unclehoser
Old dog, new tricks
Well, I've gotten a lot of good info here. I can't say enough about the immense volume of knowledge represented on this forum. Sadly, I'm not going to be able to use it much longer. Sad story...
Back in September, I had the opportunity to purchase a '91 F250 from my employer, who was retiring some old company vehicles. I knew that it had transmission issues from the outset. After replacing the glowplugs and rebuilding the fuel returns (learned how here!) I had the engine running like a top. Not so much luck with the trans...
The original E4OD was slipping, and wasn't shifting right at all. When I decided to service it, I pulled the pan and drained a quantity of brown, metallic sludge out. The pan was FULL of metal shavings. "Junk", I said to myself, and went off to pursue other options.
As luck would have it, an acquaintance of mine had a rebuilt E4OD with about 10,000 miles on it laying around from a motor/trans swap in a F350 'short bus' conversion. I bought it for a reasonable price, and inquired of the local trans shop about installing it (I'm not physically able to do that in my driveway...) and agreed on a price for the labor. Bad mistake. The nightmare starts when I go to pick it up and was told, "Well, you're all done but you won't have a speedometer". Seems the 'new' trans was a '92, and had no speedo drive. Of course, the trans has no idea what it's doing now. Shifts all over the place, won't shift at all, downshifts when it should upshift, etc.
Of course, I can only blame myself for not doing the research on the model year changes, but it really pissed me off that the 'professionals' at the trans shop went ahead with the swap knowing that it wouldn't work. Now, I'm stuck with a non-driveable (at least not too fast) truck with another massive amount of labor involved (complete trans gut-out, not to mention R/R) to repair it. I'm done.
I can't justify putting any more cash into a 25-year-old vehicle with an unknown history. It was just supposed to be a 'project' to give me a spare vehicle in case of emergency, or if I needed to pull or haul a large load. So, sadly, we're going to part company. I'll put it on the auction block, suck it up and take the loss, and chalk it up to a learning experience.
I have my eye on a really nice, one-owner, regularly-serviced 2002 F250 with the 7.3 turbo Powerstroke in it, and a !@#$%^&* STICK SHIFT!!! Love the Diesel, but auto trannys can kiss me on the back side!!!
I just wanted to thank everyone here for the advice and knowledge you share. Maybe, soon, I'll catch ya over at the 7.3 Powerstroke forum!
Dave
Back in September, I had the opportunity to purchase a '91 F250 from my employer, who was retiring some old company vehicles. I knew that it had transmission issues from the outset. After replacing the glowplugs and rebuilding the fuel returns (learned how here!) I had the engine running like a top. Not so much luck with the trans...
The original E4OD was slipping, and wasn't shifting right at all. When I decided to service it, I pulled the pan and drained a quantity of brown, metallic sludge out. The pan was FULL of metal shavings. "Junk", I said to myself, and went off to pursue other options.
As luck would have it, an acquaintance of mine had a rebuilt E4OD with about 10,000 miles on it laying around from a motor/trans swap in a F350 'short bus' conversion. I bought it for a reasonable price, and inquired of the local trans shop about installing it (I'm not physically able to do that in my driveway...) and agreed on a price for the labor. Bad mistake. The nightmare starts when I go to pick it up and was told, "Well, you're all done but you won't have a speedometer". Seems the 'new' trans was a '92, and had no speedo drive. Of course, the trans has no idea what it's doing now. Shifts all over the place, won't shift at all, downshifts when it should upshift, etc.
Of course, I can only blame myself for not doing the research on the model year changes, but it really pissed me off that the 'professionals' at the trans shop went ahead with the swap knowing that it wouldn't work. Now, I'm stuck with a non-driveable (at least not too fast) truck with another massive amount of labor involved (complete trans gut-out, not to mention R/R) to repair it. I'm done.
I can't justify putting any more cash into a 25-year-old vehicle with an unknown history. It was just supposed to be a 'project' to give me a spare vehicle in case of emergency, or if I needed to pull or haul a large load. So, sadly, we're going to part company. I'll put it on the auction block, suck it up and take the loss, and chalk it up to a learning experience.
I have my eye on a really nice, one-owner, regularly-serviced 2002 F250 with the 7.3 turbo Powerstroke in it, and a !@#$%^&* STICK SHIFT!!! Love the Diesel, but auto trannys can kiss me on the back side!!!
I just wanted to thank everyone here for the advice and knowledge you share. Maybe, soon, I'll catch ya over at the 7.3 Powerstroke forum!
Dave
