You should have been a poet Bro...:-drink

That's why it's a bad idea to replace parts that haven't failed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve

Did some work on the 4R70W in my old Lincoln yesterday to find the pan had never been dropped before, which also makes it the factory transmission. That 18-year-old thing doesn't leak a drop and works great now that the harness has been replaced. No reason to fix what isn't broken. :-wink

Checked fluid level in trans it's right at the full line. I'm guessing it's just slowing eating itself?

Not sure you would notice the half quart that went into the T-case on the trans dipstick. Did the squeak go away when you drained out the extra fluid??

Chris no it didn't, figured after I read ur post about your issue I would try it again today. I even put the trans in 1 and then 2 and it does it in ever gear range still

Wednesday i picked up 3,000lbs of cement to do my new walkway for my house. By the time I got home I didn't feel like taking them out so I left them in till this morning when I started the walkway, truck handled the load fine all week BUT when I went to dinner tonight with the old lady whenever I started after a stop I could hear the squeal/groan noise I was hearing when trying to pull something heavy in 4wd High. So I'm certain it's the trans and I'm thinking torque converter??? The reverse delay is getting worse at times especially while doing a k turn where the trans goes from reverse to drive a few times in a short amount of time. I drained some fluid out when I got home and as usual it's nice and clean with no smell, checked fluid level and again it's right where it should be and no burnt smells or debrees in it. So is it safe to say either the TQ converter or the 1st/reverse clutches are just gone?

The trans stopped squealing when leaving from a dead stop but I dropped the pan again on Friday before I went to the beach for the holiday. Again like ever other time the magnet is clean I can't see any metal frags in the pan either. Fluid was red not burnt smelling either... So today I stopped at my local Ford dealer and talked to a buddy who's the parts guy, Ford rebuilt trans with torque converter and a 6.0 26 row cooler with three year unlimited mike warranty is $2400.00. So now it's do I go bone stock trans BUT. Add another transgo HD shift calibration kit OR spend another thousand and get a James wood trans or a BTS trans????

This seems like an easy thing to me. Wait until it fails then replace it with the stock transmission.

Shift calibration kit?

It's like the hokey pokey!

you put your left foot in, your right hand shakes about
you put your right hand in, and you ease the clutch back out...


unless you're missing a synchronizer... then it's more like playing drums.

Bass, tenor, bass, bass, snare, bass, snare, bass, bass, cymbal!

You don't like automatics. Got it. What's your point here?

Yea I don't get it either? But back to my post I don't want to wait for the fail if I can try and save up real fast and change it out. If the trans does finally go then I'm stuck! No truck and could be at a moment where I can't spare the money...so no truck to go to work, kids with school etc, we all know how life goes. If I go stock ford should I just leave it that way? I know the transgo kit I have fixs a lot if simple issues with the 4r100 and I did the pump mods to my stock one so I figured I'd do it to the reman ford one also?

If it were me I would go stock Ford trans and for the love of all things right don't start messing with it by adding shift kits and programmers ect ect ect. You and me both know how that has worked out for you..:-X03:-X03

Agree with Chris. Bone stock and stop messing with it. I've never met anyone with as much trouble as you've had with that thing, and I think you bring some of it on yourself.

Okay, I'll be helpful...

Any chance you've damaged the valve body by over-pressuring? That wouldn't slip clutches or foul fluid. It would also prevent clutches from engaging. It could be a check valve problem allowing reverse flow where it shouldn't. It could be a blown out passage if you opened them up by thinning out the walls or boring the ports. Missing or blown o-rings could cause similar symptoms. Maybe even a gasket blocking a return passage...

Most modifications you can do to transmissions (auto or manual) get "more power" out of them by reducing the safety factor to increase efficiency in the same overall package. Reduce it below 1 for normal operation and it won't work for very long at all. Reduce it below 1 for common extraordinary events and it's just a matter of time before that event occurs. There's a reason it was designed that way, randomness does not make good products.

On an automatic, higher flows and pressures mean faster engagement of clutches. This causes what is normally a gradual stress riser to get a spike during normal operation. This spike is an impact on both the housing holding the planetary and the fluid passages (fluid hammer). Okay for a quarter mile toy... not so much on a daily driver.

What I did to the trans with the transgo kit is suppose to improve it over stock an help it survive longer not ruin it and make it burn up or blow clutches. There's tons of guys on this site, powerstroke.org etc that run the same transgo kit for 4r100 life increase and to help with shift pressures. So I can't see why me doing this kit hurt the trans to this point? And no I didn't bore out or drill anything in the valve bodies, my 2004 had the relief holes in the solenoid pack and accumulator body so I did not have to add them. All I did was install the steel valve shims, new springs, .427 line mod and then last September had a trusted trans guy do the front pump mods that come in the transgo kit, and everything I did I only went on MILD settings from transgo because I don't have a huge diesel motor or a turbo charged lighting