Hey guys, need some insight. My truck has a 4R100 with about 146,500 miles on her. I've been noticing the trans feels much more 'mushy' than normal. It still hits all the gears fine, but on a light acceleration or small throttle useage it seems to get 'confused' and has incredibly long delays and goes 'soft'. Is this a sign my tranny is getting ready to puke or is this normal for when they start getting old. When I'm at 1/2 throttle or greater it doesnt miss a beat. Trans temp guage is in its normal position, and no flashing lights anywhere.

Thanks guys!

 

when is the last time you had it serviced? Did you notice any metal shavings or anything? Does sound to me like it is getting worn out.

 

I had valvoline do the good old fluid change around 125/130K cant quite remember. I cant afford me a new one of these right now as I lost my job in december and am pretty much tapped out of cash and credit. Is there anyhting I can do to prolong it's life until times are better? Lucas or something.

I've always been hesitant about them additives but they did work magic on my old camaro that was slipping hard in second gear. But it doesnt feel like a slip, just like its getting whomped out.

 

I would just take it easy and watch the fluid level and temps. Just cruise like Grandpa. Don't think I would put a thing in it.

 

Confused, soft and delay is basically what desecribes the 4R100 right from the factory. Tuning and mechanical mods help wonders.

I'm willing to bet the place you got the fluid "changed" at just dropped the pan and added like 7 quarts to top it off and probably didn't do a system flush. I would take the truck to a good trans shop and have the system flushed and new fluid put and filter put in. They can look in the pan and check for shavings or other material. May also want to have the accumulator modded to help the shifts and tq shift and hold better if the trans looks to be in decent shape.

 

Sorry about your job loss. It doesn't really sound like a tranny problem. I know these trucks computers sort of memorize your driving habits and accomidate how you drive. If you don't normally romp on it and now you do, give it time to re-learn your heavy foot.

 

Well its more of exactly the opposite of what you described, she loves the heavy foot but is wierd with the light foot. In this case the transmission is behaving differently than 'normal' but does not slip.

I don't know how these new transmission work, but is it possible for a loose electrical connection on the trans to cause something like this? Last weekend I found myself in a unique situation that could only be resolved by parking on top of a tree (about 2 meters tall, 2" trunk, so not a big tree by any means). So I park on top of this tree and continue backing up and I was unable to easily shut my doors due to the branches getting in the way. I peeked under there today and noticed I still have some of the tree caught up in my trans. case skid plate and in the fuel tank skid plate. Perhaps one of these branches got the 'last laugh' so to speak? I noticed this wierd transmission deal on tuesday, so it is right in the time frame of my tree incident.

As for the trans fluid change it was one of those deals where they undo the cooler lines and change it out that way, the pan and filter were never touched.

 

No, they don't. The trans does not learn driving habits. What it does learn is how long each shift takes to complete from when the PCM tells the trans to shift. It then stores a pressure adder or subtracter to get the shift back to the nominal shift time the next time it occurs. Driving it with a light foot will fill in the table for light throttle shifts, driving it with a heavy foot fills in the heavy throttle shifts. One area does not interfere with another.

If the tree did something that is affecting the shifts it would set a code and the OD light will flash. The code would be stored in memory and stay there for about a month after the last time the light flashed.

 

No flashing lights anywhere, just feels like i'm ice sometimes when lightly on the throttle (feels like wheels are spinning between speeds) but if i give it heavy throttle its fine. I figure thats the opposite of how it 'should' work. Mark, whats your expert opinion of the lucas for these transmissions? Also does it sound to you like my tranny is getting ready to puke?

 

I only recommend additives for transmissions that have already failed, but need to keep working for a little while. For example, my son's '92 Grand Marquis won't engage reverse when it's hot. It works cold. That is probably a worn out seal in the reverse clutch. The trans needs to come out and get rebuilt. The car isn't worth it, so I told him to add a bottle of a seal sweller and hope to get a bit more time until he has the money for a different car.

I can't tell over the internet if yours is bad enough to need that. I suspect it is not dying.

 

We're saying the same thing. Chill.

 

just as a follow up, the truck jumps forward when it starts. In park its not really going anywhere but you can feel it move forward until it hits the 'park' lockout.

Dont remember it ever doing this

 

My truck does this as well, hope that it's normal!

 

My truck has done the same a few times when starting.