First of all I'm from Sweden so my english is crap but here we go..

I have a -96 F350, 4X4 reg cab with 7.3/E4OD. In March when it was still cold one morgning my diesel heater did'nt start because the fulepump was dead. (it tried to start but shut itself down as it should when not getting any fuel). I thought nothing about it, those small pumps craps out all the time.

But when I drowe off it would not shift into 2nd. I put the shift lever manually into 2 and it shifted nicley. Put the lever back into D and it shifted to 3rd and OD with no problem.

I checked the wiering harness and both 1st and 2nd solinoid signal on both wires are fine all the way to the PCM. So I figure there is no signal going to the 2nd gear solenoid or the solenoid is bad.
I tapped in to the 2nd gear wire and checked the signal while driving and it gave 13 V all the time no mather what gear driving in either Drive or 2 manual.
I then did the same thing on first gear and it gave 0 V in first gear but 13 V in 3rd, OD in Drive and on 2nd gear in 2 manual.

It appears there is 13 V when the solinoids is NOT engaged and 0 V when engaged... Anywho, the 2nd gear signal did NOT go to 0 V so therefor I thought it had to be the PCM not sending a signal to 2nd gear solinoid.

(btw after having dissconected batteries for a while 2nd gear will engage ONCE first run to then cease to engage...) I know this because every time this has happend I have put it into 2 manual to make sure its the same rpm and not 3rd.

So I thought for shure the PCM was bad (have had a TSI-chip on it for a few month) and bought a rebuildt PCM of ebay. Got it in yesterday and it's the same problem.

Now I'm out of ideas.

What i know:

The PCM is good (but somehow there is no signal to 2nd gear solenoid)
The wire harnes is good
The 2nd solenoid does engage initially after disconecting batteries for a while (but have'nt gotten around to messure the signal when that happens)
The 2nd gear it self shift as it should when in 2 manual.

Could it be some signal going into the PCM that is out or maby a ground issue? A few years ago the cruise was out of order, it turned out to be a broken tail light... Changed that and the cruise worked fine. Old car electrics...


Sorry about my spelling. /Teo

 

Off the top of my head, thinking you must be missing the the 12v feed to the intermediate solenoid. I don't have a manual in front of me but it must be switched/controlled on the ground side. I can check my manual later when home.

 

Ok so the 1st and 2nd signal from the PCM is allways feeding the solinoides but when engaging the ground cuts out?
Have to add that I'm a layman and not very good on either electronics or transmissions.

 

Teo, your English and spelling are excellent!

There is no second gear solenoid. There is no intermediate solenoid. There are two shift solenoids. The combinations of two on/off solenoids gives four states, which are used to control four gear ratios. But none of that matters since there is nothing wrong with the solenoids, the wiring, or the PCM. You have a mechanical problem inside the transmission.

Here's what's happening. When you first start the engine all failure mode actions are cleared. The PCM commands the trans to shift 1-2. It does, but it takes longer to do it than is normal. The PCM notes this and sets a code for a late or missing 1-2 shift. I'll bet if you read the codes with the proper scan tool you'll see that code. Now that it knows it can't do the 1-2 shift properly it won't attempt to do it again for that cycle. Moving the shift handle to 2 applies the intermediate band and that helps the intermediate clutch, so second gear works.

I'm sorry, but I think the transmission needs to be rebuilt or replaced.

 

After my post above,I was driving and thinking... that wouldn't explain why it shifted the first time after resetting.

 

Are you here in the US now? Here in the US a 1996 powerstroke has a OBDII style diagnostic connector. (DLC)

You could get a compatible adapter and with some free software you could watch for the problem to occur. If you want to exhaust all other possibilities before going in for a rebuild.

There are manuals with very specific flowsheets of tests to troubleshoot your transmission. Finding an honest person with the knowledge and tools to do this may be a challenge.

 

Thank you. That sounds logical. The reverse is a bit sluggish and I forgot to thell about the OD that engages again directly after I disengage it.

Nope. Live in Sweden and thats a problem when it comes to find someone who can fix the trans or even buying stuff from the states. (the tariffs on EU everyone gives Trump crap for EU allready has on the US...)

I will buy a blutetooth OBDII connector and try running Torque from my phone.


Thanx for all the help.

 

I now have some codes. Got different ones from the first test to the Second.

1st test:

P0603 "internal control module keep alive memory (KAM)"
P0470 "exhaust pressure sensor - circuit error"

2nd test: (after updating software)

P0098 "intake air temp censor (bank 1 sensor 2) - high input voltage"
P007C "charge air cooler temperature sensor circuit low (bank 1) "
U3FFF "no description available"


Might as well have given Me the lyrics to "Tutti Frutti" and it wouldn't have made more sense...

 

None of those codes have any bearing on this problem. I still think it is internal to the transmission.

 

 

Thank you. It feels like it's in the solenoid pack och the valve body somewhere. As I wrote, the actual 2nd gear cluch works fine when engaging it manually.

 

When in manual 2 the intermediate band is applied. This will get you second gear whether or not the intermediate clutch is working. the band is not applied in automatic 2. You have no idea if the intermediate clutch is applying or not.

I still think your problem is in the intermediate clutch.

 

Some people have had luck using a shift correction package and installing it. I guess theres some plastic part that is prone to failure in these transmissions and the replacements usually are metal. Just google E40D shift correction kit.
good luck .

Also this is a much much cheaper way to try also without having to drop the whole transmission, just take out the valve body.

 

I will look into that. Found this classic video on the topic..

 

You are probably right. But how would that explain the OD problemds that I got att the same time 2nr gear crapped out?

A buddy on a Swedish forum had a problem with his GM-trans where the OD and lockup stopped working and the trans started to shift bad. In his case there were two censors in the trans monitoring the internal rpm of the trans, one of which was bad. He replaced them and that solved his problem.

Is there any censors in the E4OD? For some reason the problem feels electrical. The OD started miss behave at the same moment 2nd gear crapped out.