E4OD guidance needed

[Chrono558]

This may be somewhat long but I want to be as thorough as I can be.

I had been dealing with an intermittent issue with the tachometer not working in my truck on cold start up that would normally start to work after the engine had been running for a few minutes. From what I have learned now, the TECA unit was not getting power during this time because all I had was reverse, 2nd and 4th gears when it acted up like this. This had been going on/off for a couple of months.

For the sake of time I had a shop (that I do trust) diagnose what was going on, and they discovered that the TECA relay was bad, some wires had been chewed up by a rat near the TECA connector (which was fixed properly, I did inspect the work), the pigtail harness that plugs into the solenoid pack on the transmission had bare spots in the wiring and was grounding out a few of the wires, and that some of the solenoids in the solenoid pack were not in the correct resistance range. They also adjusted the FILP sensor back to spec as well.

So, new TECA relay, new solenoid pack and new pigtail harness was installed and the transmission was working normally. A few days later I'm back with the same problem of no tach and OD light not coming on when I push the button. I diagnosed this problem myself and verified that I had power/ground on the correct pins in the TECA connector and that I was getting my 5 volt reference at the MAP and FILP sensor during this which led me to believe the TECA unit itself was going bad. The old TECA did have a capacitor that leaked out on the circuit board and had started to eat through a few traces so it was already on borrowed time. It was replaced with a reman unit from A1 Cardone and I verified that board was in good order/condition before installing it.

On Monday I had the same problem again with no tach/OD light. Fiddled with the TECA relay and socket and got it to work now and stay working thus far. My hunch is the TECA socket is going out and I'm seriously thinking about swapping in a bosch style relay and socket to get that sorted out. I did verify power/ground to the relay so I know everything up to that point is good which is making me suspect bad relay or bad/worn connections on the relay socket itself.

What I'm getting now is code 62 (excessive TCC slip) and the transmission going into limp mode (OD light blinking, harsh upshifts) after driving on the interstate for a while. I've read the article here written by FORDF250HDXLT but in my case I've already had the solenoid pack and harness replaced. At this point I'm not sure what to do going forward in order to test if the torque converter really is slipping or if I still have an electrical problem somewhere.

While driving on the interstate yesterday evening (after clearing the code) I did try to disengage/engage the TCC solenoid by maintaining 65 on the interstate and tapping the brake pedal to turn on the brake lights which should have disengaged the TCC solenoid for a few seconds before re-engaging it, but I didn't feel it or see it disengage on the tach... I'm going to take it out for another test drive and test it again to see if the TCC solenoid will disengage/engage with me paying much more attention to it.

I love the truck but with this much money into it I'm going broke over it. Converting it to a ZF5 would be nice, but not possible at this point financially so I'm stuck with what I got. If anybody has any ideas or suggestions I'll be open to them. I'll report back the results of the test drive in a few minutes.

Thanks.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

I was going to suggest what you concluded.To simply bypass the oem relay and just wire your own in at this point too and just be done with that issue.

Code 62 can be a PITA. Don't focus it on too much until you get clean and constant power to the TECA.Keep us posted.

 

[Chrono558]

Got home and took a nap. Now I'm wide awake at 12:30am...

I'm getting the impression that my torque converter is not locking up at all. While maintaining a steady speed at 65mph I tap on the brake pedal enough to activate the brake lights but I never do see the tach needle jump up nor do I hear the engine rev a little higher. I know my BOO switch is working correctly because it will deactivate the cruise control and I do have brake lights. I know this method would work on disabling torque converter lockup on my 93 F150 that had an E4OD but I'm not sure if that works for an older E4OD.

I think I recall reading a way to ground the TCC solenoid to make the torque converter lock up but will have to search for it again. I get the feeling I'm probably going to have to do that for testing purposes. I have the bosch relay and harness ordered and should hopefully be here by the weekend. Just need to figure out the best way to crimp both yellow wires from the old relay harness into the single wire on the new harness.

