Good Evening all,
I have a 2001 F150 XLT with the 7700 towing package. It was my work vehicle until I bought it at 100K miles. Over the last year and a half I have ut on 15K miles. When I was working, the trans went out after hauling a generator. It was replaced with a refurbed and has a 3yr/30K warranty. That warranty runs out at 118K miles.

I recently installed a fifth wheel hitch and towed the camper about 100 miles.
It had no problem towing, and it was out of OD the whole time.

We got it to the campground, and started manuevering it into place, while in reverse, in a sanding campground, someone noticed fluid leaking.
After investigating, it was trans fluid, and appeared to be coming from the sheet metal like material or front seal?. We let it cool, started it the next morning, filled the fluid about 1/2 quart and the truck ran fine for the rest of the weekend. We get the truck home, back into the garage and notice its leaking again. After looking a little closer, it appears to be coming from a black rubber seal on the bottom of the trans unit. What is this seal?
This is the first time this has ever leaked. The trans is still in warranty, would a front seal/rubber plug be covered under the warranty?
The camper is 4300 pounds, with tongue wieght of 400 lbs, and well within the vehicle limits. It has an external trans cooler installed.
Could this also be from the truck being "still" and not getting adequete cooling? Outdoor temp was 50 degrees.

Any assistance would really help. I will be calling Ford as soon as I can, and hopefully this is covered. COuld it be the torque converter?

NH
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Chances are it's your front pump seal that's leaking, and you bet it will be covered. The round black plug on the bellhousing is where it's coming from right? Just read again, I'd be talking to someone about warranty. When mine leaked, it was damp with tranny fluid, yours sounds much worse. It may be coming from somewhere else too. Regardless, it should be fixed and at no cost to you, minus deductable or ???

 

Rubber plug is just an access hole to torque convertor drain. Seen one plug left loose on convertor and it would leak after the convertor was good and hot. Pull plug, rotate engine until you can see plug and check if it is tight. If it is a reman convertor it may/may not have this plug. But like Blue said "Sounds like a front pump seal or torque convertor seal".

 

Thanks for the advice so far.
Of course, to make my weekend even better, I got out the paperwork for the trans and find that I was messing up a digit. The trans was replaced at 78K, not 88K, so lucky me, its out of warranty.
Funny thing is, Thursday before we left, my wife took it to a local lube place for an oil change. They didnt push her for a trans wash or anything, but I wonder if they did pull the TC drain?
Whats the easiest way to rotate the engine to get a look at the drain plug?
Will a bad TC seal also require the trans to be removed?

Is removing the trans a nightmare? Im fairly mechanically inclined, and my father knows his stuff as well, but I dont have a trans lift and specialty tools. If we are talking $200-300-400, No problem... but if its more like $8-1K... then I might need some help and getting it done myself!

Thanks again
NH

 

What is the easiest way to pull some fluid from the trans?
It appears it is overfilled, and I need to get a bit out...

Also, what does everyone recommend for a trans temp gauge?

 

[QUOTE=nhicks]What is the easiest way to pull some fluid from the trans?
It appears it is overfilled, and I need to get a bit out...

Just pull a line loose and start up vehicle to drain, or use a suction gun and shove it down the dipstick tube.

 

How overfull is it? If it's just up on the "do not over fill" part, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it's up on the wire part, a suction pump down the dispstick tube would be the easiest.

 

At cold - its just over the top HOT mark, on the Do not add.
It is happening only when hot, and around the city here, its not leaking at all.
Pulled the plug and there is nothing inside. In fact only a drop or two on the plug itself, but nothing puddling inside. I still would liek to get some out to be safe and see what happens.

My trans oil pan does have a drain plug, so I will try to drain a bit from it to start. Does anyone have the process/part number for a new trans oil filter and how many quarts are lost in the pan itself. There is no drain plug on the TC itself, I guess some reman units didnt have one.

Do appreciate all the help!!

NH

 

Also - What ATF fluid do I use? How do I determine if its a 4R70W or another type? Mercon V or III or..?

 

Either read the TRAN code on your door label or crawl under the truck and count the number of bolts on the bottom pan. Once you know which tranny you have, go to www.motorcraft.com and look up the correct fluid.

An 01 with a 5.4 should have a 4R100. You didn't mention what engine you have, but, towing that much, it certainly isn't a 4.2. A 4.6 might have either the 4R70 or 4R100.

01 tranny's don't have TC drain plugs.

Steve

 

'01` transmissions do have drain plugs. Ford stopped installing them shortly after the start of the '02 model year.

Knowing which trans is going to be less important soon, as MERCON is going away. MERCON V will be the only choice.

Read this:
http://www.imakenews.com/lng/e_artic....cfm?x=b11,0,w

 

I have an '01 SuperCrew, 4 x4. It doesn't have a drain plug on the pan. It does have a torque conveter drain plug. And it's a 4R70W. It uses Mercon V.

 

Thanks.
I dont think mine has one, as I spend an hour and 30 turns trying to find it, it only has a hot pink colored paint mark on it.
I found it was an E40D transmission, reman - installed Oct 2003.

 

So, I guess, can someone give it to me in lamens terms? I guess I dont understand all the differences... id just like to know what I need to us in the E40D trans, 2001, remanunfactuered...

NH

 

I meant torque converter drain plug. It's too confusing trying to keep up with when they had drain plugs in the pan and when they didn't.

And there is no such thing as a 2001 E4OD. The last year the E4OD was made was 1998. The 4R100 replaced the E4OD.

All 4R100 transmissions were designed to use MERCON fluid. A fluid that says DEXRONIII/MERCON is fine. Ford said in the past, and it's in your owner's manual, not to use a fluid that says MERCON V, even if it says it meets MERCON and MERCON V specs.

Now, according to the article I quoted above, Ford is eliminating MERCON. After June, 2007, there won't be any MERCON fluids made. You will have to use MERCON V.

As for a remanned trans, who knows? The remanufacturer could have used different materials that are compatible with MERCON V. But also, now Ford says (in that article again) that MERCON V is the recommended fluid for that trans.

In MY 4R100 trans, I'm using a DEXRON III/MERCON fluid and I'll run that until it isn't available any longer.