E4OD loosing fluid from front seal

[Dirtleg]

Hey all I've been off the boards for most of the past 6 weeks but finally have internet again (satellite yuk).

Today while picking up hay bales from a field my transmision overheated. My wife was driving and I was picking up the bales and putting them on the trailer. If I had been driving I would have shut it off prior to it overheating. She didn't look at the gauge which read 230+ when I finally got a look at it. The sender is mounted in the drivers side port of the transmission body.

I have been abusing the hell out of this thing for the past 6 weeks and it would have been fried many times over if not for the humongous Tru-Cool cooler I installed back in February. I have been hauling tools and equipment all over the place and the truck has just accepted all the loads (12k - 15K trailer weights) and kept going. Earlier this week I pulled a 12,000 lb Track Hoe over some fairly steep grades (6 % +) and the tranny temps never got over 170*. So I was a little surprised it overheated in a field pulling a trailer with 60 hay bales on it.

The fluid is leaking out of the front seal on the transmission. We noticed the leak and stopped driving it before it stopped pulling. I had to borrow a GMC (duramax)with a gooseneck hitch to pull my trailer home. IMO the torque converter clutch fried itself and melted the front seal of the transmission. I did a little searching and found some posts that seemed to support this idea.

So my questions are;

Should I do a full rebuild of the tranny? The one in there is a rebuild itself and has most likely had all the updates. It has a rebuild tag with some barcodes on it so it might be a factory rebuild.

If it is a factory rebuild what would the warranty have been? If it's still within the warranty time/mileage limits would that be transferrable to any owners other than the original purchaser?

Why should I not just replace the front seal and get a triple disc converter?

If I do a rebuild what are some good parts suppliers for this transmission? Also who has a good triple disc torque converter that won't break the bank? American made only please.

I want to state that this transmission has been performing above and beyond any expectations I had. Since buying the farm the truck and gooseneck combo have been invaluable and I rarely go a day without pulling something. For an old truck it has really hung in there. I know a guy with a 2007 Duramax/Allison combo who blew up his tranny pulling lighter loads than I have been pulling on the same roads/highways.

Well thanks for reading my long winded post. I am looking forward to seeing what's next with this truck.

 

[oldmisterbill]

It seems the key is "slow hard work in the fields". Probably in 1st or 2nd gear.The engine isn't working hard enough to engage the fan clutch,the trans is stuck in the middle "making sure all is fine-working like crazy",stuck between the engine-and the rearend+the ground-the truck isn't going fast enough to move air through the cooler+OVERHEAT!!! I believe a fan for the trans cooler is important especially for slow hard work. I have lost 2 transimissions that way one in low teens temps plowing snow (over heated)& one pulling a hill loaded heavy & truck working hard in 1st gear. In my opinion a formula for disaster.
When the trans over heats it usually fails 1st because the seals harden and won't doi thier job anymore-next the clutches fail from heat caused by slippage. I would completly rebuild it. my 2 bits

 

[Dirtleg]

OMB, you are exactly correct on the cause of the problem. I should have put it in 4 lo but it was an oversight on my part. Plus this transmission has always started in 2nd if you don't give it enough throttle or manually shift it to 1st. These factors are really what caused it to overheat. Hell I even asked my wife if she had the e-brake on once because it just sounded like it was working overly hard. The signs were there I just had my mind elsewhere at the time.

You are also correct in that I should rebuild it. Just a bad time right now. Really is there ever a good time for this kind of problem?

 

[poolguy]

FWIW I put a Ford re-man E40D in mine a few months ago. The warranty is 36 mo. and/or 75,000 mi. I don't know about transferability but if it's a factory re-man, I'd sure give the warranty a try!
Good luck.

Chuck

 

[sassyrel]

the seal on the front that fords uses is gray--a good replacement is black or blue---the reason i say this---you may have not hurt anything----fill the trans, and let it warm up. if it dont leak--continue. i had the same thing happen. ritcher in ok--trans guy on the other forum--said that was quite common--the gray seal is really soft--so it dont leak. but when it gets warm, it will leak. cool it down, its ok. serious. i didnt hurt mine, and thats been three years ago------------------------------but if your going to keep doing hay bales--your going to need a fan of some type as omb says--cause you have no airflow---and a LOT of heat creating factors--esp your tq not being locked--and theres a lot of slip thru the oil going on in there

 

[Dirtleg]

I am definitely at the very least going to replace the seal and torque converter. The seal is obviously compromised and considering the manner in which I am using the truck this will continue to haunt my peace of mind if I don't. The torque converter has certainly been pushed overly hard and I feel as long as I am in there it would be wise to get a HD one anyway.

I need to fill it up and check it's operation before making any decisions on what to do first.

 

[trackspeeder]

Toss the crummy gray seal. Precision International #16601EV is a good replacment.

For the seal only try this guy. www.transmissionpartsusa.com

Now if you want to dig deep into the tranny. Use this guy. www.racerxautomotive.com

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I have a friend that is a trans rebuilder....

He states that the E4OD seal leaks OUTSIDE of the seal. It has to do with the aluminum expanding more than the steel. There is a special seal with sealer on the outside to combat this issue.

 

[Dirtleg]

I have a friend that is a trans rebuilder....

He states that the E4OD seal leaks OUTSIDE of the seal. It has to do with the aluminum expanding more than the steel. There is a special seal with sealer on the outside to combat this issue.

Now this is unexpected and interesting news. It makes sense that this could be the case.

Update, today after I put fluid back in it and started it up there were no leaks. I only had 3 1/2 qts on hand but that was enough to get the level back up to the bottom of the dipstick. I probably lost a total of 5 qts as I am still probably 1 1/2 qts low. It goes into forward and reverse just fine and drives properly but I have not had a chance to road test it as I was busy doing other things all day. Tomorrow I will drive it around some to get a better idea of how it's working.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Now this is unexpected and interesting news. It makes sense that this could be the case.

Update, today after I put fluid back in it and started it up there were no leaks. I only had 3 1/2 qts on hand but that was enough to get the level back up to the bottom of the dipstick. I probably lost a total of 5 qts as I am still probably 1 1/2 qts low. It goes into forward and reverse just fine and drives properly but I have not had a chance to road test it as I was busy doing other things all day. Tomorrow I will drive it around some to get a better idea of how it's working.

Also in the case of fluid leaking outside of the seal, it only does it once the trans gets good and warm.

 

[trackspeeder]

The aftermarket seal will fix that too.

 

[Dirtleg]

Update. It turns out that the transmission took another 3 qts to fill up. So I had lost 6 1/2 qts of fluid. Since filling it up I have road tested it and it is operating totally normally. Trans temps have stayed in the 140-150 range.

I felt confident enough to pull my trailer down to pick up my BMW which has been down since I blew up the engine last November. I have a new engine for it now so I finally brought it to the new house and put it in the shop.

On the drive back with the car there are some 1st gear hills (over 1000* EGT's) and the transmission never went over 155*. So far it has not exhibited any unusual behavior and pulls along just fine. Once I get the engine in the car I am going to start working on my 6.9 that I plan on swapping into the truck. At that time I will replace the seal and torque converter on the transmission.