F-150 E4OD Tranny
filed in 1993 Ford F150
Question: I have read this newsgroup for sometime and feel that there are some pretty knowledgable users out there so, I thought I would ask for opinions and/or advice on the following discontentment with my 1993 Ford F150 4 X 4. The truck has a 302 V8 with a E4OD tranny. The uses of this vehicle are to get back and forth to work, yard work, occasional trailer pulling and trudging through this great New England winter. My discontent lies in the shifting habits of the E4OD. In a average take off, the shift from first to second occurs at roughly 2000 rpm. The second gear starts at 1600 and again rises to 2000 rpm before shifting to third. The third gear starts at 14-1500 rpm and feels completely powerless. There seems to be a short “step” in between the upshift from 2nd to 3rd at a more reasonable rpm but only lasts a second or two. My discontent grows when driving up a hill as the shift to third really ends up in the low rpm range and looses power going up incline. Two actions will provoke a downshift. One, letting up the gas lightly which is a smooth transistion to second but soon shifts back to 3rd, or stepping into the gas which causes a violent shift to second ( from 1100 rpm to 2000 or so ). This problem is further intensified (on inclines ) when pulling the trailer ( a small pop up camper). The shifts between 2nd and third going uphill ( 2nds to high 3rd to low ) are very annoying. I have brought it to the dealer, they say the operation is normal and there are no recalls. Note that all this is with the over drive disabled or enabled. The description I was given for this E4OD transmission is a 3 speed with a Electronic OD ( on the column ).
My questions are;
1) Is this the normal action of this transmission.
2) What is the “step” between 2nd and 3rd. It feels to me like the gear that should be that isn’t.
3) If this is normal, is there somthing reasonable I can do to change this as it drives me crazy.
Note that other than this I am very satisfied with this vehicle and plan to keep it for years to come.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Answer: The Ford E4OD isn’t the best tranny. I owned a 1991 Ford F-150 4×4 with the 5.0 liter. The tranny sounds the same as yours, hard hard shifts at the wrong times, and almost a slipping feeling. The truck used to burn through transmissons like they were going out of style. (this could be in part to the fact that I used it as a pickup – for hauling stuff). In two years I went through three major tranny rebuilds (on waranty of course). I finally gave up and sold the thing. I remain a Ford man and have chaulked my experience up to bad tranny for what I needed. I think the E4OD was an attempt to obtain gas mileage and car-like power transmisson. Next truck I buy with definately have a standard transmisson.
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