1997 F150 4x4 reg. cab, 72,000m, aod, 302

I drove to work and when I went to stop at the first light, the
truck stopped when I hit the brakes, like it was locked in gear.
I got it to go the next couple of blocks by dumping it into drive
and giving it the gas. I know the torque converter is locked but
what could have caused this?

I checked the transmission fluid after it happened, and a couple
of hours later, and it read way-way-way overfilled. Would the
locked up converter provide a false reading on the stick?

The dealer changed the filter and fluid a month ago, and offered
no information as to why it burned up.(gee! imagine that)

I bought the truck one year old off lease, with 37,000m on it.
It could have just been abused alot before I got it. My only problem was the popular " not downshifting on grades" like it
should.

The truck is sitting at the dealer waiting for a ford rebuilt tranny.
They say I need the whole tranny replaced.

Any suggestions for this old Mark Martin fan? Thanks,

 

Are you dealing with an automatic transmission? I wish I could offer some advice, but something tells me your engine is done.

Anti-Honda

 

Yea Anti-Honda, its an automatic overdrive. It idles in park
and neutral, but when you drop it into drive or reverse
the tranny is already engaged, and stalls the engine. The
dealer told me the torque converter is locked in, and the fluid
smells burnt, but they have not taken anything apart to
see. They just told me I need a whole transmission.

Does this sound allright, or fishy.

 

The converter is prolly toast, the gear train may be okay, but the root cause may be the TCC (Toruqe converter clutch) solenoid, which kept the converter engaged (locked) and that was why it stalled out, could have caused all kinds of damage in the box, may not have caused any, hard to tell.

Anit-Honda, your ingnorance amazes me.

G

 

Right on, Gregg

Anti-Honda, doesn't live in the real world. I've personally just been ignoring his remarks and hoped that everyone else would as well.

He doesn't follow logic

 

I would get a second opinion before you put in a new transmission. Some of these automatic costs are outrageous, so I would definitely get the truck looked at by a few different people, and not just one. Was it the dealer who gave you the recommendation?

Ignorance? Okay...not sure where you are going with this.

Anti-Honda

 

The only I can say is " Those that think they know everything annoy the hell out of us who do"

I would say factory-tech is right on the money with his daignoses but can't understand why it would show overfilled, unless it was ever since the dealers fluid change. Did you check it right after they had changed it?

 

I'm told ( I don't know, I don't do much converter work) that if the Converter lets go, it is possible for fluid that would normally be in the converter to "leak back" into the gear box, which if it happened would show you overfilled even with the correct amount of fluid overall, it's just that fluid that should be in the converter is in the case.

The reason I mentioned ignorance is in the post he said it was an AOD (Automatic Over Drive), that and you mentioned that you thought his engine was "done". I have no idea where you would get that, the actual symptoms he described are pretty obvious to anyone who knows anything about automatic transmissions. (I've built a few of them, I like to think I know a bit about them) And most of the posts I've read of yours make it pretty obvious to anyone who does that you know as much about automatics as a Peking Gnat knows about the weather in London.

G

 

Well, I am so sorry that going for manuals is a crime..."G." haha

Anti-Honda

 

It's not a crime, have at it. Hell I like a stick sometimes too. The "crime" is when you more or less said "Is it an automatic" (or "Is that Automatic Over Drive an Automatic.... translated to "I don't have a clue what I'm talking about) and then offering an opinion that was just a little out in left field. It's okay to give a guess, or bring up an idea, I guess, but really, I wouldn't. Sometimes (like this one for you) it just makes the ones who only thought you didn't have a clue know for sure.

I don't know two piddles about bodywork, and I don't generally answer questions about it, and I certainly don't post about 6 forums in one day about how I think MY preferences about it are better than YOURS, and give technical advice about it. I don't know, so I shut the hell up.
Maybe you should, too. At least about Automatic Transmissions.

Just a thought,

Gregg (is that better)

 

 

KYFordFreak

Believe it or not, Anti-Honda is correct. Any failure in the torque converter sets off a solenoid that "clips" the timing chain on the engine. Pretty soon your cams and crankshaft aren't in time anymore, and your valve heads smash into the piston heads. My recommendation would be to immediately have the engine replaced at the least reputable auto shop without consulting anyone else on the matter. Don't even ask them what they think the problem is, tell them you want a new engine and you are willing to pay through the nose.

As an alternative, you could have Anti-Honda fix it for you. I had him recently do some brake work for me. He said that these Ford's make it hard to find which one of the 8 cylinders in the V-8 is the "master" cylinder, so he added enough brake fluid to my engine oil to assure that all 8 cylinders will receive a decent amount. I will probably have to use his services again though, because the truck just isn't running right lately.....

 

cpadpl
You had me going there for a second and I got to thinking " What in the hell is this guy smoking". While I did make the statement I'm a know it all, I know and everyone else knows I'm not a know it all allthough mama didn't raise no fool either.

Sometimes for kicks at work when people ask for suggections on how to fix their car we come up with off the wall things like
"well, you need to change out the blinker fluid"
or
"You have the wrong wrong doodling rod on the wrong wobbling shaft, causing a subsonic vibration"
or
"Just change the air in the tires"
In some cases people almost believe that stuff. It hurts me to know we live in a world.

 

cpadpl & KYFordFreak, you 2 are so bad

My little quip was because, Anti-Honda asks the most absurd questions; all over the board. Questions that make me wonder where he's comming from. You don't have to belittle the kid though. In a couple of years, he's going to wonder himself where he was comming from.

Remember: He's okay, and you're okay.....

Or was it: I'm not okay, and neither is he..........


"I can get some Blinker Fluid, but that's a special order item. Takes a few weeks."

 

You are asking some ****ing stupid questions, and giving ****ing stupid answers yourself, but I am keeping my mouth shut.

Anti-Honda