First off let me say that this is my daily driver for most of the year. I don't tow or haul more than the trash but I do off-road a little and I love playing in the snow.

I've got 115k miles on the old girl now. PO didn't take care of her very well. She's been throwing the 628, excessive TC slippage code for about 7k now. She's also blowing ATF from the front seal when climbing modest hills. Time for a rebuild, I think, and I want to get it done right the first time. I need advice on how to get this done.

I called around for estimates and then took her to a guy with a good rep around here. He says he's used to doing these and is familiar with the problems. He can do a front seal and TC for about $900 OR go through the whole thing, replace everything that comes in a standard rebuild kit (haven't looked that up yet, but I assume it's clutches and such) as well as a new TC and also install a "Sure Cure" kit which he says will solve the leak problem for good as well as give me good, solid shifts. Also recommends Amsoil synthetic ATF at a small additional charge. All this for around $1700 unless he runs into unforeseen trouble, of course.

Let me say again, I want to get this done right the first time.

Questions are these:
- Does this sound about right as far as all that needs to be done?
- What else would you all suggest in order to make sure I get the most bang for my buck?
- Are there any other modest modifications I can have him do that will really make this tranny outstanding?

The guy says he's open to doing just about whatever I want done, but the things he's suggested are what he typically does to these things and he's had very few complaints in the twelve years he's been doing them.

Thanks for the help, guys!

 

"Get it done right the first time" Okay well when you rebuild a E4OD or AOD tranny these days, the kit mostly comes with high quality components. I had my AOD rebuilt a couple of years ago and whoa! what a difference from how it originally came. If your going to rebuild your tranny let them take the old guts out of it and replace them with fresh new components. Complete rebuild is my suggestion.

 

The rebuild sounds ok , not sure what the sure cure kit is , maybe a shift kit ? They allways help....Lew

 

No argument there, but I want to be sure what he wants to do; Sure Cure, standard rebuild kit, synthetic ATF, etc. represents the most complete PRACTICAL "complete rebuild". I'm looking for suggestions here in case there is more I can have him do at a modest price that will really set me up for success. As far as breaking it all down, he already said the thing will be in about 400 pieces when he gets it all apart, and he encouraged me to come by so I could see what he's doing to it. That went a good ways to give me some confidence in him.

What I'm worried about is basically this; He gets in there, does what we have agreed on, and once it's back on the road, I read on the site here about some great, super-duper add on or mod that I could have had him do for cheap, but now it's too late.

There has to be people who have faced this situation. I'm looking for the guys who are saying to themselves, "Gee, I did the same thing, but instead, I wish I had..." from you good people who've been through this.

 

Ask him if theres anything he can add on to pump the trans. fluid while you're in reverse. The E4OD is meant to only pump it through the cooler while going forward.

 

OK so here is the sonnax kit "sure cure" he's probably using...
SC-E4OD SONNAX SURE CURE RECONDITIONING KIT E4OD1989-ON: eBay Motors (item 260120915074 end time Aug-03-10 12:35:48 PDT)

The E40d's are known to have problems pre 94-95 but I am unsure of what the actual problems are/were. Ford fixed these post 95... I know this from reading some of the forums and know that people looking for a used tranny go for a 95 or newer E4OD. What the tranny guy is probably looking at doing is a rebuild with a shift improvement kit. The shift improvement kit will firm up your tranny shifts. This will firm up the trannys shifting with less "slip" inbetween gears. It's basically a couple check ***** that make the fluid in your tranny's valve body flow a little different. As long as your sun gear, planetary gear, and other hard parts are good you should be in good shape. He might also be putting extra frictions plates in your clutch packs. Keep in mind you can buy rebuilt trannys on ebay for $900-$1200 shipped. If you are any kind of mechanicle you might want to swap them yourself... any 4x4 E40d from a 4.9, 302, or 351w will fit your truck... Plus your old one will be worth $100-$200 core... just a thought...

E40D/4R100 FORD TRUCK TRANSMISSION DIESEL HD 2WD 4WD: eBay Motors (item 320558428879 end time Jul-16-10 20:43:52 PDT)

 

tell him do all the pump mods possiblty thats all in the sure cure kit...but replace the plastic drainback valve and drill the drain larger there is also a mod for the bushing.

Im suire he knows all this..... I would add a cooler afterwards too. the best one you can afford.

 

Skip the Amsoil...go with what's on the dipstick and after the rebuild, change it regularly (15k miles or so).

Jason

 

Whoooweeee, 15k miles? What a pain. He said I'd get 75k guaranteed out of the Amsoil.

