Transmission rebuild June 09, 2017, 11:19:11 am Just sharing a recent experience should it be of some value to someone down the road.Returning to northern Nevada on Friday of Memorial Day weekend after a trip south for the LD Caravan Club outing at Live Oak I noticed the transmission Overdrive Off light flashing shortly after climbing Cajon Pass, which can indicate many possible transmission problems. I pulled over on the outskirts of Victorville, did some Web research on my phone and then called a transmission shop at home that I have some confidence in. They said to go get any malfunction codes read, which I did.The only code was P1744, torque converter clutch. This is often described as something to do with the solenoid valve that activates the lockup clutch, but actually simply means that the system has detected clutch slippage, different speeds between input and output, which can lead to torque converter and then transmission failure depending on how far disintegration progresses.I quickly recalled recent posts here by Larry Wade and discussions with him at Live Oak about his recent transmission rebuild at John Wood Automotive in Holtville, CA. So I checked John Wood's Web site. I got no answer to a phone call but found John's email address there and sent him a message about our problems. He called back an hour or so later.We faced three choices: drive home 400 miles on US395, with lots of climbing, try to get repairs locally knowing nothing of the shops in question, or try to make it to John Wood's. As he said, "It's all downhill to here." And half as far as home.So we holed up in a nearby RV park over the weekend and headed to Holtville on Tuesday. A week later we had a newly rebuilt transmission and drove home without incident, having extended our vacation with visits to Coronado and friends in LA while the work was done.So here are some facts and factors. Our LD is a 2003 with a 4R100 transmission, the last year for those I believe. It had 101,000 miles at the time this occurred. We have towed a 4,000 pound Jeep Wrangler all but a few thousand of those miles, mostly on secondary roads and highways in the west, which means a fair amount of climbing.John reported that the transmission "wasn't too bad" (no outright failures yet) but was headed for failure in the not too distant future, as there were numerous points of excessive wear. He characterized the 4R100 as installed in the E450 as "lightly built" and not really up to what we were asking of it over the long haul, moving about 17-18,000 pounds every time we drove it.As Larry has explained, John has 25 or more years of experience with rebuilding Ford transmissions, the 4R100 in particular, first as a Ford service tech, then in his own business. All he does now is rebuild these transmissions, and he does everything himself. He uses nothing but the best parts in his rebuilds (our new Suncoast torque converter alone is about $1300), many of which he fabricates himself. When we picked up the LD John spent about an hour with me explaining the many weak points in this transmission and showing me what he does to address them.John's honesty, integrity and pride in his work are immediately obvious, as is his knowledge about Ford transmissions. And he gets uniformly high marks in various Web reviews. His rebuilds are expensive but I think simply because he's unwilling to cut any corners. I have no way of knowing how long my rebuilt transmission will last. Only time will tell but I'm convinced it will likely be as long as possible given its use.We were lucky. What initially seemed like the worst possible fate, a major breakdown far from home at the start of a holiday weekend, turned out to be fortuitous. We were able to get to a quality repair facility fairly easily, the one I'd probably prefer to go to anyway, and get the work done in reasonable time. It could have been much worse, say in Coldfoot, Alaska where we were in 2009.In his posts Larry mentioned that once the transmission starts behaving even the slightest bit abnormally the end is probably in sight. I now second that. I had noticed some funky torque converter lock up over the past year or so but so minor that it was easily ignored. It shouldn't have been. I should have taken the transmission to a shop for testing. That would have allowed time to be more deliberate about this rather than relying on the luck we eventually had.As to what to do once that light starts flashing, the transmission did go into a limp mode, which worked well. It supplies more fluid pressure, which makes things work better for awhile. We drove the two hundred miles to Holtville over two mornings, leaving before dawn to avoid the heat. We drove rather than towed our Jeep. And we took it easy.Everyone said to keep