Hey L brothers and sisters. I just had my FTVB installed at my dealership today and everthing seemed great. I was leaving a friends house and jumped on the throttle. Really nice tire squealing going on. Everything felt great till second gear and all hell broke loose. The overdrive light on the gearshift lever starts blinking on and off, my service eingine soon light is on, and the L will hardly even move. Put it manually into first gear and limp home (about 4 thenths of a mile). If I start her up she seems to idle OK, but if I step on the throttle (while in neutral) there's a really bad miss and it shakes like crazy. When I turn the key off, I hear a hissing sound for about 3 to 5 seconds, and then it goes away. Anyone have an idea of what the he!! went wrong.

I didn't even put the accumulator in myself. I let the transmission tech for our dealership do it and he's been doing trannys for over 20 years. I figured with no experience, I should let a pro do it.

Man does this suck, my first big mod and kaaboom!!

Any ideas would be a great help

 

You just need to contact Greg.

 

check your t-fluid.

 

Reinstall the stock VB and call the dealer

 

That totally sucks. Hopefully it's not a major problem. Greg should fix you up. Unless it was the installers fault?

 

thats normal. its just air leaving the vaccume system or something like that

 

Like he said, could be air bubbles. Not sure about the miss though. They should not be related.

 

Sounds like the installer fkd up royally, take it back and chew his a$s for a new tranny!

 

The missing and engine shaking almost sounds like a blown spark plug to me.......that doesn't really sound related to trans problems.
Dale

 

Miss an shake in neutral doesnt even sound like a tranny problem.

Check your plugs you may have popped one. Also check for vacuum lines loose... I cant see how a tranny issue would make it miss and shake in nuetral .. Sounds too me like you may have 2 issues - the OD light is something with the tranny but I just done see how the tranny can make it miss and shake in neutral ....

Good Luck

Doug

 

Sounds like a blown spark plug or 2, but it could be other things because your OD light is on and flashing. Please give more specific details for us to help you solve this problem. Sorry to hear.

 

Mart

THIS SUCKS, what a way to start 04

Unfortunatly it does sound like it "could be"
the dreaded spit plug, BUT, you have an 03 ???
The later built 03's had the new heads
(no spitting plugs)
but unfortunatly the early built 03's still
used the threadless heads. Lets pray it aint that ?

Now on a differant note, I've heard people talk of a
"LIMP MODE"
(NO I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT GATORS KIND OF LIMP MODE)
We apparantly have a "limp mode" system built in,
that the computer defaults to under certain circumstances.
Unfortunatly usually it's a SEVERE circumstance,
but it apparantly gives you minumum engine and
even tranny cababilities, but enough to limp home
(I hear Gator ocassionally limps it home)
Sorry for the Jokes, I gotta be me.
Anyway, before you do anything, disconnect the Batt,
leave it off a few minutes, then reconnect, and pray.

Let us know what you find
GOOD LUCK
Lets hope it's something simple, w/ an easy fix,
like a disconnected line, or connector, or a simple
computer reset.

It'll be better than new in no time
HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Now you have me nervous about the early 03' heads not having the up graded threads. What build # did they start having the upgraded heads? Mines #2163 of 4270 03/03/03(weird) also a Monday.

 

Don't worry...

IF any '03's don't have updated heads, then they are VERY early '03s.

thread from last year when everybody found out about the new heads

my '03 was built on December 18th and it was one of the first 500 Lightnings built last year and it DOES have the updated heads.

The number I got from the guys at the Ford hotline is that they started using the new heads on Nov.12th 2002. however I can't remember if this means they started installing them IN TRUCKS on Nov.12th or they started installing them ON ENGINES, because the engines are built well before the trucks. this could possibly account for some very early '03 Lightnings not getting the new heads. IF ANY SUCH TRUCKS EXIST. I'm not certain when Lightning production started, but I believe that it was around the 2nd or 4th day of December '02. that's only a two week lead time for the motors, so I assume it's entirely possible for some really early build guys to have old heads


later,
chris

 

did you reuse your factory pan or upgrade to a 4x4 or larger capacity pan?

if you upgraded, did you use a 4x4 filter?

if you reused the stock pan, did you replace the filter w/ a new one or reuse the original?

my bet is that the original filter fell out and is laying in the pan right now.

just a guess though.

IN ANY EVENT, STOP DRIVING THE TRUCK!!! have it towed back to the tranny guy at the dealer to let him check and make sure he didn't make an error first. you don't want to drive it and risk burning up your trans.

good luck

later,
chris