 

[Runningaford]

, same problem as the OP. I've got no issues with electrical, but hate electronics. I replaced the tach sensor so far, as it had bare conductors, and now will tackle the rest.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

, same problem as the OP. I've got no issues with electrical, but hate electronics. I replaced the tach sensor so far, as it had bare conductors, and now will tackle the rest.

 

[raydav]

A couple things to consider.

I have an 84 E350 with an 89 7.3 and an E4OD, and a 2001 E350 PSD.

The 84 E4OD uses a Boumann controller. The 01 4R100 uses the power train controller. Neither torque converter unlocks when the brake is applied. And I would not want want them to. They do however unlock at low speed.

If you tell the trucks computer the truck has a standard transmission, you can use a different trans controller, and that opens a new world.

I know precisely when the converter in my 84 is locked. I put LEDs on each of the solenoids. When the light is out the solenoid is energized. I am going to put LEDs on my 01.

 

[Chrono558]

Amazon had a delay in shipping me my relays and sockets, but they should be here tomorrow evening so I can install them.

My current plan (after the relay) will be to check the resistance of the TCC solenoid to make sure it is within spec (20-30 ohms from what I've been reading). I'm planning on checking it first at the TECA connector to see if it is within spec there before checking at the solenoid pack itself if the reading is out of range. While I'm there I might as well check the resistance values of the rest of the solenoids since this is a reman solenoid pack.

If that part goes good then I think I'll wire in a test light on the TCC ground wire (purple/yellow) so that I can verify the TECA is commanding the TCC to engage/disengage, which at this point I'm fairly certain it is given the fact that code 62 keeps coming back, but never hurts to check. If if is being commanded on but will not engage, then I'll replace the test light with a on/off switch so that I can manually lock/unlock the TCC. If I still cannot lock/unlock the TCC when grounding out the solenoid then I'm going to heavily suspect something is wrong internally on the transmission (bad input shaft seal, bad torque converter, front pump, etc.)

 

[Chrono558]

Ok...

Got the new relay and socket installed. The wiring going into the old socket and relay was in good shape and the copper was nice and shiny, so that makes me feel better on getting a good connection. After the relay was installed I verified that I had battery voltage with the ignition turned on for pins 37 and 57 on the TECA connector and had good grounds on pins 40 and 60. Verified that pin 1 had battery voltage at all times, too. I think at this point the power/ground issues to the TECA are resolved.

While I had the TECA connector unhooked I checked for resistance values for all the solenoids:

EPC Solenoid - Pins 35 and 37 - 6.2 ohms
Shift Solenoid #1 - Pins 37 (and 57 for diligence) and 52 - 22.6 ohms
Shift Solenoid #2 - Pins 37 (and 57 for diligence) and 19 - 22.6 ohms
TCC Solenoid - Pins 37 (and 57 for diligence) and 53 - 22.8 ohms
Clutch Coast Solenoid - Pins 37 (and 57 for diligence) and 55 - 22.6 ohms

I can't find the source at the moment but I believe those resistance values are within spec (4-6.5 ohms for EPC, 20-30 ohms for all others). I then cut the purple/yellow wire and added an inline indicator light that I ran into the cab of the truck to verify that the TECA was grounding out the solenoid. The TECA is grounding the solenoid between 25-30 mph (depending on throttle position), opens/grounds during gear shifts, opens when I take my foot off the gas pedal and grounds when I put it back on the gas pedal with a light foot. From what I can observe the TECA is doing its job like it is supposed to, but I'm still not getting the TCC to lock.

I removed the indicator light and put an on/off toggle switch in its place with a lead going straight to ground. While I am under the transmission switching from on/off I can hear the solenoid click inside the transmission pan. With the truck running at idle in park I turned the switch on to ground the TCC solenoid and there was no change at all in engine speed. From my understanding if the TCC locks at idle it should stall the truck or almost stall it... That's not the case with mine, it just does nothing. I think I've ruled out everything electrical at this point. I'm guessing at this point I've got a bad torque converter, front pump seal, input shaft seal, etc. If that is the case then I'm not sure what to do at this point.