an eye on the transmission temperature as we drove to Holtville. I had never bought a Scangauge but was able to find one at an Autozone in Victorville. Never saw the temp go above about 203 on our way to John Wood's.In retrospect I think we could have gone quite a bit farther on the old transmission if necessary but I'm glad things worked out as they did.John told me that the life of these transmissions varies widely. Yours may last twice as long as ours. Or not. There is probably some luck of the draw involved. But also how you use it. More weight, more climbing, more abrupt starts, higher speeds probably mean shorter life, but maybe not.My view is that a big factor is how long you plan to keep your motorhome. If "forever" like us, then you're going to face a transmission rebuild eventually. In that case it might make sense to do that before it is truly needed, so that you won't be surprised and can do it on your own terms. And so that you get some use out of it. I expect to eventually put another 100,000 miles on our LD. Maybe more. I'm reasonably confident this rebuilt transmission will get us that far.Finally our experience just relates to the 4R100. I have no idea whether the newer transmissions are more robust. Good luck with your transmission, whatever it is. And if you need it rebuilt, consider a trip to Holtville. It's a long way from most of us but in my opinion worth the effort. And expense. A question I might as well answer here: $5400 including the rebuild, transmission removal and install and synthetic fluid. Ouch! But worth it I think.Terry2003 26.5'RBGardnerville, NV 10 Likes
Re: Transmission rebuild Reply #1 – June 09, 2017, 12:20:48 pm Nice post, Terry! I don't even have a Lazy Daze right now and I'm ready to make the trip to Holtville!
Re: Transmission rebuild Reply #2 – June 09, 2017, 12:47:12 pm What a good write-up Terry! As engines extend service life to previously unheard of duration and HP and torque specs for them reach epic powers levels, the tranny becomes the new nexus of failure. Count on spending money on it if you drive a rig like an LD or any heavily laden light duty truck fully loaded in the mountains or towing. The cost is inevitable. 1 Likes
Re: Transmission rebuild Reply #3 – June 09, 2017, 12:49:13 pm Nice write up. What kind of noises or sensations are you talking about when you mentioned "funky torque converter lockup"?Jim 1 Likes
Re: Transmission rebuild Reply #4 – June 09, 2017, 08:41:36 pm Jim,Well, that's hard to say, which is why I used the vague term "funky." It just wasn't what it used to be, seeming to hunt around a bit, especially when going a steady somewhat slow speed, say through town. Things used to be smooth but were balky and bumpy. It may not have been lockup either. All I can say for sure is that in less than catastrophic ways the transmission just wasn't its old self.Terry2003 26.5'RBGardnerville, NV 1 Likes
Re: Transmission rebuild Reply #5 – June 10, 2017, 03:18:27 am Quote from: Terry Burnes - June 09, 2017, 08:41:36 pmWell, that's hard to say, which is why I used the vague term "funky." It just wasn't what it used to be, seeming to hunt around a bit, especially when going a steady somewhat slow speed, say through town. Things used to be smooth but were balky and bumpy. It may not have been lockup either. All I can say for sure is that in less than catastrophic ways the transmission just wasn't its old self.You had a code for the torque converter' s lock up. The engine's computer can 'see' if the torque converter's clutch is locking up, by analyzing the engine's speed and transmission's input and output shaft speeds. The clutch was probably failing, due to the friction material being worn away. It's normaly most noticeable at low speeds.Your new transmission torque converter's has a much larger clutch assembly, being originally designed for the greater torque and power of the Power Stroke diesel engines, used in Ford pickups.Larry
Re: Transmission rebuild Reply #6 – June 10, 2017, 03:53:56 pm Just a brief follow up. We get our two old German cars maintained at Valley Wagon in Carson City (good guys). I was there yesterday dropping one off for some minor work. I noticed an Audi S-5 convertible in the parking lot. I said "nice" and asked why it was there. "Transmission." I asked how much. "$12,000 just for the transmission, then we have to get the old one out and the new one in and some other stuff." I own an Audi so know that something like that is never easy, so add another couple thousand. Makes my rebuilt LD transmission look like a bargain.Terry2003 26.5' RBGardnerville, NV 4 Likes
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Topic: Transmission rebuild (Read 288 times)
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