I drove through high water just after Hurricane Ike passed through, now my tranny is shifting terrible. I changed the fluid, pulled the plug from the TC and installed new filter, I don't think any water actually entered the tranny, the fluid had no signs of water contaminination. I'm getting 3 codes, but my Scanguage will only read one of the three P0122.

My truck is a 1999 4.2L with I think a 4R70W. I have about 150,000 miles and all was pretty good before the high water..

 

P0122 is a throttle position sensor code. I think you got water in more places than you think. Take it over to Autozone and see if their scanner can read the other codes. If not, you may have to go to Ford.

 

unplug as many connectors as you can and let things dry out. keep battery disconnected for atleast 30 minutes to reset the computer

 

How deep? How fast?

Water in the computer/main wiring harness/connectors...

Adrianspeeder

 

The water was probably 2.5 feet deep and my speed was around 5 mph, I didn't flood out and drove about 10 miles before the tranny started shifting poorly. I will unplug as many connections as I can find and spray with electronic cleaning fluid, I also have the lithium grease for the contacts..

 

Well, you know one of the connections you need to look at is the throttle position sensor.

 

And with water 2.5' deep, I would drain and refill both front (if 4x4) and rear diffs. You may have sucked some into the breather tube.

 

I also suspect that you've got wet connectors. In addition to the TPS harness, I'd also take a close look at the connector down on the transmission. It's on the passenger side of the tranny. If it's a 4wd, then also check the harness for the transfer case and might as well check out the four O2 sensor connectors while you're underneath.

When you check & dry out those connectors, use some silicone dielectric grease on them to waterproof them again. Pretty much any parts store will have it.

 

I cleaned all connectors, applied grease, however, the more I drive the truck the worse the transmission becomes, I can barely get it to go into first gear, I have to rev up to 3000 RPM and it finally jumps in, sometimes it just sits and spins freely. I suspect I have serious internal problems. I'm just wandring if the fluid change at 150,000 miles would have caused a problem. The last complete fluid and filter change I did around 80,000 miles. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated..

 

I assume you used Mercon V when you changed it? If not that may be your problem. Just changing the fluid is unlikely to cause the problem unless the trannie was about to go anyhow or the wrong fluid was used.

 

Yes, I used the Mercon V, I suspect the transmission was about to go out and the last couple days of driving with the shifting issues finally did it in..

 

Do you have any codes left or are they all clear now?

 

No more codes, I replaced the throttle positioning sensor and cleared all codes, no codes now for a couple days..I'm looking for a replacement from salvage yard now..

 

Intalled the transmission I purchased from salvage yard, damn thing shifts smoother than my original ever did. Hopefully it will last, came with 6 month warranty, cost 600.00.

Thanks for all the advice, God bless and be safe..

 

Did you ever check your diffs for water? If you didn't, they may be the next to go.