The truck has only 128K on it and other than no torque converter lockup the transmission is behaving very good now otherwise. I'd hate to drop the transmission and replace the torque converter just to have the transmission go out on me in another 30-60K and then have to do a full rebuild. The alternative is I get it rebuilt now (and a new TCC) but that is more money than I have right now and to be honest more than what the truck is worth at this point...

If anybody has any other ideas for things I can check/test on the electrical side of things or have any tips/pointers on what to do now, I'm all ears. Thanks for the assistance thus far.

- Chrono

 

[Chrono558]

Whelp, this is never a good sign.

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On my drive today I looked in my rearview mirror and thought I kept seeing a rooster tail of smoke behind me (also that no-one wanted to be immediately behind me traveling on the interstate for that matter). After a few more minutes I start smelling transmission fluid. After pulling over on the side of I-49 I get out and look underneath the truck. Sure enough, the front pump seal (and probably bushing) gave out and fluid was profusely pouring out from the bell housing. So at this point I'm ready to bite the bullet and have a reman transmission installed. There aren't any good transmission rebuilders in my area so that makes my options limited. Also given the fact this is a first year E4OD with none of the updated components, that would add a lot to the cost to rebuild.

The shop that the truck currently is at can get a Jasper transmission for me if I want to go that route. Are there any other reman companies out there to consider? Would a factory reman E4OD from the Ford dealership be worth it? I know about BTS but simply cannot afford that much right now (really can't afford more than $3,200 to be honest). Any ideas?

 

[Hydro-idi]

Anything other than a jasper transmission would probably be better. They don't have the best reputation. My suggestion is to find someone locally that knows the E40D transmission very well and have them rebuild it.

 

[Thewespaul]

I'll get this in here since I'm sure @FORDF250HDXLT is about to chime in about his love affair for e40ds

Here's your answer:

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[snicklas]

If you can afford it, I would say the Ford Reman, instead of the Jasper.... We had a Jasper back in the day in a Ford Fairmont, and it was decent, but that was back in the early 80's........

The Ford is good reman, and a good warranty..... plus, if you have a problem, it can be warrantied at any Ford dealer.......... that would probably by what I would do, that being said, I do have a good transmission shop around the corner and that is where I would go....

A BTS is the ultimate choice..... but for a lot of people that would be more that the truck was worth (at least in my case)......

 

[Chrono558]

I was thinking about a reman from Ford. It should have most of the updates that the later year E4ODs got. I don't do much towing with the truck (at most pulling a streetcar body that is currently on a mobile home trailer) so I don't need something incredibly stout... just something reliable that will last. In any case I'm going to install a better transmission cooler. Depending on what torque converter the Ford reman comes with I might consider paying a little extra for a better one.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

This is a big reason why so many do opt for the ZF5.Much cheaper.If you prefer a manual,it's a great time as ever,to do the swap, too.If you don't mind one,it's a good choice,if you can do the work swapping it yourself.

The ford remans are good.They are supposed to have at least the major updates done.
I was lucky enough to pick up a used,ford reman for just a few hundred.I went and got it before I needed it,because the one in my F450,I was limping along.Glad I went and got it,when I did,cus I really saved a crap load of coin.

The BTS level of trans include hard parts,that the typical power level of our N/A and common turbo kits (like the big 3) just don't break because our engines don't put that level of stress on them.It's not to say 5k plus wouldn't be worth the money.It's just that,a 2-3k reman is generally more than enough for even decent level 1st and even 2nd gen PSD's.

You always have the option of searching your local CL adds and local salvage yards.Sure a used trans is a gamble.......but hey,the same can be said about life so lol.If the price is right,and or 30 day warranty at salvage yard,then it's all about the risk to reward ratio.

 

[Chrono558]

Not that I have anything against a ZF5 unit, I just find that I'm getting lazier with my left foot as I get older.

I'd rather not take the gamble of getting a used unit from a salvage yard. The shop my truck is currently at is going to cut me a deal on the labor for installing a reman unit (same shop that did all the previous work earlier in the thread). The warranty from Ford is also a good thing as I do plan to start traveling more with my truck. The more I think about it the better I'm feeling about putting a Ford reman in my truck over a Jasper unit. I'll see what I can find out this coming Monday. Thanks everyone!