Fogdart
Registered User
Thought I'd share a recent experience I had with my E350 Short Bus transmission. Maybe it'll help someone else someday. It's a '92 with a 7.3idi and an E4OD Transmission. Driving down the road last week just cruising along, not pulling hard or otherwise loading the drive train, I hear a 'bang' from underneath and immediately all gears in the transmission are 'neutral'. I pull over, 'Park' still works but there is no noise and no change when shifting the transmission into Reverse or any of the forward gears... OD button on or off. I pulled the transmission a couple days ago expecting a broken input shaft or something similar. Well, the something similar was the female splines in the torque converter were stripped as they mate to the input shaft. I'd checked this as soon as I pulled the TC and it felt OK but a more experienced transmission tech told me to insert the shaft in the TC then pull it out about 3/16" because it usually is not engaged fully when installed due to the TC being pulled slightly forward when bolted up to the flex plate. Sure enough, as soon as I pulled the input shaft about 1/8" up from being bottomed in the TC splines, it spun freely... the splines in the area of normal contact were completely stripped. I'm not savvy with automatic transmissions so am very grateful for the advice I got in finding the problem.
Now, a plug for that "more experienced transmission tech" I mentioned earlier. I ended up ordering an overhaul kit from Jimmy at TransmissionBench.com. I assume Jimmy is the owner as he's the only person that I've talked to there and his contact info on his website is his personal cell. He offers overhaul kits, individual parts and assembly/inspection/reassembly videos. (great videos, BTW! Easy to follow and takes the confusion out of auto transmissions for us amateurs) Jimmy absolutely knows his stuff and is super helpful and friendly. He was happy to answer my questions and was the one that pointed me right at my problem. I highly recommend checking out his offerings if you're looking to do your own transmission work.
Now, a plug for that "more experienced transmission tech" I mentioned earlier. I ended up ordering an overhaul kit from Jimmy at TransmissionBench.com. I assume Jimmy is the owner as he's the only person that I've talked to there and his contact info on his website is his personal cell. He offers overhaul kits, individual parts and assembly/inspection/reassembly videos. (great videos, BTW! Easy to follow and takes the confusion out of auto transmissions for us amateurs) Jimmy absolutely knows his stuff and is super helpful and friendly. He was happy to answer my questions and was the one that pointed me right at my problem. I highly recommend checking out his offerings if you're looking to do your own transmission work.
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