I have a 1992 F-250 4x4 7.3 IDI diesel with an E4OD with 99,000 miles.

While trying to park the 5th wheel after coming home from our first trip out the tranny dumped about 3 quarts of fluid all over the road.

This freaked me out and I hurried to get the trailer to a safe location and unhooked before the the truck was immobile.

The next day we looked it over and figured we had lost a seal and started to make plans to pull it for repair or replacement.

When my friend came over to put the trailer away for me he said the same thing had happened to his 94 and that the very hot transmission under the stress of pushing the trailer backwards up the little hill simply released the excess pressure.

We added 3 quarts of fluid, started the truck and put it through the gears while holding in place with the brakes. No leaks!!!


2 Questions

1. Cooler...Who makes a quality unit and how big does it need to be?

2. Pressure relief...Is there a valve up front that allows the excess pressure to blow off? Or as another thread suggests did the fluid push past the Torque converter seal?

Thanks in advance for your input,
Mark

 

As for the cooler, there is no such thing as too big. Get the biggest cooler you can find. In the case of backing a trailer, a cooler won't do much as the airflow over the cooler is minimal. If you have manual front hubs, just keep them unlocked and back up in low range. Then you'll have enough gearing to keep your trans from working so hard. As for your leak, I've heard that E4ODs can puke fluid out of the front seal 2-3 times before the seal gives out for good. Sounds like you just got strike one..

I've been told that the sooner you catch any trans problems, the cheaper the repairs. I must have waited too long, my 92 goes in the shop on Monday and the estimate is $2400-

Good luck

 

A cooler from a 6.0L truck is the biggest and best cooler out there. Don't bypass the radiator cooler, that one does the most cooling when there is little airflow, like in reverse.

There is no pressure relief anywhere on the transmission. The torque converter hub seal relaxes when it gets too hot and then it leaks. It usually seals again once it cools.

 

Mark,
Thank you for the input.

I am not really interested in pulling a used unit out of a junkyard for this application.
Is there a quality after-market cooler out there that I can be assured of a quality fit and simple (Not cobbled together) installation?

I was looking at the Flex-a-lite transmission cooler at O'reilley auto parts as it has a 26000 lb rating.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Here's what I'm getting, when I get my truck back from the transmission shop..

Tru-Cool MAX transmission cooler with external thermal bypass: transmissioncoolers.us

I was going the have the shop install one, but he wants $200 + an extra $50 to install it. The bill is already high enough..

I've heard a lot of guys talking about the stock Ford 6.0 diesel cooler. Supposed to be a better cooler, but the problem with the 6.0 cooler is that they sell for about $350, new.

 

I run one like this in my F-150. Works great!
http://www.dieselsite.com/index.asp?...ROD&ProdID=480