E4OD shift kit

[david85]

Its metal clutch material alright all metal is black when you get it in fine enough particles. The E4OD has way more clutches relative to the amount of fluid in it, so it needs a pan magnet and a finer filter than just the metal screen that the earlier C6s had. Just wipe it off and put it back in. As long as you don't find any larger chunks, you have nothing to worry about. It looks like a lot more material than it really is because its suspended in ATF. Was it all over the pan, or just on the magnet?

I'm gonna say no about the dielectric grease but I'm not 100% sure. Guessing there is a difference for a reason. Petroleum jelly is what was recommended in my baumann shift kit. When you lower the separator plate, you will see the check balls resting on it, and that will give you an idea for just how easy it is to reinstall them the same way. Steady hands are all it really takes.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

No large chunks at all, just fine powder-jello stuff As for the petroleum jelly, I thought of that one on my own, and I managed to dig out an old jar of it, so now all the check balls are happily in their place. I actually tried the steady hands thing first, but the separator plate got hung up on the studs and balls went everywhere, so I was like to heck with it. What bugs me tho is that one of them is supposed to be steel, and it's plastic, in fact there are no steel check balls at all in my transmission. Oh, and the EPC poppet valve and the tapered bushing for the rear of the trans were already in place, I put a new poppet valve but the bushing was a no-go.

Off to reinstall the main valve body now...

 

[trackspeeder]

No large chunks at all, just fine powder-jello stuff As for the petroleum jelly, I thought of that one on my own, and I managed to dig out an old jar of it, so now all the check balls are happily in their place. I actually tried the steady hands thing first, but the separator plate got hung up on the studs and balls went everywhere, so I was like to heck with it. What bugs me tho is that one of them is supposed to be steel, and it's plastic, in fact there are no steel check balls at all in my transmission. Oh, and the EPC poppet valve and the tapered bushing for the rear of the trans were already in place, I put a new poppet valve but the bushing was a no-go.

Off to reinstall the main valve body now...

Don't worry if there is no steel ball. The steel ball has been replaced by plastic in the updates.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Good to know! It's all put back together now, but those freakin studs in the corners scared me, two of them made that crack sound as I was tightening them - I wasn't putting much force on them, so I sure hope they didn't snap, they do feel pretty tight tho, so who knows... Now I just need to put in the gasket for the pan and a new filter. I actually just bought those today, and they were like $37 for the kit, which I find way too much, I checked Advance and it's like half the price, so is AZ, so I'm gonna return that kit and put the extra cash towards ATF

 

[trackspeeder]

Good to know! It's all put back together now, but those freakin studs in the corners scared me, two of them made that crack sound as I was tightening them - I wasn't putting much force on them, so I sure hope they didn't snap, they do feel pretty tight tho, so who knows... Now I just need to put in the gasket for the pan and a new filter. I actually just bought those today, and they were like $37 for the kit, which I find way too much, I checked Advance and it's like half the price, so is AZ, so I'm gonna return that kit and put the extra cash towards ATF

You already snugged the VB up,for another time. Torque spec is 80 to 100 inch pounds.

Now it's time to drive it like you stole it.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Not that time yet, but getting there - turns out I did indeed pull those two studs out of the transmission case, however it seems like Ford did a one-up on those, as the studs only thread 10mm in the case, but the holes are 25mm deep and seemingly threaded all the way to the bottom - 6x55mm bolts is the proper fix of that situation, class-8.8 is plenty sufficient. I'm almost ready to put the oil pan back on, but I got one last question - the main valve body has two parts, a large upper part and a smaller lower part, between the upper part and the trans case there is a huge separator plate with thin gaskets on both sides, however between the smaller lower part and the large upper part of the valve body there is another smaller separator plate, but that one has no gaskets on it. Is the small separator plate between the two halfs of the valve body supposed to have gaskets on it too? Mine didn't have them, and I don't think my main valve body has ever been taken apart before, just the accumulator body for the Transgo springs I found in it.

 

[david85]

No, its not supposed to have a gasket. Don't give it another thought.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

SWEEEEEEEETTTTTNEEESSSSSS!!!!! lol

I'll see if I can find a universal drain kit at Advance tomorrow, just in case I screwed up on something and I need to drop the pan again, then it's fill her up and drive her wheels off

 

[david85]

Drain is worth its weight in gold, I ended up making mine and its sooooooooooooo much easier to work on now. So how far up your sleeve did the fluid make it?

