I have a '95 F150 4x4 with a E40D Transmission. Reverse works great. But it does not want to pull itself forward. If I manually put it in 1st and rev it up it’ll just barely start to pull forward. Get up a little speed and it starts to grab. Where should I start on fixing it?
Check the transmission fluid level.
Fluid level is fine. Also the fluid is clean. Has no burnt smells
The next thing to do is check the line pressure. It will probably by present in ‘reverse’ but notice if it is within the tolerance range. ‘Reverse’ pressure ascertains the health of the filter/pump/regulator system. When you get to ‘drive’ and ‘1st’, post those numbers and we can go from there.
With what you have described, I am really surprised that you don’t have burnt fluid. That ‘barely moving’ and ‘it starts to grab’ indicates massive slippage and resulting heat production. Does it feel like the engine is pulling against the torque converter as if you were doing a stall test when you rev the engine?
If you find out the failure mode of this transmission, post back the results so we can share in the knowledge.
Jake,
It needs to come out. Looks like the rear sprag is bad. You can troubleshoot this thing all day long but whats wrong with it cant be fixed without disassembly.
transman
Mileage on vehicle?? Over 150K perhaps? The time has come for a tranny rebuild…
Hey transman
Wouldn’t going to manual low, apply the low band which puts the low sprag in an redundant role?
Hope to learn from the master.
The 4R100 (E4OD) transmission does’nt have a low band. There is one band in this transmission, an intermediate band which is a second gear band. The funny thing about this trans is that the intermediate band will not apply in regular drive for second gear. There is an actual intermediate clutch assy. The intermediate band only applies when the gear selector is in L2. A no drive condition in this transmission can have a boatload of reasons ranging from a bad forward clutch, the reverse sprag, the low sprag (rear sprag), valves in the vb and/or pump valves. What I have been seeing a lot of in these transmissions is low sprag failure. That along with forward clutch failure are the two most common issues. In fact, in 1994, Ford started using plastic caged low rollers in the E4OD. Unfortunately, automatic transmissions are not as easy as look at a book and be a pro. There are so many things about automatics that you will not find in a book, its just live it and learn it. I have a whole bunch of books for every automatic on the market. I just use them basicly for torque specs and updates. You really just cant take a book and rebuild your transmission. There are things that you HAVE to do when rebuilding that you wont find in a book. Even after 25 years on the bench, I STILL learn things.
transman