Avoiding catastrophic E4OD meltdown! Please help!

[stroker001]

Hey guys so my 97 F350 E4OD has started acting a little funny and want to save it for it is a fairly new transmission. Not sure how many miles are on it but Im gonna guess 30-40k maybe. Heres what its doing..Used to when I would go out and fire it up after sitting it was a little slow to take gear even had to go back to reverse and back to drive a couple times. Now its getting to where its slow at taking gear when its hot,no like really slow but I can tell its getting slower the more I drive it,its annoying the sh*t out of me. Does this sound like the factory valve body is letting go? or what? The trans shift perfect everytime hard strong shifts just taking gear is not so great. I really want to save my trans and beef it up without doing a torque converter just yet for atleast a couple months. Who makes the best affordable valve body for these? Ive heard bts but I cant find how to buy from them. Any suggestions?? Thanks!

[Chop]

Try changing fluid and filter including the convertor ,Your truck is due a service .I believe Ford's service intervals are 30k .Some say synthetic is the way to go considering the heat these things take
I recently serviced mine at 110 k with Mobile 1 and ford filter and the difference was very noticeable ,Kinda wanted to kick myself in the you know what for not doing it sooner .

[stroker001]

Yeah I'm definitely gonna do that but want to change the valve body when I do the service. Wonder how much better the motorcraft trans filter is better than a regular duralast filter?

[85_305]

Originally Posted by Chop

Try changing fluid and filter including the convertor ,Your truck is due a service .I believe Ford's service intervals are 30k .Some say synthetic is the way to go considering the heat these things take
I recently serviced mine at 110 k with Mobile 1 and ford filter and the difference was very noticeable ,Kinda wanted to kick myself in the you know what for not doing it sooner .

You could noticeably tell a diff from putting in synthetic into your tranny?

[atvrider93]

Valve body is for the shifts through the gears.
I would be looking at the shifter cable or the solenoid that controls gear selection
Sent from my DROID BIONIC against my will

[Chop]

Originally Posted by 85_305

You could noticeably tell a diff from putting in synthetic into your tranny?

Sure ,replacing old worn out fluid with clean fluid and filter it shifts great .Before there was a difference between cold shifting and warm shifting ,now it consistent
I did contemplate a valve body or a shift kit but with the fluid in need of replacement I figured let's see what happens with fresh fluid and I am pleased with the results .

[STROKED_NY_023]

Originally Posted by atvrider93

Valve body is for the shifts through the gears.
I would be looking at the shifter cable or the solenoid that controls gear selection
Sent from my DROID BIONIC against my will

This is correct to a degree. The VB controls pressures inside the transmission based on vehicle speed and engine speed. These pressures are measured by the solenoid pack which reports to the PCM which determins when to shift. The E4OD is completly controlled by the pcm based on inputs from the VSS and the solenoid pack. Shift points can be manipulated by a modified VB (bts, jw, shift kit), and/or by tuning.

Gear selection using the shift leaver is completely mechanincal. This, as mentioned above, uses the shift cable to manipulate the range selector. A bad range selector, shift cable, or even bushings in the column could cause the op's symptoms. It sounds like you have a range selector out of adjustment and/or a bad shift cable.

With the parking brake on, the truck NOT running and someone in the truck applying the brakes while you are under the truck have them shift through the gears. At each position mark the position of the range selector. Then remove the shift cable from the range selector and move through each position again to compare to your previous marks. You will probably find it out of adjustment. Do this and report back...

Sent from my Galaxy S2 while my wife is yelling at me for being on my phone...

[85_305]

^Good idea and good advice...