If you are absolutely sure that the servo did not release the band (even though the clip seemed to be inlace) then you may have a broken OD band. If you are going to replace the band yourself then its not a problem to tear it apart again.

If there is any doubt in your head that the band is not being held by the servo piston then I would retry it. You would hate to take it to a shop to have it fixed to find out that was the problem. Besides, you said your self that that you did not reengage the servo piston to the detent in the band. I would be be 100% sure that band was set before you move on to your next step.

my 2 cents...

 

I just wanted to post back and say thank you for the encouragement to take the transmission apart again and correctly install the OD servo. I actually got lazy and had my mechanic do it this time (still much less than a rebuild), but my OD is now working properly.

The thing I read on the forum in another post that gave me the final push to re-do the procedure was understanding the it was not the servo that broke causing the OD to fail, but it was the end of the broken clip that fell into the valve body and blocked the OD valve from operating properly causing the servo not to engage that caused the OD to fail in the first place. This made a lot of sense and explained why OD was not working even though the servo was still in place.

Big thanks to KC8FLB, tim98 the OP and this forum.

 

I just stumbled onto this thread while researching what is causing my OD to not work. Better late than never I guess.

My truck is an '04 F-150 4.6 Auto. with 120,000 miles. A week ago it started shifting into what felt like neutral when coming out of 2nd or 3rd. I would let off and then gas it again and it would go on into OD. A couple days of that and it wouldn't go into OD at all. I noticed that if I turned off OD, everything worked perfectly, 1st,2nd,3rd and reverse.
Also, in the days leading up to this, it only happened a few times, in city traffic it would downshift very hard. The day OD completely quit, my shifter (column shift) quit working smoothly from reverse to park and feels like it's grinding against something. I checked the shifter and the cable, top and bottom and all looks normal and not worn. But it still grinds and will not go completely into park. I have to use the parking brake and also when I put it in the park position, the reverse lights continue to shine. Maybe this is a separate problem, maybe both issues are related. But still, I too have the same problem as all of you, no OD yet the rest of the gears work perfectly as long as I turn off the OD. When I do forget to turn it off, it will shift out of 1st into 2nd and then when shifting out of 2nd it's like throwing it in neutral, push the off button and it will go into 3rd. The first thing I checked when all of this started was the fluid. It is a pretty red like it is supposed to be and does not smell burned. The first few days I was panicking thinking new transmission but after finding this thread, maybe it will be a cheap fix. I am a mechanic by trade and could rebuild a '70 Ford in my sleep but since everything has gotten so advanced I usually stay away from the newer vehicle repairs. Especially automatic transmissions.

Edit: I found the problem with the shifter. Ford, for some reason, decided to run the shift cable against the left exhaust manifold, not just close, touching it. Took it this long to burn through it but what a poor design. I still have the OD issue, hope to get started fixing it later this week.

 

I was re-reading this entire thread over and over to be sure this might be my problem and I see the symptom of no engine braking in 2nd. I tried that today and nope, engine braking does not work in it either. So, hopefully all of this applies to mine too and I can fix it myself for $50ish and be down for only 1 day. Will it hurt it to drive it like it is for any amount of time? I hope not because I have a full work load this coming week and I work out of this truck.

 

this happened to me. the truck would go in drive, less then a minute later would just rev. turn off o/d and it drove fine. paid 1800 to fix $2 servo ring clip for overdrive band. im thinking the dealer just dropped the pan and charged me for a complete overhaul. they said the clutches were burnt and did not replace them. wish i found this thread first

 

Glad it worked out for you. Forums rule!

 

I bet you have the same issue as in the thread. Go get the parts, pull it apart and fix it. Did you replace the shift cable and fix it fix the grinding issue? The reason I am asking, is that when the servo piston retaining clip breaks, two things happen.

The first is that the piston moves out of the bore and disengages from the overdrive band which is a problem.

The second is that the pieces of that c clip fall down into the valve body. In the valve body they get ground up and physically cause the valve to grind, stick or not move at all. The valves are cylinders moving horizontally through bores. One of these cylinder valves is the shift valve which moves when you grab the shift lever and shift gear positions. I had a very sticky, grinding between certain gears and that was one of my problems. It can also cause other valves to stick such as the fourth gear valve.

The c clip could be causing both of your problems.

You can find it around, but you have to leave od off and of course gas mileage will suffer. I drove around for about a week before I fixed mine, but I wouldn't go over 55 mph

 

Yes, I replaced the shift cable yesterday. The grinding was the cable rubbing against the exhaust manifold, so I had these two different problems crop up within a couple of days of each other. I picked up a retaining ring for the servo when I got the cable. The parts guy had 11 of them and didn't know why. Obviously this OD issue is common. And of course my mileage is in the toilet running around in 3rd gear so I am pushing my work load back a day to get this thing fixed. I'll keep ya'll informed.

 

I have the same problem and want to know how much I will have to pay to have
This fixed ?

 

Tomorrow is the day. I am getting everything set to start this repair in the morning. I'll let you know how much $$ mine is, but so far I'm in $2.44 for the retaining ring and $45.39 for 7 quarts of fluid. Might need all 7, might not.

 

A big thanx to everyone that contibuted to this thread. I pulled mine apart today and sure enough, both ends broke off of the snap ring on the OD servo. The ring was a bear to get out but I got it. One end was laying on top of the valve body and I bout never found the other end but patience won and I did find it down inside the OD spool valve. I used a bottle jack like an earlier poster suggested and it worked perfect. My snap ring was still in place holding the piston in up in the cylinder so I used the jack to raise the piston just enough to remove the old ring and install the new one. Since the piston never dropped below the ring, I figured the upper end of the servo could not have let the OD band fall. To be sure, I stuck my little finger inside the access hole to the band and lowered and raised the piston and could feel the band moving up and down, so I knew the servo was still inserted properly into the detent in the band. Put it all back together and 10 1/2 quarts later, the tranny works perfect. Why this one took so much more fluid than earlier posters mentioned, I don't know. For the poster above me, total cost before tax for the retaining ring, filter and oil, $83.03 plus a Sunday afternoon of my time.

 

I'm can change breaks etc is this something a non mechanic can do? I try
Fixing everything first before going to a shop

 

someone help please! i am new here but have been following for a while i had all the symptoms of the common snap ring issue but after a while i had to turn OD off to go into drive it would take a few seconds to kick into gear with OD on would not move forward at all just reverse now it dosent go into forward gear at all after working fine last drive i pulled the valve body down today and found my OD snap ring 100% intact now im compleatley lost

 

Thanks to everyone's input also.
Had to do the snap ring dance today also. Without the input, it would have taken a LOT longer. (done in about 2.5 hrs.)
One end of the snap ring had broke off, the remainder still where it should be.
Found that using a small screwdriver, I could pull the good end of the snap ring towards the center enough to get it out of the groove, then spiral it around to get it out.

 

Oh, no one has mentioned gaskets. The valve body separator plate (the plate on top of the valve body) has a gasket on both sides. It's REALLY a good idea to replace those also.
They're pricey.....$1.75 and $2.20. There's two, an upper separator plate gasket and a lower one.
On mine, one of them tore a little, luckily I saw it. Otherwise who knows what mischief that would cause.