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Broken transmission?

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  Corey@CNCFAB 
#1 ·
Hi there,

I'm fairly new here on this forum, so want to say thanks for any replies in advance, since I understand that it is taking away time from more important things you have to do.

I'm looking for experience/advise in regards to a transmission problem with our 2002 Excursion Diesel.

The transmission was running great and without any hickups since we bought the car in 2015. Couple of weeks ago unfortunately a transmission cooler hose came loose and drained out all transmission fluid while we were driving on the freeway. We didn't realize the problem until the car started to slow down and eventually stopped moving. We got it towed home, reconnected the hose and refilled the trans fluid ... car still wouldn't move. We found out that there is no pressure in the system (no liquid coming out of the transmission/cooler), so assume that the pump went out when running dry. We also took the pan off to see if there is any debris in there, but everything looks very clean (see attached pics).

Now the question is if there is an easy way to find out about the condition of the transmission internals (clutches, etc.) without actually disassembling the whole trans. We definitely want to avoid just installing a new pump then find out that the trans still doesn't work when everything is installed back in the car. But we also don't want to just put in a new/rebuilt trans since we don't now if a previous owner might have replaced the trans already earlier (car has 220k miles).

Any advice, experience, insights are highly appreciated.

Thanks much in advance.
C.M.
 

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#2 ·
this is my advice. At 220k you got a lot of miles out of that transmission even if you only owned it since 2015. I would get a full rebuild. the transmission has already been damaged and the work of installing a new pump isn't worth it with all the other components having 220k.

I know it's probably not the answer you were hoping for and some may differ from me, but if it were me and my wife and or kids replace the transmission with a good ford reman or a sam wyse unit from corey@cncfab don't risk another component failing or trying to chase down the root problem at 220k.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the advice. So the point is, that I really do not know if the trans has 220k on it or not ... the pan looks astonishingly clean. It would just be a waste of money, if the rest of the trans is not really broken and any of the previous owners had already replaced the original trans (for which there is no documentation), which could be likely with this kind of mileage on the car.

Do you have to take the whole trans apart in order to inspect the true condition?
 
#5 · (Edited)
You have to take it out, stand it up on it's tail (works great if it's a 4WD to bolt an old rotor to the tailshaft) to change that pump. Once pulled, you can look inside some that should be able to give you an idea as to whether or not you're looking at a 220K trans...

Also, the "test port" (where everybody puts their Trans Temp sender) is where you can put a gauge to determine if that pump has any output at all.
 
#6 ·
Ok, great - thanks much. We'll try to get some specialist involved here in our area to help determine if the internals look like 220k miles or not.

Is there any experience with what usually happens to this type of transmission if all/most of the fluid is lost during highway driving? Will the car stop moving because the torque converter simply doesn't have any more fluid available to do its job, or do the clutches typically get burnt up in the process no matter what?

Are there any known cases where something like this happened and the transmission internals didn't get damaged in the process and everything was working fine again after refilling the fluid?

Thanks.
 
#9 ·
Does anybody know if Ford still makes a remanufactured OEM type 4R100 diesel trans (without the upgrades) or is everything they make "HD" nowadays (that's what I heard people claim in my local Ford community)??? The price I got from my local Ford dealer for a reman HD4R100 is not in line (lower) with the price I was told from other sources and what I found online, so I'm questioning if the Ford guy might have quoted me the non-HD trans, if it still exists.

Thanks much in advance.
 
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