Thanks for the advice and explaining these things to me, guys! It's just what I was looking for.

I can appreciate the cheaper price if I bought a rebuild on the web somewhere, but I don't know if I'm mechanic enough to put it in without hurting myself. That's one BIG transmission. I could probably do it, but the sweating/cursing and potential ER visit I might save by paying someone else to do it might offset the extra expense a little. That, and the guy who did the rebuild would be right down the street. I know he's concerned with his reputation in our small town, so that's something to consider as well.

I'm confused about the oil cooler. The lines from the transmission go into the engine radiator but disappear from there. Looks like there are two other oil-type cooler coils on the front of the radiator. One is about half the size, the other is less than a quarter. What are these?

 

$1700 to me sounds like a fair price for what he's going to be doing. My 91 has a lot of heat damage from PO getting ripped off at there local repair place. Guy was plowing snow and all there was for cooling was the add on cooler. Lines rotted out and the repair place just bypasses the rat. cooler Vs. replacing the lines... and charged them for new lines. ( seen the sale slip )

Sorry got off on a rant there..... I was told by like 3 places here that a E4OD would be AT LEAST $2400 to rebuild and that was before they even look at it. IF needed hard parts $$$$

I Don't know I'm liking Amsoil more and more each time I use it.

 

Thanks. That stinks about the problems you're having. You hear about things like that happening; getting charged for work that doesn't get done, but I've run into only a few people that it's actually happened to. Sorry to hear you're one of them.

My transmission guy hasn't really given me a hard price yet for the Amsoil over regular ATF. I guess it will have to work out price-wise vs. having the fluid flushed and all that at the normal intervals. I'm not against doing it every 30k or so like the manufacturer calls for. Any more than that is a real PITA, though. I haven't gotten it down to a science yet like changing the engine oil. I usually end up with ATF all over me, the ground, and anything else in the area. Not worth it.

 

Check into royal Purple Max ATF... My buddy and I have been running royal purple in our cases for the last few years. I've had super good luck with all the Royal Purple products I've used. my buddy just turned over 277K (7.3L diesel) and has had the RP for 77K... IT still passes the color and smell test... You know not black and burnt smelling... You can google royal purpet tranny fluid change but not sure you'll get a recommended change interval or not... I do know you can run a long time on it though! It also depends on the tranny. Your's being rebuild with the addition or already having a tranny cooler will help the oil temp stay down and last longer.

 

1700$ is a very good price (usually it's around 2500$), ask him if he's adding a shift kit there, and also, the best rebuild kit usually use 4R100 (E4OD update) parts. Talk a lot with him, tell him that it's a lot of dime and you're concerned on doing it right. About the tranny oil, just upgrade to Mercon V and you'll be allright, all tranny oils last 75K with no issues, changing it more often wouldn't hurt neither.

 

I've talked to him quite a bit. He's very interested in me being comfortable spending the $$$. It's odd to me that he's so much cheaper than the other guys around, but he says he's able to do it so cheap because his shop is just him, he's the only employee. He also has very little overhead because he owns the building as well. Everybody else was around $2200-$2500. He said because of how he works, he can charge almost half the amount for labor as the others and he's personally responsible for the outcome of every build. No blaming anyone else if things don't go right. He has me sold as far as his business and work ethic.

He said he was going to put in that "Sure Cure" kit which I assumed was a shift kit. If it's not the shift kit you're talking about, do I need to have him do both? He did say that he'd basically be building me a 4R100 with the new and updated parts he's going to put in it.

I'll check out the Royal Purple stuff as well. I've heard good things about it. Is that a synthetic blend or totally synthetic?

Any thoughts on the transmission oill cooler question I had in a previous post?

 

the oil line that run out of my c6 into the radiator I am assuming are a seperate cooler for the tranny fluid built into the radiator... I'm guessing the E40D's are the same...

On the Sunnax "Sure shift improvement" kit... I believe from what I have read that the kit includes a shift improvement modification. It's hard to say without ordering one and seeing the parts that are included. I'd just ask him if the kit is a shift improvement kit or not? Also it depends on which way you want to go. Some kits soften the shifts to make the truck seem more like a car ride than a truck. And some will boost the valve body presure in places to make the truck shift firmer and put more power to the wheels quicker. You'll just have to ask which he is doing and decided what you want for yourself... As long as you are doing the 4r100 kit you should be fine... the shift improvement kits are just for those who wish to change the way their truck will shift into gear. It won't really affect the overall reliability of the transmissions rebuild. Just icing on the cake so to speak...