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Geocritter's avatar
Geocritter
Explorer
Jul 19, 2014

My Ford E40D transmission won’t shift out of overdrive

I have a question about my transmission. My 1994 Ford 460 V8 powered Holiday Rambler has an F53 chassis and uses an E40D transmission. I just drove my RV from Chiloquin OR to Port Angeles WA and crossed over from Hwy 97 to I-5 on Hwy 58. As a result I experienced some long downgrades as the road descended from 5,100’ at Willamette Pass to about 1,000’ at I-5.During the long descent I took the transmission out of overdrive and it worked fine. When Hwy 58 leveled out I shifted it back into overdrive and continued to a rest area south of Olympia WA where I spent the night. The next morning when I drove off on Hwy 101 to Port Angeles I pushed the button to take it out of overdrive and nothing happened, it didn’t shift out of overdrive nor did the light go on at the end of my shifter. I’m not certain what the problem is and I’m wondering if this is a common issue. I’m pretty sure it’s an electrical problem but to be frank, neither my Chilton’s manual nor the Ford chassis manual were much help at troubleshooting the problem.
Class A

8 Replies

  • Yankee_Clipper's avatar
    Yankee_Clipper
    Explorer
    Jul 21, 2014
    First and foremost, believe your instruments. Going on steep grades without O/D control is not safe, it just leaves your brakes. Free advice: never go down a grade faster than you went up it.
    Another snippet: service the tranny every 20K miles or so. I have the shop drain the torque converter, too.
    I have not had this happen to my rig over the last 8 years, but would get into a shop ASAP.
  • Berner2's avatar
    Berner2
    Explorer
    Jul 21, 2014
    Geocritter wrote:
    frankdamp wrote:
    Why do you think you're smarter than the engineers at Ford who programmed the transmission computer? Just leave it "Drive" and let the computer figure it out. Th transmission isn't really an "overdrive", but merely a 4-speed with a higher than usual fourth gear.

    Just leave it be - the computer will figure things out better than you can.

    Would those be the same smart engineers who specified an inadequate fuel pump for my 1994 rig and then waited years until the end of 1996 before they fixed the problem in subsequent rigs, leaving owners of the prior rigs the expense and hassle of repairing the engineers mistake. Are those the Ford engineers we're talking about here, or do they have even smarter engineers in their transmission department.


    The really smart Ford engineers are the ones who designed the self ejecting spark plugs on the V10s and V8s. Maybe they promoted out of the fuel pump department. I don't believe they ever did anything to help out the customers who had this problem. I didn't get squat when it happened to my wife's Navigator.
  • gfs1943's avatar
    gfs1943
    Explorer
    Jul 21, 2014
    frankdamp wrote:
    Why do you think you're smarter than the engineers at Ford who programmed the transmission computer? Just leave it "Drive" and let the computer figure it out. Th transmission isn't really an "overdrive", but merely a 4-speed with a higher than usual fourth gear.

    Just leave it be - the computer will figure things out better than you can.


    The 4th gear ratio of the E40D is 0.71:1. The generally accepted definition of "overdrive" is a gear ratio that gives the transmission output shaft a higher RPM than the input shaft. That's 4th gear in the E40D.
  • Geocritter's avatar
    Geocritter
    Explorer
    Jul 21, 2014
    frankdamp wrote:
    Why do you think you're smarter than the engineers at Ford who programmed the transmission computer? Just leave it "Drive" and let the computer figure it out. Th transmission isn't really an "overdrive", but merely a 4-speed with a higher than usual fourth gear.

    Just leave it be - the computer will figure things out better than you can.

    Would those be the same smart engineers who specified an inadequate fuel pump for my 1994 rig and then waited years until the end of 1996 before they fixed the problem in subsequent rigs, leaving owners of the prior rigs the expense and hassle of repairing the engineers mistake. Are those the Ford engineers we're talking about here, or do they have even smarter engineers in their transmission department.
  • frankdamp's avatar
    frankdamp
    Explorer
    Jul 21, 2014
    Why do you think you're smarter than the engineers at Ford who programmed the transmission computer? Just leave it "Drive" and let the computer figure it out. Th transmission isn't really an "overdrive", but merely a 4-speed with a higher than usual fourth gear.

    Just leave it be - the computer will figure things out better than you can.
  • RLS7201's avatar
    RLS7201
    Explorer II
    Jul 19, 2014
    The OD button is a ground toggle for the ECM. Chances are you have a bad button or broken wire. The Button assembly is still available from Ford.
    Go to http://www.irv2.com/forums/f23/ and post your problem. Hopefully "subford" will respond with a wiring print.

    Richard
  • John_Joey's avatar
    John_Joey
    Explorer
    Jul 19, 2014
    That transmission is also know to "puke" out ATF, but that mostly happens when you're going up an incline in reverse. Never the less, do the simple stuff first like check the ATF level. Also Seafoam makes a very good transmission cleaner that I would throw into the beast. Make sure it's the stuff for the transmission and not the engine.
  • carringb's avatar
    carringb
    Explorer
    Jul 19, 2014
    I have had this happen. The wires at the base of the shifter got pinched and severed (first just the light, then the OD wire). I fixed it with some telephone/data wire splices.

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