1993 F-150 Flare Side

[DerekTheGreat]

Just kidding!

My wife loves the damn thing to bits. I think she'd sooner sell the Camaro than let this truck go. I like to try and hate it, but it is a lot of fun to drive. We've had the thing just over a year now! Crazy how fast time goes, I remember the days I couldn't hold on to a car for six months.

The "rebuilt" trans which was stabbed in this thing several months ago is getting wonkier, especially so when it's damp outside. The internals seem very healthy, but there's a ghost in the machine somewhere. I don't feel like becoming an E4OD guru, finally found a shop that'll take a look at it. If this fails, then either I'll try to see how much worse I can make it or if I can convince my wife that it needs to have a do-it-yourself-transmission. This would make a good donor, no?:
https://annarbor.craigslist.org/cto/...840483800.html

[VicCrownVic]

That answers a question I didn't ask about the "not for sale" comment in my thread.
Looks like a good donor to me. Speaking of Mark, that's right around his neck of the woods.

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, I'm not too good with the April Fools type stuff. Although, if we didn't have this thing, our proverbial "butter" would sure spread a lot farther & thicker over the other cars... Yet, we were both at points where our main vehicles had to be down a day or so over the winter and the F-150 picked up the slack..

Maybe Mark could be convinced he needs a beater truck for his farm? Hell, that could provide the 351 he needs. Wouldn't be a roller, but neither is the one in his '87... All I'd need to figure out is a driveshaft, me thinks...

[DerekTheGreat]

Took it to a trans shop (Cuddy Brothers) and long story short is, they suspect the solenoid body is likely the issue, as the problems are intermittent. They told me they can't get them and so I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Where would you get your parts from and does that diagnosis sound accurate? (See the long story) Also, is this the part?: E40D Transmission shift solenoid assembly,E40D transmission parts

Long Story/Details: the trans in it blew up and we had another one stabbed in it as we couldn't afford the rebuild at that time. "New" trans was supposedly rebuilt with low miles. It shifted great for the first week or so and then it started shifting hard into 2nd (sometimes), then 3rd (sometimes) and would sometimes drop out of overdrive (4th gear) and then pop back in it. (Fortunately when it does that, there's no drama.) So we took it to a trans shop to see if it could be fixed before it splits the case. Worth noting that these issues are more likely to happen when it's raining. I've never had it drop out of OD in dry conditions.

Too bad that 5.8 stick truck option has sailed, but oh well. I've also got this posted on that F-150 forum, so we'll see if anything shakes loose over there too.

Cheers,

Derek

[sly]

Sounds like a plug connection issue. Yes, it could be the solenoid itself, but since it covered pretty much the entire range of gears, I suspect the electrical connector.

[gadget73]

are these prone to failing like the GM and Chrysler ones where the fluid oozes out through the connector and wicks up into the wiring harness causing stupid problems?

[sly]

That can happen too, but dirty crusty connectors happen more often. I don't think there's a seal on the back of that harness either.

[DerekTheGreat]

I believe you guys are spot-on. Yes, from what I've been able to gather, the things ooze through the connectors and the wires themselves, well, the insulation, creeps back and things get wiggy.

It's already at that shop, so I'll call them today and relay that stuff. If they give me resistance, I'll pick it up and shit through it myself.

[GM_Guy]

I want to know why fluid wicking into the wires is an issue. The wires are dunked in a bath of trans fluid inside the trans anyway, and trans fluid isn't going to corrode the copper, and if the electrical connections are sound the fluid isn't going to hamper that.

[Tiggie]

I have wondered the same thing. All I can come up with is the fluid must have a slight conductivity.

[sly]

It's when the insulation retreats and water and dirt get to them on the outside portion of the wiring. That's where it's a problem.

Inside the transmission, the insulation does crack and break and eventually wires can cross. The replacement is to use the later solenoid pack that uses a solid PCB from the harness connector to all of the solenoids.

[DerekTheGreat]

On 6-7, this truck started on it's first road trip with us. About 2.5 hours one way to what my wife sold me as a "remote cabin built in the 40's" but wasn't so remote. Perhaps it was our continuous, intoxicated state up until the morning we left, but we didn't care. We weren't home or at work so that was nice. The truck averaged 17.1 mpg on the way there and 18.5 on the way back home. I tried to keep it between 60 & 65, but got stuck in traffic a few times both ways. Pretty impressive though, so it's at least running nicely. A pic of it at the "cabin:"



We picked the truck up from that trans shop about two days before the trip and then shipped it off to our regular shop to have the A/C and cruise control fixed. The A/C blows nice & cold now. Glad those 351 A/C components I pulled for my 300 six truck some five or six years ago could come in handy for this truck instead. The cruise is another story. As I suspected, the stuff in the steering wheel is wonky, so they couldn't fix it in time as they didn't have parts. Oh well, guess I'll dissect a steering column at a junkyard.

As for the transmission nonsense, ultimately, the trans shop adjusted the shift linkage and put dielectric schmoo in the connector going to the solenoid pack. They confirmed that connector has a chipped corner. So I'll be ordering a new pig tail for that while I debate ordering a solenoid pack as they're still available, but might not be in 5+ years. Trans had one hiccup there and one back- same deal where it momentarily popped in neutral and then back in OD with no fuss. Damn near instantaneous to the point if I didn't have a tach to catch the brief RPM flare, I'd have thought it was a misfire. It drove great and my wife was really happy with it, didn't stop smiling which reaffirms why I pull my hair out over this stuff.

[VicCrownVic]

Those AC parts that some idiot looked at and told you, "That looks like it will work."

[DerekTheGreat]

And they did work, just five years later and on a different truck. That "idiot" must've seen the future.

[gadget73]

I have done that with more than one part. had an antenna mast sitting around for probably 10 years before I bought the Continental, and sure enough that oops purchase was the correct part. Why I had an "aha!" moment and could locate that part as soon as I saw the broken pieces in the antenna is an even larger miracle than having it in the first place.