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97 F350, E40D Tranny Issue - Where to start?

3K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  madpogue 
#1 · (Edited)
I am trying to help my dad figure out what is going on with his tranny.

97 F350 4x4 CCLB, 7.3L, E40D, 220,000 HARD miles

Against my advice he bought a reman E40D from Phoenix Transmission off ebay. Had issues and finally got one that worked. Supposedly beefed up, but I don't know what that entailed. He also got a beefed up TC.

When he got the transmission two of the bolts for the pan were stripped out and siliconed in place. Since he installed it, the tranny has been leaking around those two bolts, but he checks it periodically and keeps it full. The tranny was replaced about 5 years ago and I don't know how many miles it has on it, but probably less than 20,000. I lived 1200 miles away during that whole fiasco.

Yesterday he took off from my house, climbed the steep hill and made it about a mile, then on flat ground turned left and the tranny kicked out. He checked the fluid and it was 3 qts low. He let the truck sit for about 10 minutes waiting for me to come get him and then got impatient, started the truck, and drove it home (1.5 miles) without issue. He added 3 qts to the tranny, and it said it was drove from the house to his shop fine (about 300 yds). This morning it will not move, he said when he tries to drive it, he lets it kind of idle, puts it in gear and nothing happens. No noises, nothing. His fluid smells fine and looks fine, but he has been putting enough oil through it, keeping it full, that it has basically been flushed to a degree.

My dad is terrible at maintaining the truck, and something has been bad for a while, as he can't shift the truck out of park once it has been started. He has to shift into neutral to start it and then shift into drive (neutral safety switch?).

When I talked to him this morning, he did mention that his O/D light flashed a few times last week when he was driving it. Again, he is terrible at maintaining his truck. His GPR has been bad for 2 years and the new one I bought him has been in his glove box for that whole time. I guess he is waiting on me to replace it, even though I told him it is about the easiest thing to replace on these trucks.)

He has probably put less than 1000 miles on the truck over the last 2 years. It has not made a trip longer than 20 miles in a year, and for the last month the longest drive it has taken was from his house to mine (2.5 miles). That makes me think the tranny isn't even getting hot enough to burn up, but I don't know much about auto's.

I know we need to change the switch that is causing the no shift from park issue. Before we take it to a shop, he wants to check things ourselves?

I have the autoenginuity, but haven't played with it enough to really know how to use it.

I know this is a lot to read, but if someone could offer advice, I would appreciate it.
 
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#2 ·
The neutral safety switch is in the starter circuit. Nothing to do with moving the shifter. That's the BTSI - brake transmission shift interlock, which is controlled by the brake pedal switch. Do the brake lights work? (He is putting his foot on the brake when he tries to shift out of Park, right?.....)

OD/OFF light flashing means there's a tranny code stored. Your AE should be able to retrieve it. Contact AE support, let them know it's a '97 PSD, and they should be able to walk you through getting a connection. I do know that you have to specify "non-OBD-II" for one of the connection options; I just don't remember where that is exactly, and I don't have access to that computer right now.

Water WAAAY under the bridge, but he should never have accepted and installed a transmission with pan bolts siliconed in place from having been stripped.
 
#3 ·
He is stepping on the brake to shift out of park. I have never noticed if the brake lights are working, but after reading on here a bit, I asked if his third brake light was working and he said it hadn't been for quite a while. Probably just the bulb. Does the bulb being burnt out affect the signal to the transmission?

I have connected to his truck before with the AE, just don't really know what to do after that other than the super basic stuff. Will head over there this weekend and connect to see if I can pull anything.

Agreed he should have never accepted the transmission, but at that point it was the third one (the first came with a cracked case, the second only lasted about 200 miles before it died) and I think he was tired of dealing with them. He got a discount so he could fix the bolts himself. I guess he never got around to it...
 
#4 ·
The brake signal doesn't go to the transmission, it goes to the PCM. But the effect is the same; the PCM controls the transmission. So yes, a burned out center stop light will affect the transmission. I don't think it affects the shifter interlock, though; I'll have to check the EVTM later to confirm.
 
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