OK, truck is a 1992 F150 4x4 5.0L E4OD trans. Old trans had a melt down so went to junkyard and found one out of a 93 Bronco 4x4 5.0L Should be the same but the id tag was destroyed. Take trans home and went to patc and ordered the super deluxe heavy duty overhaul kit with new converter $$$$$ Also replaced thrust bearings and washers and anything else that was iffy, but reused old pump. Installed into truck on the stone gravel driveway fun fun. filled with fluid and fired it up, seemed to engage in all gears after a second, not bad considering it was still full of trans gel and not melted yet. Let truck get to operating temp. Fluid level full and all ok. go to reverse, wait for it wait for it bang and it moved but needed a lot of throttle, now drive wait for it wait for it bang as my foot is on the gas and took full throttle to move like it was stuck in second gear possible third. check line pressures at idle, Park Neutral Drive and Manual 2 all read 55 psi Reverse read 70-75 fluctating slowly between the too, Manual one is 70-75 psi and fluctating between the two. Just for giggles unpluged solenoid body connector and all pin fit looks great, put in reverse and went right in, hit the gas worked like reverse should, Also all pressures rose due to solenoid being unplugged. Now drive, no go stuck in higher gear, however manual 1 worked beautifully, manual 2 while moving in manual 1 did not really seem to engage at all. Kind of frustrated. Now here is my question, I am not sure the solenoid body from the rebuilt trans is the same as my original. I used my original but also drilled holes in it as perfromed by the shift kit. Beings the truck seemed to have at least 2 gears with the solenoid unplugged would it be wise to say the solenoid body is bad or incorrect for this trans? I am kind of lost here and very frustrated and need some guidance. I did use all the special tools as per the ford manual in which i used to rebuild this trans. Kind of sad to spend hours and hours and about 1400. on a rebuild kit and have it go south. If anyone can help me in any way shape or form I would gladly appreciate it. FTE rocks!!!!

 

Sounds allot like a solenoid problem. I do have a concern about using the original pump though. Is it an E9 casting? If so its a first generation pump. The F5 casting is from 1995 which had many of the fixes to correct line pressure problems of the older pump. Also the line pressure should be at least 50psi in drive at idle and move pretty quickly to 120psi with just a touch of the throttle. Have you checked the MPL switch for proper alignment? Thats the easiest to check first.
I too was going to put a tugger shift kit in mine but after studying the hydraulics, doing a ton of reading, and talking with several really good transmission guys I'm going with the Sonnax sure cure kit. It addresses all the hydraulic short comings with the E4OD while allowing you to tune the shift feel. I prefer firm shifts. One thing that will surely benefit the older E4Od's is the updated center support and steel rather then aluminum planetary sets. You can also up the planets to 4 or 6 pinions. Then there is using thinner pressure plates in the direct, forward and overdrive clutch packs to allow an extra set of clutches in each.

Since you spent 1400 I sure hope you get this worked out. PATC prices are pretty high. I'm surprised no one else has taken a shot at this one. There are some pro transmission guys on this board.

 

ok, finally got around to swapping out the solenoid block, same problems so something else somewhere. Same problems and does the same thing when I unplug it. Checked the mlp sensor and all is well. EEC test pass. Anyone else have any other suggestions before I start the removal and rip apart?? There was only a very small amount of clutch material on the magnet, which I figured is ok due to it being very fresh. no metal in pan.

 

Unfortunately I would go back to pump weakness as your problem. Like I said if its a first generation pump I would up date to an F5 casting and install the proper Sonnax fixes. Also be sure that the correct gaskets were installed in the valve body. The update book gives some excellent identification steps to ensure you get the right gaskets in there. I would check those before pulling the entire unit.