E4OD, How to deal with the OD button?

[Bart F-350]

I have had my trans puking out it's guts, due to 25 years inactivity, or maybe me being unknown with how to deal with the OD button?

anyway, I have my trans refurbished, and now it should be running fine???
I do not have many miles experience with a OD trans, and therefore asking.

I was told that it could be possible that my trans died due to too heavy (or more likely big frontal surface) trailer on a mountain pass.

But what would happen if I charge my truck to it's limit? (11000Lbs) and forget to push that button?

or; when do and when don't I need to push that button?

I really don't like to refurbish my trans again due to such a stupid mistake?

 

[IDIBRONCO]

If everything is working correctly, then the transmission should down shift when the load on it gets to be too heavy. Yes, you should still cancel out overdrive, but at 11,000 lbs, the transmission shouldn't be in overdrive very often. If you are going to be towing heavy very often, you should add an extra transmission cooler in front of the radiator to help keep the fluid cool.

 

[Rdnck84_03]

There are also several upgrades for the e4od and 4r100 trans that are common practice on most all rebuilds done by knowledgeable shops here.

I know for sure that the spiral snap ring in the OD pack is a almost always done one. I would also recommend the "Trans-go" HD-2 shift kit.

I know there are people with far more knowledge than me on these that can tell you all of the things that will make the e4od a solid towing transmission.

James

 

[Bart F-350]

Great!
Since my truck has the ambu package there is already a trans cooler in there. That said, I noticed that last year when I removed the trans for overhauling, that this factory "cooler"! really doesn't deserve it's name! soo small! rediculous.

and I asked the shopowner to incorporate these mod's, and I'm not really sure what he all did, because when I got the trans back, I got the impression that he refreshed/ renewed all the parts necessary, but nothing more.
I was aware of the pump, it had a early model in it, and he didn't exchange it for a later one he told me.
And I'm not really feeling for it to get it out and open again.
and since my truck is a original '89 with no more then 10270 miles, I assume that this is a early model E4OD.

 

[XOLATEM]

Guten Abend...sorry to hear about your unplanned transmission refurbish...

I would like to answer your questions...and I used to rebuild transmissions in a previous life...but because of that...in order to be more effective at it I would need a little more information...

In order to try to figure out how your transmission failed and what might have caused it I would need a better description of what actually happened to it and what you were doing with it at the time it quit working...

If you can furnish this information then maybe I can help you avoid a repeat failure...assuming the unit was built well in the first place...and your electronics are in good condition...

On the cooler situation...installing a larger cooler is always a good idea...it needs to get airflow so hang it in front of the radiator but close enough to still have the fan pull air through it...that way it will still do its job at slow speeds...

The '89 pump will work ok...it was mostly upgraded to give more volume at low engine speeds...the early units had a delay in reverse...
It is one of those things that is nice to have...but not entirely necessary unless you are really working this truck hard.

The general answer to the OD button question is...

if you are towing, stuck in very slow-moving traffic, loaded heavily but not towing, or trying to climb or descend a steep grade I would recommend pushing the button to inhibit overdrive range.

So....what went wrong with the unit that prompted you to remove it and have it worked on..?

 

[Bart F-350]

OOHHH, now I have to dig deep!

First I had a 1200 mile trip on flat autoroute, then I came back and was asked to haul a empty but big caravan, and I was not allowed to use the peage (tollroads) so I found myself in very faul weather on a very small curvy steep mountain pass at night, not knowing nothing about that OD button.
The first 1200 mile went smooth, almost empty. than back home a few days later I hooked up a big bumperpull trailer, which made my truck as long as a semi. and then we went to get that caravan. and after that I had to deal with that mountain pass.
this is about 4 years ago, so please bear with me.
I forgot a bit when it started hunting through the gears (If i remember correctly?) but I think after when I attached the trailer? it was a nice day and over the peage it didn't give any problems apart from maybe hunting through the gears ? (It's also possible that only started after we loaded the caravan on the trailer? can't remember)
Anyway, on the way back certainly on that pass, problems started, hunting through the gears, hearing shafing sounds, couldn't stop due to no shoulder and lots of traffic honking their horns behind me, at a certain point it started to smell hot (oil), and on accelerating it stayed very long in 1st,2nd gear, and really revving up before go to the next gear.
At a certain point I dicided to get of that pass, but instead of going to the same type of road, but less occupied, the bloody TomTom take me on a goat trail!!!, so 4WD Low gear, and pulling through, my god, what a horror! anyway, we made it, But the last mile or so, the trans had much difficulty with pulling away in a normal fashion, instead it ran at least at 3000Rpm before switching over to the next gear. and we came on a crossroads, where I stopped to look for the right direction, and at that very moment,I heard something like a "splouff"or something, and a cloud came from under my car, and rightaway it started to smell like very hot atf oil, and I heard something like "sploufsploufsplouf" then when I got out and looked under the truck, it was all wet with ATF. It had vomited all through the rear seal.