I'd recommend dish soap for your next shower, degreaser is not good for your skin

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Come on man, gimme some credit here, this ain't my first rodeo most of the fluid from the pan went straight in the bucket I had prepared for the occasion, rest spilled on the ground and later got washed off in the dirt on the side of the paved driveway. All in all I only got a few drops in my face, and that was just drips from the upper parts of the trans finding their way down through the valve body.

 

[trackspeeder]

Come on man, gimme some credit here, this ain't my first rodeo most of the fluid from the pan went straight in the bucket I had prepared for the occasion, rest spilled on the ground and later got washed off in the dirt on the side of the paved driveway. All in all I only got a few drops in my face, and that was just drips from the upper parts of the trans finding their way down through the valve body.

You have good aim. Most people would have spilled the fluid everywhere. If you want to be fancy you can upgrade the outdated E4OD pan with the newer 4R100 pan. It has a drain and a better gasket. Runs about $40. bucks.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Well, after the first driveway-special Exxon Valdez you learn, at least I tried to I actually have the 4R100 gasket, well dunno if that's what it's for, but it's a rubber gasket, instead of cork. Knowing what would happen to that when I start tightening the pan bolts, I glued it with RTV or whatever first to the oil pan itself, and then to the transmission case, if that thing ever develops a leak I'd be very very surprised. And I installed a drain in my pan, drilled through that dimple the magnet sits around, and and also used copper washers for the drain instead of the plastic ones it came with - copper don't care about heat, so once I reef on the ratchet it won't be going nowhere, them plastic seals on the other hand, I don't trust those at all.

 

[sootman73]

a tip i learned from watching a veteran trans builder rebuild my trans was that when placing a new gasket in the valvebody you need to make sure that all the holes in the gasket are centered around all the holes in the VB. to make sure everything lined up he used a microwave to shrink the gasket until it was the perfect size and everything lined up. he did this about ten times per gasket until it was perfect. the gaskets absorb moisture while sitting out in the air and then swell up. this could make for some orifices to get covered up or plugged and could cause some big problems.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

That's a good thing to know, I didn't notice such an issue with my AOD and now the E4OD, but I guess it could be depending on gasket manufacturer.

Oh yah, I put the thing back together today, and drove it. Results are mixed:
- with no power resistor in the EPC the shifts are fairly ******, I mean they are better than factory for sure, but still pretty soft and sorta on the slow side, not quite like a Cadillac tho.
- with 10-ohm power resistor shifts are noticeably firmer and also faster, however there's no banging through the gears, like the old 50-ohm resistor used to cause if I let off the throttle just before an upshift.
- with the old 50-ohm resistor reinstalled it was almost hell on earth, but not quite as bad as what a 100-ohm resistor made for a while back when I was first tinkering with those.

Then there was a big problem - all this time she'd randomly lose OD, and when that happened the TCC lockup would go to hell as well - I was like ***, there ain't no light flashing on the dash for the OD issue, and the TCC is on an entirely different circuit with a full manual control. Then I though about, and realized that the only two things the OD and the TCC have in common, other than the main power supply to the solenoid pack, is the solenoid pack module itself, and the main transmission harness connector. The solenoid module I did absolutely nothing to, so I didn't really suspect it, so I started with the connector - and what a surprise, the thing was in very poor shape - the plastic plate on the back of it that keeps the rubber seal in place was partially broken, upon breaking off the rest of it (the only way to remove it really) it became obvious that the wires have been rubbed through their insulation, so who knows what circuit was crossing with what other circuits. So for the last two hours or so I've been cleaning the darn thing, pulling the wires with the pins one by one, cleaning them with q-tips soaked in gasoline, then sliding heat-shrink over the damaged area and thus restoring the insulation. One of the wires was so bad it was halfway torn apart, that one needed cut and a piece spliced in it to maintain proper length so it stays in the harness. I managed to do 5 of the 9 wires and I ran outta heat-shrink, so tomorrow I gotta grab some more and finish the job, then tis more test drives and hopefully in the evening I can load up and finally head out leaving this state and its god-forsaken economy behind for good!

 

[david85]

Its faster now to repair the connector, but just so you know, you can replaced them for $16 plus shipping through Ebay. I got one for mine and it comes with about 3" of wires out of the connector. The plastic snap was broken on mine.

Good luck.