E4OD TC engagement

ISPKI

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Hey all. I want to learn more about the functionality of the E4OD that came in these trucks. I have an E4OD that was supposedly rebuilt or serviced in 2014 in my F-SuperDuty. I separated it from the motor to replace the flexplate due to the starter not being fully mounted and chewing the teeth off the plate, this suggests that it has about 10k on the rebuild. I replaced fluid, filter, pan seal, and FIPL/TPS. While under there, I noticed that the TC was a purple unit with "ATS" written on it and some numbers that were rubbed off somewhat. couldnt make out exactly what they said so not sure what kind of ATS TC it has.

While adjusting the FIPL, I was not happy with the shift point at the recommended voltage, seemed to shift too low, I have it shifting around 2400ish right now unless I get on the throttle pretty hard. The thing is, the TC locks up only if I press the throttle past 50%. There is an in between range when im cruising on the highway where the TC is not fully locked but im cruising smoothly. I cant get the TC to lock up unless I throttle enough to accelerate, so I cant cruise and have the TC locked at the same time.

Does this sound normal? Is there a benefit to having the TC locked while cruising? When the TC locks, my RPM drops slightly, maybe by a few hundred or so. Is it detrimental to the longevity of the transmission to be driving all the time without the TC being fully locked?

Does this even sound like the transmission is behaving normally?
 

gnathv

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Transmission runs cooler when TC is locked. Are you checking voltage FIPL or just adjusting to preference of shift?
 

trackspeeder

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ATS is a decent converter, it should be a multi disk unit with a billet cover.

A converter will run locked or unlocked. Never half locked. If it did run half locked the disk will fail quickly.

The converter should lock when cruising. Unless the RPM is below 1200. Climbing a steady grade will keep the converter from locking too.

Sounds like you need to reset the TPS. Set it to factory spec, then test drive it. From there adjust it to your liking. But do not exceed factory min or max specs.
 

ISPKI

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I had set it originally to nominal voltage but it felt like it was shifting too early, I couldnt hit 3k RPM unless I had the pedal on the floor, so I tweaked it up slightly towards one end of the tolerance which brought the shift point up somewhat. I like how it drives but it does shift a little high in the RPM range.

The converter feels like it doesnt lock unless I press the throttle past maybe 75% or so, regardless of RPM. When cruising on the highway at 60mph I am doing about 2500RPM with throttle around 75-80% or so. Pressing the throttle enough to accelerate (maybe another 15%ish) it feels as though the TC locks, RPM drops just a bit and the truck speeds up.

Now the transmission seems fine except for this behavior that seems odd to me but I also havent driven an automatic in maybe 5 or more years (except for wifey's volvo which...doesnt count).

Ive driven it fairly long distances - several hundred miles, up and down long hills, hauling heavy wood loads, etc, and the thing hasnt skipped a beat, no O/D light since I replaced the FIPL.

It seems to me, that if the FIPL is adjusted somewhat towards one end, it may cause the behavior I am experiencing. Seems that my next step should be to recheck the FIPL and adjust it back down somewhat.
 

ISPKI

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You said that the converter will *not* lock when climbing a grade? Mine locks whenever I press the pedal past a certain point which usually happens when climbing a grade with a load on it. Thats where I really dont like what its doing since my RPM will drop a bit which is not advantageous for climbing a hill.
 

trackspeeder

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If it does lock it should unlock fairly quick. The TCM is programed to keep the engine from bogging down and burning up the converter clutch.

Reset the TPS and try again. Hit the OD OFF button before you hit the grade. Sometimes this helps. The TCM program isn't the greatest.
 

ISPKI

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If it does lock it should unlock fairly quick. The TCM is programed to keep the engine from bogging down and burning up the converter clutch.

Reset the TPS and try again. Hit the OD OFF button before you hit the grade. Sometimes this helps. The TCM program isn't the greatest.
It will stay locked as long as I keep the throttle past a certain point and it will unlock the moment I let the throttle up past that point, feels like 50%. ill do that and report back.
 

TNBrett

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They are truck-lite round tractor trailer lights. Yeah they work great.
Are the LED or sealed incandescent? I believe the line of thinking is that for everything to work properly the brake light circuit needs to be intact with an incandescent bulb. If you’ve got LED’s, you might try adding an incandescent in parallel to them.
 

ISPKI

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Are the LED or sealed incandescent? I believe the line of thinking is that for everything to work properly the brake light circuit needs to be intact with an incandescent bulb. If you’ve got LED’s, you might try adding an incandescent in parallel to them.
yeah they are LED. Why on earth would having an LED in line instead of an incandescent make anything not work correctly?
 

IDIBRONCO

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It has something to do with the amount of resistance in the circuit. That's about all I know about it. I do know one more thing though. The third brake light needs to be functional and should also be an incandescent bulb too.
 

snicklas

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The TECA passes a small current through the brake light circuit on this era truck. It was designed for incandescent bulbs. If a brake light is burned out, or shorted, it will throw the TECA into fits. If there are LED's the resistance is different, and messes with the TECA. People have even seen, with some LED's, the current is enough to light the LED's anytime the ignition is on. If you want to use LED's in the brake light circuit (stop, turn, tail or high mount light) you may need to put resistors in the circuit to make it appear correct to the TECA..... The TECA is not very intellegent in these trucks. Even the hazard flasher can make the TC lock and unlock because the TECA sees that as brake on, brake off, on, off, on, off....
 

ISPKI

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Now, that is interesting as hell. Yeah I had noticed that a couple of the LEDS in my brake lights are illuminated at all times. Very interesting as all of the lights on my truck are LED due to it being a flatbed and all. Now I need to figure out what the circuit resistance should be so I can compare that to my circuit and go from there. Adding more lights should have a similar effect by increasing the resistance on the circuit and I have been looking at adding more illumination around the corners of the bed and bumper as they are quite large and hard to see.

The bed has about a dozen amber single LEDs around the edges with some facing down to illuminate below the bed but I was intending to add more as they arent really sufficient for what I wanted.
 

TNBrett

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The running lights shouldn’t be an issue. And like I said, adding an incandescent in parallel to each brake/turn circuit should fix that part of the equation. You could mount a cheap trailer light under the bed, and get some cool “under glow” like all the kids have.
 

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