it was just residual dripping. I finished up my business at the station, then went to check on my truck. The fluid was low, but still on the stick. I drove it to the corner station got it back up to the proper level and it has never done it again since. I had been in traffic for some time and suspect that is what caused the overheat. I was puzzled by this since I have an extra cooler for the tranny.
On a brighter note....The shudder that I had been experiencing for a few weeks prior to the dumping of the fluid was now gone too.

Now the fact that yours leaves you without gears likely means that it may be a more serious problem.
You will likely find the answers you need here, but you may want to post your problem on the transmission forums as well. I believe that is where I found the info on this problem.
All the best. Hope it works out.

 

what kind of preventative maintenance have you been doing in that 4 years of plowing?

you do have an aftermarket trans cooler, right?

 

My 93 was overheating and puking fluid, and it turned out to be a clogged AND collapsed filter. Try power flushing the trans and installing a new filter.

 

Now that you mention it Lonewolf....I did at some point after the "incident" dump my fluid and change filter at same time(it was a kit).
Not sure what you mean by collapsed filter...but I am assuming that is what led to the clog(was it an original Ford filter?). I don't remember mine being overly dirty, but not sure to what degree I inspected it either. I do remember reading on this site somewhere that Ford doesn't ever recommend changing the filter...but cannot attest to the validity of that claim and I'm sure that would not apply to a collapsed filter either.
In any event, the fluid/filter change really made no difference in the performance of my transmission.

As for the flushing of the transmission, I would not automatically recommend that. If a transmission has been regularly maintained, then that may not hurt. However, if the fluid has never been changed in a higher mileage vehicle, the tranny flush could force debris etc. into places where it should not go.
That fact is what is behind the old fear of touching a tranny that was never serviced. I always dump the fluid in my "new" vehicles, but have never flushed a transmission, ever.
Just my 2cents

 

i do not like flushing the trans either.

changing all fluid and the filter, with a ford filter so it does not collapse, i am a firm believer.