E4OD leak and tranny pan bolt

mu2bdriver

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While driving the OD light began to flash and tranny began to shift strange. Pulled over and fluid was dripping from the forward area of transmission. No fluid on the dipstick. Refilled fluid and limped it home. Fluid coating the undercarriage and while I was underneath I checked the pan bolts. About half were relatively loose and one was stripped. Can I re-tap the one hole to get a bolt in without damaging anything or any other recommendations? I'm not certain the leak was 100% coming from the pan as the leak was dripping from the lip closer to the flywheel where the starter makes contact. Any help is appreciated.


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79jasper

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A pretty common one would be the front pump seal leaking.
Far as the stripped bolt, most likely have to drill it bigger and run a bigger bolt, or do a helicoil.

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trackspeeder

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Front pump seal is giving up. You can get a Viton replacement seal at your favorite parts store.

As for the stripped bolt. You can use a helicoil to fix it.

If the bolt hole is not blind (outer pan rail), you can drill through and use a nut. Not my favorite fix, but many have been done this way.
 

mu2bdriver

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How difficult is to replace the front pump seal? I'm not familiar with dropping a transmission and think this might be best farmed out. The bolt hole is one of the three or four front ones. Thanks again.

ETA: A leaking front seal makes sense because as I'm looking at it I'm missing the flywheel/TC dustcover so that area has been subjected to road debris for at least 15k miles.

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FORDF250HDXLT

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it's a trans pull job.the part is less than 10 bucks.once the trans and converter is out,it's super easy lol.look close.if the bushing is sticking up,instead of flush,then you'll need to replace the bushing or get a reman pump.
 

mu2bdriver

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Want to come to ct to work on it? With all your experience on the chip truck I'd trust you to do a better job than a local shop and think this is out of my league.


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FORDF250HDXLT

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lol iv done far too many trans swaps the past couple years.:D nah you can do this.if the bushing is ok it's cake.you pry the old seal out and tap a new one in (like a 2 minute job) and toss the trans back in.easy peasy lemon squeezy.
if you see the bushing sticking up,stop.post a pic.we'll go baby steps.easiest baby step is to take trans to trans shop and say; hey look at this! and let them fix it for ya,then put the trans back in lol.
 

yARIC008

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A little trick you can try on the cheap on the stripped hole is to find some stranded copper wire. Get some with some fairly thick strands, pull one or more strands out of the wire and fold them over once. Shove them up in the bolt hole with some sticking out of the hole and kinda fold it over some away from the hole to keep the wire from being pushed in completely by the bolt. Kinda like a U shape then and put bolt back in. The copper will give the bolt a little something to grab on to. The holes don't get into a sensitive area so the copper strands shouldn't end up anywhere they shouldn't be.
 
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smithman

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More advice on the stripped hole. Try the nut trick 1st. Try the helicoil 2nd, but this does require some skill to install. 3rd - make a thick piece of steel to cover the area of 3 bolts. The stripped hold in the middle. Bend the steel slightly so it bows up. Use longer bolts for the 2 outer ones and leave the middle bolt out. The thick piece of steel should have enough thickness and spring force to keep the gasket tight against leaks.
 

mu2bdriver

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I finally had time to check out the transmission with a friend who is more knowledgeable than me. After looking through the system he pointed towards the cooling lines. The supply and return had several hairline cracks and you could see fluid seeping from the pressure line and fittings. After 25+ years of road salt and other junk I'm going to replace them. Ford no longer makes the part. Any ideas on where to find them or can I use a larger diameter tube from a newer transmission 4R100 or Super Duty lines? Or would it be easier to run an auxiliary cooler?
 

trackspeeder

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You can use brake line and bend up a new set.
To upgrade you will need a 4R100 bypass set up and some 3/8" tubing to complete the set up. If you get a used bypass, rebuild it with a Sonnax rebuild kit 36605-02K. They run about $20. bucks for the kit.
 

mu2bdriver

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I put new lines on. I found a shop that will make them for you if you ship the originals out to them. Comes returned with fittings and rubber. $100. classictube.com
Excellent to deal with. Honest and reasonable. Everything underneath looks pretty good but it's tough to check for leaks in the wet snow.


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mu2bdriver

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lol iv done far too many trans swaps the past couple years.:D nah you can do this.if the bushing is ok it's cake.you pry the old seal out and tap a new one in (like a 2 minute job) and toss the trans back in.easy peasy lemon squeezy.
if you see the bushing sticking up,stop.post a pic.we'll go baby steps.easiest baby step is to take trans to trans shop and say; hey look at this! and let them fix it for ya,then put the trans back in lol.

How much ground clearance do I need to drop the transmission? I have stands, blocks, and a transmission jack but no lift.
 

laserjock

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It will come out with the truck on the ground depending on how high your jack is when compressed. You will probably have to back up and go out from under the frame rail closer to the rear tire where the frame curves up. With my jack, I had to put a floor jack under the rear diff and raise it a couple inches to slide my ZF out to clear the bell housing. Bell housing being about the same shape, I'd expect it to be fairly similar for the auto.
 

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