At that point I had to call for the wreckers.

when the truck was back home on the forum they told me it could probably only be the rear seal, which I replaced,filled with new oil, and then as soon I choose the "D" gear, started to "sploufsploufsplouf", which didn't dissapear,

so I new something was very wrong there.


Later the guy from the trans shop told me that the torque convertor's clutches were completely burnt. and then some.

Oh, and that delay if you select R is still there. I'll try to find some images from the load that day. and from the standard trans cooler FORD used at the time.

And in the meantime I also installed a VDO trans temp. gauge. I now think that's a very important piece of kit!

 

[trackspeeder]

When towing heavy and slow, always hit the OD off button. The tranny will thank you for that. In extreme cases, manual shifting is your friend.

Now for that pesky delayed reverse. Causes is low boost. When selecting reverse, the pump as to handle three functions at once. Coast clutch,direct clutch and low reverse all apply at once. In stock form, low reverse has a large void to fill in order to apply. There are a few fixes for this. Trans Go Tugger kit and Sonnax Sure Cure both have the easier fixes. A shift kit will adress the boost valve correcting the delay. Better upgrades requires the tranny to be torn down to upgrade the low reverse clutch. Replacing the E pump to the later F pump will help.

 

[Cubey]

Great!
Since my truck has the ambu package there is already a trans cooler in there. That said, I noticed that last year when I removed the trans for overhauling, that this factory "cooler"! really doesn't deserve it's name! soo small! rediculous.

Yep the factory coolers are tiny. The C6 in the RV I had was cooked at around 80k. I put as big a cooler as would fit, for the rebuilt one.

The van I have now with E4OD, someone got rid of the AC compressor and plumbed the ac condenser as the trailer cooler.

I think E4OD normally have the reverse delay, because mine does too.

 

[XOLATEM]

Trackspeeder did a good job explaining things on both topics...

I would like to add my thinking on the reason for the smaller boost valve assy for diesels and the extra clearance on the low and reverse clutch pack.

I noticed on the late model GM Turbo 350 that the original diesel models (yes, THAT diesel model) that the boost valve and sleeve was different (smaller valve and less boost) than standard gas models and the main pressure regulator spring was heavier...(more pressure, especially at low rpm)...this was probably figured to lessen the chance of a harsh shift into reverse with a cold engine at warmup idle speed ...and I imagine that the Ford engineers probably did the same thing with their calibration on the E4OD...the early diesel C-6's had different boost valves as well..

So...on that...everything is a tradeoff...you have higher potential main line pressure at low engine speeds...but when you select reverse...you have less boost to keep from knocking loose your dentures...

On the delay in reverse...the low and reverse cluch pack (the clutch pack in the back of the case...intentionally has a lot of clearance...more so than what you would find in one of the other clutch packs...

If that clutch was more snug...then there would be more parasitic drag and also more heat buildup in the fluid...the friction discs spin with the L-R hub the whole time you are moving except when you are either in low range, manual low range, and reverse.

When you are flying down the highway...the L-R clutch discs are freewheeling with the hub...and the only thing that keeps them from scorching is the generous fluid clearance between them and the steel plates...which are lugged to the case.

Here again...everything is a tradeoff...do you want a quicker reverse engagement...or less heat buildup and less parasitic drag...?

You gotta remember...1989 was the first year for the E4OD and Ford needed to try to hit it right the first time with the buying public...a truck unit that was installed in half, three-quarter, and one-ton trucks...with five different engines, different calibrations, and fully electronic to boot...

With the feds breathing down their neck to constantly meet CAFE standards...Ford had their hands full and had to get a little creative...

I have said before...I think that the E4OD is a big, beautiful unit and I would gladly drive one...if I had a nice truck that already had one and I did not need to work it too awful hard...but for heavy use...I prefer a manual unit.

Anyway...that was just my two cents...

 

[trackspeeder]

I like the quick like right now engagement. The reason for super sloppy clearance specs is to keep the user from breaking stuff.
Most people don't like to stop when changing directions. Just toss it in drive while rolling reverse, or reverse while rolling forward. The shock has to go someplace.

My favorite fix is to reduce the clearance and up the boost. With this change you have to come to a complete stop when changing directions. If you don't, things will break.

 

[Bart F-350]

I have said before...I think that the E4OD is a big, beautiful unit and I would gladly drive one...if I had a nice truck that already had one and I did not need to work it too awful hard...but for heavy use...I prefer a manual unit.

Anyway...that was just my two cents...

I'd prefer a manual as well, certainly due to it's simplicity and no electronics, but hey, I'd to make a choice, and they only came in one flavour :-(

But I had a truck from another brand, on propane, and here in France the propane stations were so far apart I decided to go with a Diesel truck since you can get diesel here on every corner of the street, but If I had known that registration here was such a menace, I had kept with my propane powered truck, but anyway.... it seems it had to be this way?...