More e4od problems...

saburai

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
983
Location
Bokeelia Florida/Catskill mountains NY
Howdy All!
We're currently in route, pulling our 10k 30 ft off the grid trailer from the Catskills mountains to Pine Island Florida for the winter. @chillman88 and I recently replaced the transmission with a fairly fresh HD upgrade e4od built by Fisher transmission in New Jersey. For extra assurance, I had Fisher rebuild the triple clutch torque converter. To navigate some low speed country roads, I had to manually down shift to stay in the power band and keep it spooling. Otherwise, on the interstate, I would use the OD switch as needed to make big hills. So that's the background. The problem is that the OD light started flashing, hooked up the code reader and it's 62 "transmission 3/4 circuit fault" AKA converter slipping. I reset it by disconnecting the batteries. As long as I keep the OD off, it's running like a champ, but with out the OD I'm speed limited on the interstate. Ideas? I would also note that I recently lost my cruise control and have not had time to diagnose and fix it. Could this be related? What about VSS? I noticed that my speedometer wobbles above 65. Or would that be a worn speedo? Thanks for any information! Wish me luck, we're hitting the road now, over Fancy Gap and into Georgia the steepest climb of the trip. I'll check back from a fuel stop...
 

saburai

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
983
Location
Bokeelia Florida/Catskill mountains NY
Made it over Fancy Gap, now at a rest stop in Ga. The OD light started flashing after about 30 miles with the OD switched off. Reset it and continued on this time using the OD on the flats and decents, started flashing again in 30 miles or so, again reset it again keeping the OD off and continued on and over Fancy Gap, manually shifting to second for the steepest part of the climb, Raylan pulled it like a champ. Other than the intermittent flashing OD, it gave no indication of any malfunction - trans temp 160-190 shifting fine and functioning as it should. What could be causing it to trigger the trouble light? I'm thinking some sort of electrical gremlin... Somebody who is intimate with the e4od please educate me!
 

Selahdoor

How can I help you, or make you laugh, today?
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2015
Posts
2,253
Reaction score
2,004
Location
Index Wa
Wobbly speedo needle. Mine did too. 60 or over.

70 or over, it jumped 'bigly'.

I discovered that if I disconnected the RABS controller behind the glove box, the needle stopped having problems.

Both of those, the speedo and the rabs control module, are fed by the VSS, so I was afraid I needed to replace the VSS. Apparently not.
 

saburai

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
983
Location
Bokeelia Florida/Catskill mountains NY
Wobbly speedo needle. Mine did too. 60 or over.

70 or over, it jumped 'bigly'.

I discovered that if I disconnected the RABS controller behind the glove box, the needle stopped having problems.

Both of those, the speedo and the rabs control module, are fed by the VSS, so I was afraid I needed to replace the VSS. Apparently not.

I bypassed RABS but haven't touched the electrics.
I'm wondering if the cruise control failure and the transmission fault codes are some how related. We've done 400 miles so far today and other than the OD light tripping in the first hundred, it's been flawless, clearly not a TC issue, it's gotta be some electrical gremlin. All of the harness plugs were cleaned and we applied the proper amount of dielectric grease just a few thousand miles ago. I'm hoping that some of the guys who really know the e4od will chime in. Time to get back on the road, still have about another hour to Savanah for the night...
 
Last edited:

saburai

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
983
Location
Bokeelia Florida/Catskill mountains NY
There is a chance that it is the VSS. Because the temps are good there really isn't any sign of slipping.

I would recheck the codes.
Were tucked in for the night at a campingworld parking lot just outside of Savannah.
You're one of the people I was thinking of!
I'll check the codes again, but if it's not flashing, it's not throwing anything. Every time it did, it was the 3/4 circuit fault. Do you think that the cruise control failure could be the VSS as well?
 

BeastMaster

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Posts
332
Reaction score
272
Location
Orange, California
Does yours have the VSS mounted on the differential?

Mine is. I had similar high speed sending problems. One of which was iron filings from the gears were attracted to the VR sensor, and upon removal, the VR sensor looked as if it had grown a beard. Iron filings and oil.

Upon cleaning it off, I had a stronger signal.

It's not a terribly time consuming thing to check, and might be contributing to your loss of signal .

VR=variable reluctance sensor, basically wire wound around a magnetic pole piece.
 

saburai

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
983
Location
Bokeelia Florida/Catskill mountains NY
Does yours have the VSS mounted on the differential?

Mine is. I had similar high speed sending problems. One of which was iron filings from the gears were attracted to the VR sensor, and upon removal, the VR sensor looked as if it had grown a beard. Iron filings and oil.

Upon cleaning it off, I had a stronger signal.

It's not a terribly time consuming thing to check, and might be contributing to your loss of signal .

VR=variable reluctance sensor, basically wire wound around a magnetic pole piece.

Thanks for the information! I'd thought that it was a Hall effect sensor. We've got about 4.5 hours drive to a buddy's house in Williston Florida where we're going to visit for a few days before heading back down to Pine Island. I'll have some time to dig into it there, hopefully, with the help of the collective, I'll get it sorted out.
 

nostrokes

Full Access Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Posts
517
Reaction score
312
Location
Colorado
It should store the codes for a short time so you should be able to pull them still.
 

saburai

Supporting Member
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Posts
2,201
Reaction score
983
Location
Bokeelia Florida/Catskill mountains NY
We're in Florida! The sun makes me happy!

I switched the OD on 50ish miles ago, no malfunctions as of yet. Running at around 2000rpm, 60ish mph is seems to be running a bit hotter, coolent around 195*-205*, tranny just below 200* ambient temps are 20-30 degrees warmer and of course full sun opposed to night. But still the truck feels like it's working harder below 2500rpm...
What's the optimum operating temperature for the e4od? Maximum safe temp?
 

retiredinhomer

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Posts
61
Reaction score
23
Location
Alaska
Are you using Mercon v fluid? Higher boiling point. My 92 e350 temp runs 170/180. My 90 f250 likes to push 200/ 215. Both rigs have the same coolers fluid. The van has about 30k on factory rebuilt tranny and larger pan. The pickup has almost 100k on truck and small pan.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
91,217
Posts
1,128,499
Members
24,045
Latest member
Ramtough01

Members online

Top