Do I need a second opinion

[bigbandwith]

I have a 2003 F350 SRW 4WD 7.3 Automatic, 220k miles. Yesterday it started to do a delayed shift from park to drive when cold. Checked the fluid and it looked brown.

Took it to a reputable diesel shop here in town and they said it is not worth servicing. They hooked it up to their scanner and they said with the codes it is throwing it should be rebuilt.

Other than the delay, it runs cool, shifts fine and is not throwing any check engine codes.

Should I just drive this thing til it quits? Rebuild it? Buy a reman?

[JJR]

What are the codes? We can give better advice with knowing the details. Kind of key here. All I can tell you based on your info is that the fluid should have been changed ealier and points out a lack of maintenance.

[bigbandwith]

Ok lets see.. the ecm scan yielded:

p0755 shift solenoid b malfunction
p0743 TC clutch system failure
p01754 CCS circuit malfunction
p01747 pressure control solenoid a short circuit

Again, the truck is not exhibiting any tranny symptoms.

[FordNutz]

Sounds lke you have some solenoid issues. I would check the wiring carefully as well.

[Trackspeeder]

Change the brown fluid.

[Stroken7.3]

I would think you need a rebuild with burnt fluid like you describe. Your clutch packs are probally burnt due to slipping, which in turn made the fluid get to hot and burn. If you do a rebuild i would upgrade the torque converter to a 6.0 converter.

[FordNutz]

I wouldn't just pull it and rebuild until you find out why you are having these issues. Brown fluid doesn't always mean burnt fluid. It could be that it hasn't ever been changed. You could go through a rebuild and end up with the same thing. Not to say you won't ultimately need a rebuildwith that many miles.

[Trackspeeder]

Brown fluid is fluid with excessive miles. Not always burnt, but shot.