Hello All,

I had/have a slipping problem but it is very strange. I am the original owner and the truck has 139k miles. I had the trans flushed years ago around 90k miles. I pull a 6x12 enclosed trailer occasionally, but otherwise it does not see any hard driving. No trans issues until now.

I dropped the pan and changed the filter 3k miles ago. Since then, it started slipping when going into 1st gear after the truck sat for a while and cooled off. It would not do once it reached operating temps. A tiny rev of the engine would get it to engage but I only did that a few times to troubleshoot. I used Mercon V and a Fram filter. I did not drain the torque converter.

It has seemed to have gotten worse recently but would quit after it warmed up.

I drained the torque converter yesterday and pulled the pan, the filter was laying in the pan and the orange rubber oring was still up in the valve body. I took the pan off very carefully since it was full of fluid, however it is possible that I knocked it off.

I refilled with 12 quarts of Mercon V, new filter, and added Lucas anti-slip. It seems to be much better but I have not driven it but a few miles. The sludge in the pan was very minimal as compared to many other pictures that I have seen. The old oil that I just drained did smell terrible but I am not sure if it was burnt. I received no codes.

I will report back with any further developments but at this point I am not sure what may have happened, again it was fine until I changed the oil at 136k miles. It also seemed fine for the first 1500 miles since then.

I will drive it regularly now and also check the fluid level over the next couple weeks.

A local shop thinks that something went wrong with the filter/o-ring and-or oil. He mentioned maybe it was cavitating when it was cold.

Any other thoughts?

If it happens again, can I take the valve body off and clean it, modify and/or replace parts?

Should the electrical connection harnesses be oil proof? I looked inside and they had oil on the contacts?

 

I was gong to ask if you took out the old orange o-ring, but I'm guessing that you did since you say the one from your filter was still up in the hole this time.

My thoughts are that the filter fell out for whatever reason. That's what I thought even before I read the rest of your post. And, the filter fell out.
Hopefully you got it.

D

 

Thanks for replying Darin. I am struggling to comprehend this problem.

That filter gets pushed up into the throttle body. I had assumed, since it does not appear to be mounted firmly, that the pan held it in place. The filter o-ring is really the only mechanism for holding that filter in place?

I wish I would have measured from the bottom of the trans to the bottom of the filter and compared this to the depth of the pan. Regardless, I could not pull the orange o-ring off of the new filter neck, it seems to be glued?

The filter that I just replaced, that was in the pan, did not keep the o-ring on the neck, it was still in the hole. Did the glue fail?

Pushing the new filter on is uncomplicated, it will stop once it sits flush with the throttle body, it cannot go up any more.

I need to revise the description of my symptoms, the trans was not actually "slipping", I have experienced that in the Buick I drove in high school. The problem seemed to be hydraulic in nature. It would not engage first gear when I came to a stop. It would "clunk" into gear once it got the pressure it needed. After the truck warmed up, the problem would go away.

Lets say that the filter neck came off of the o-ring and that there is a small gap between the pan and the bottom of the filter. This would create a small gap at the neck and the throttle body correct? Is that gap submerged in oil at all times or can it be exposed to air?

If the filter can separate from the oring then Fram, or whoever makes these filters has a major problem with the glues failing.

I would also think that this is a really crappy design by Ford, basically the filter is held in by a simple o-ring and suction pressure? One bump and it drops?

I might want to open it up again and put something between the filter and pan to make sure it stays in place?

This just doesnt make sense to me.

 

You pretty much have it right. There isn't really any glue holding the orange seal onto the filter. That's actually a pretty high quality seal.

I'm not sure about it being a horrible design though. I have built way too many of these transmissions to count and I have only opened up just a couple of them that have had a loose filter. Typically it happens when someone left another seal in the valve body or the dimple in the pan has visible damage from bottoming out on something.

As for the seal, those almost always stay in the valve body when you pull the filter. And, I usually have to twist on that filter pretty good to pull it out of the seal. They actually do an awesome job of holding themselves and the filter in place. I have seen far fewer issues with these than I have with the old style bolt on filters that just had a gasket between them and the valve body. On some of the newer ford transmissions they are a combination where they bolt in and have that great little seal. Those definitely can't fall out.

But again, I have never personally seen one fall out where either the old seal wasn't left in the valve body and the new filter put in under it or the transmission pan showing definite impact damage. I'm sure it happens, but I've just never seen it.

When the vehicle is running with normal fluid levels it is entirely possible to have that part of the valve body not submerged in fluid. The old style filter was a flat filter that didn't have an extended pickup and the bottom of the pan didn't have the dimple that the pickup on the current filter sits in. There was a huge problem with that style sucking air when the vehicle took hard turns. The extended pickup and dimpled pan was supposedly originally introduced for 4x4 applications, but in 96 Ford changed the transmission case, valve body and put that pan on all.

If it concerns you, maybe epoxy something to the pan to close that gap. I would clean the pan with brake cleaner, rough up the surface a little and attach it to the pan just under the part of the filter that goes into the valve body. On the stock pan, from memory so this could be wrong, that should be somewhere in the vicinity of where it's stamped into the pan that the transmission is equipped with a re-usable gasket. I haven't measured the clearance between the filter and pan, and I'm not where I can for a few days, but it shouldn't take much to close that gap. That should prevent it falling out.

D

 

I wouldn't use anything from Fram

 

I'm betting Fram gets their filters from the same Chinese manufacturer as Motorcraft and the others.

But in general I agree.

D

 

Thanks again for the replies, I have put 150 miles on it, stop & go, and it seems fine. FYI, Oreiley sells a "kit" which is sold under the name "Power Torque" which consists of a foam pan gasket and FRAM FT1167 filter. The gasket is not used so best to buy just the best filter money can buy.
I am using Walmart Mercon V.
I will post back with any changes, still seems crazy that this can happen. Next time I will take measurements and strongly consider adding a oil proof block underneath. Im thinking I should just leave it alone since it has 139K. Shoulda taken my own advice sooner! Now I am gonna start on the loose steering issue. Always sumthin.....