Broke down in Foley Alabama Transmission Trouble

[Mnwild]

WE were on our way home to Mn when my transmission started to overheat 7.3 psd with E40d. Limped in to local Ford dealer. They said there diesel guy is on light duty and they are very busy.Might be able to look at it in 2- 3 days. Managed to get trailer to rv site near dealer ship where we are waiting. Wondering if I should call Ford dealers in Pensecola or Mobile to see if I could get it fixed sooner. Also would my Good Sam Roadside pay for tow the 30- 40 miles from one dealer to the other. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks Ken

[RockyMt]

Mnwild, you are correct, my old(er) truck has a drain plug on the flywheel(a hole actually). Good luck to poster, had the same trouble as you a while back. Ford replaced the trans.

[Mnwild]

Sidecar you better do a little more research. Mines got a drain plug in the torque converter and it may be hard for you to believe but there are a lot of guys on this site that no as much about proper maintenance as you do. And I must be doing Ok cause Ive been doing all my own on this truck for twenty years and its never missed a beat until now.

[DiskDoctr]

SidecarFlip wrote:

DiskDoctr wrote:
When did you last change the transmission fluid?

If you'd have bothered to read the ENTIRE thread, you'd have seen he said he'd changed it every 50K miles, which in reality isn't nearly enough...

You are right about one thing- there does seem to be a READING COMPREHENSION problem. If you had bothered to read the ENTIRE post, you'd have seen the question was when did he LAST change the transmission fluid.

[SidecarFlip]

Mnwild wrote:
Ive changed fluid and filter every 50,000 since new.Including torque converter. Added larger cooler when we bought the 5er.130,000 now. Anyone recommend a good transmission shop.

In as much as I have the same transmission and engine as you do, lets delve into this a bit deeper shall we...

You state you changed the fluid at 50K intervals. That isn't nearly enough for severe duty service and pulling with it is severe duty. It should be changed every 24K at the maximum, fluid and pan filter...

Secondly, you state you changed the fluid in the torque converter, I'd like to know how you did that or is that what the shop that changed it said? There is no access to the torque converter in a E4OD to drain it except by removing the transmission and pulling it our. If they power flushed it, maybe but that is the only way and if you had that done, was the fluid replaced with new fluid or was the old stuff filtered and put back in? Lots of flush places do that. it works for a lightly loaded trans, it's death on a hard worked one. Fluid looses it's additive package and then, bang, she's done.

Thirdly, did you bother to pull the dipstick and check the level before you started your trip or did you assume it was ok? reason I ask is, first thing I do before I go anywhere is check all my fluid levels, trans and engine. Did you and if you did, did you check it when it when it got 'hot'? You never answered if you did or didn't, you never said if the fluid was red or dark brown or if it was even on the dipstick.

E4's will take 250 degrees no problem, so long as the fluid isn't contaminated or low. I know, I have one. I run thew bags out of mine, but, I take care of it too...

A rebuilt box will run you about 2100 bucks plus install at any transmission shop or Ford Garage.

While I feel bad for you being in a pickle, I wonder how much you contributed to the transmission's demise

On the revers side, I run a Hayden 12 pass swirl cool transmission cooler on mine, a cast aluminum B&M deep sump pan (increases fluid capacity by a gallon) and most importantly, I change my fluid every year no matter if I use the truck 5,000 miles or 12,000 miles, it gets changed, the filter gets changed along with the fluid...

and I do it myself. Super easy to change trans fluid and filters and Dexron-Mercon is cheap, I buy it in 5 gallon pails.

Like Clint Eastwood said.... 'So did ya or didn't ya'?

[SidecarFlip]

DiskDoctr wrote:
I have 4R100, which is a close cousin to your e40d.

On our 2002 7.3L Excursion, we switch over from stock trans cooler to 6.0L trans cooler for about 3x the size that bolts into the stock location. Not sure if yours will allow the same?

Another thing is the temp. These transmissions can do 250F for an hour without trouble. (IIRC the info from a former Ford Transmission expert)

I would wonder pretty quickly about WHY your temp gauge stopped working? Is it possible you lost fluid or circulation or something?

When did you last change the transmission fluid?

If you'd have bothered to read the ENTIRE thread, you'd have seen he said he'd changed it every 50K miles, which in reality isn't nearly enough...

[Ductape]

There's no shortage of good tranny rebuild shops or upgrades. I've gone that route before with high performance builders.

That said, who's gonna take care of you thousands of miles from home? For travelling vehicles I keep them stock and stay with dealer shops.

[Puddles]

After you get it repaired enough to drive.... take the truck to Brian's Truck Shop... Lead Hill, Arkansas... have it rebuilt by them... no more prbms.

[F-TROUP]

On our trip out to Canon City Co we had our 01 F250 7.3 same tranny as yours. I have 154,000 on the truck bought it new 1st time it ever overheated. I put it into our local tranny shop when I got home and a rebuild with better componets than OEM and it's $2,650 2 year warranty unlimited mileage. I just didn't want to get into the position your in, good luck.

[path1]

Stick with ford if they still offer their guaranty. Used to be good and honored nation wide, but not cheap.

[BarneyS]

DownTheAvenue wrote:

Mnwild wrote:
Also would my Good Sam Roadside pay for tow the 30- 40 miles from one dealer to the other.

I am sorry you are stranded with a breakdown in a unfamiliar city. That stinks.

No, Good Sam will not tow it again. They will give you one tow per breakdown to a facility that has the ability to perform the repair. It appears they did that. Of course, if you had actually read your agreement with Good Sam, you would already know that.

Towing your vehicle to another shop will probably cost several hundred dollars, so be sure to figure that cost when deciding on another shop.

Seems to me that if you had actually read his post carefully you would have known that he drove to the dealer and has not used the GS
service.
Glad that the GS rep has responded to his question.
Barney

[RoadsideGuy]

Hello Mnwild and thanks for the post. Can you send me a PM with your best contact info and we will reach out.

Thanks

[DownTheAvenue]

Mnwild wrote:
Also would my Good Sam Roadside pay for tow the 30- 40 miles from one dealer to the other.

I am sorry you are stranded with a breakdown in a unfamiliar city. That stinks.

No, Good Sam will not tow it again. They will give you one tow per breakdown to a facility that has the ability to perform the repair. It appears they did that. Of course, if you had actually read your agreement with Good Sam, you would already know that.

Towing your vehicle to another shop will probably cost several hundred dollars, so be sure to figure that cost when deciding on another shop.

[garyp4951]

Deans transmission has good reviews,251-986-5502

[garyp4951]

I broke down out of town last year, and towed to a dealer, and paid $900 for a water pump, so I would say get it out of there as quick as you can, and find a good trans shop.

[Mnwild]

OD light started to flash had only travelled 15 miles since leaving Gulf Shores. MY temp gauge was not regestering. Pulled over and it smelled hot. Checked pan temp with infrared at 260. Let it cool and limped to dealer.