I think I'm in deep trouble. Last night I got into a little fray with Dodge bait and after I smoked his **** I noticed that it was my **** that was actually doin da smokin!!! Yikes! So I immediately shut her down and pulled over to the side of the interstate, thinking that I broke a piston ring or something. NOT! It was ATF. It was everywhere underneath the frame, on the exhaust system, and even on the tailgate. Since it was getting dark I limped her home and parked it. I am just now working up the nerve to go outside and take a closer look. (I think I'll have one more cup of coffee). To tell you the truth I'm sorta scared.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? Is it possible that the yoke seal may have failed? My truck is still under warranty, but I know that the dealer is gonna pitch a bitch about some of the modifications I've made. Any ideas, help would be greatly appreciated.

2000 F150 4x2 SC Lariat Black
3.55LS
K&N FIPK
Flowmaster
Superchip
Polished Aluminum Billet Grille
Tonneau

 

Take out the superchip and reset the computer before you take it in to be sure they dont rag you. I'm sure you know this but make sure you disconnect the battery first. Good luck.

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Soon: 2001 Black L. FOR SALE: 1997 XLT Reg. Cab, 4.2L V6, 5spd, Superchipped, '99 Lightning Grill, '99 XLT White Bumper w/Fog Light Kit, K&N Air Filter, Dash Mat, Clear Corner Lenses, Clear Tailights, MagnaFlow Muffler, Hellwig Rear Sway Bar, Edelbrock Shocks, Duraliner, Extang Saber Tonneau, Painted Tailgate Handle, Bell-Tech 2" Rear Drop, Amer. Rac. Atlas Wheels Clad in 275/60/17 Eagle GTII. Likes straightaways, loves twisties.
"If you're in control, you're going too slow."--Mario Andretti

[This message has been edited by Frank S (edited 06-11-2001).]

 

Okay folks here's the scoop. This morning I crawled up under my truck and sure enough it was the transmission tail housing seal that had slipped out of place. It was dangling there on the yoke. The seal looked okay so I went ahead and pulled the driveshaft and guess what else I discovered? The blasted yoke bushing was about to fall out. That's right! It didn't look right to me as it hung past the tailhousing body a good 1-1/2 inches (this also probably explains the vibration I felt when crusing way toooooo fast). Anyway, the yoke looks fine. I went ahead and bought a new bushing and seal and gave each a good healthy dose of Loc-Tite, which will hopefully prevent them from slipping out again in the future.

I can only assume that the bushing and/or the vibration may have pushed out the seal. Thankfully it caused no major damage to the transmission. I only lost approx 2 qt's of ATF and to my knowledge it never overheated. You can bet I will be keeping a close eye on things in the future.

Something some of you might want to remember is that if you feel slight vibration, check out your driveshaft yoke bushing. That booger is probably fixing to sling out. Mine damn near did!

2000 F150 4x2 SC Lariat Black
3.55LS
K&N FIPK
Flowmaster
Superchip
Polished Aluminum Billet Grille
Tonneau

 

I guess that's not as bad as it could of been. I was riding with my friend the other day in his standard transmission Saturn LS-1. I think he revved it kind of high because as he shifted there was a clunk and a lot of gear oil in the road behind us. We looked underneath a there was a good 4" chunk of aluminum that blew right off the tranny. It was actually pretty cool!

-Jon

 

Hi Ford4ever. Well geez I bet your friend didn't think it waz soooo cool, but I get ur drift. LOL. With the 3.55LS rears and those monster 17's I'm not real certain that the automatics will fret destruction, but I suppose it could happen. I once had a throw-out bearing come out the side of a bell-housing after the pilot shaft broke in half. Talk about feeling sick!!! After that episode I always knew why they called them "throw-out" bearings. hehee

Well, the truck seems to run fine now. Trust me, I'm relieved.

 

How fast did you get your truck up to when you smoked that Dodge? I ask because I know Ford has an issue with the driveshafts on some of these trucks and they set the speed limiter to keep people from getting these trucks going fast enough to cause the problem. What happens is that when you reach a certian speed the driveshaft begins to resonate and flex, this is what happened to your truck, now that the shaft is flexing it begins to pull in and out of the trans, this results in the bushing pulling out as your did. If nothing else failed and you were to maintain the speed that caused the shaft to resonate at it's natural freqency, the shaft would simple fall apart. I know many of you have probably gone beyond the factory speed limiter without a problem, like I said the problem is on some of these trucks. I have yet to remove the speed limiter and am not sure if I want to knowing of this issue, and not knowing what speed causes it.

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98 F150 XLT Super cab s/b
Two-Tone paint: Moonlight Blue w/Light Prairie Tan Accent
4.6L Auto 4X2
3.55ls 255/70r16
Premium sound w/6Disc changer
Captains chairs

 

Hey Speedy46. Man are you sure about that? This is the first time I've ever heard about a problem with the driveshaft and it is especially strange that this problem is found with some trucks and not all of them with the same type of powertrain, etc. Well, to answer your question I was pushing it on up there at around 110 mph when I felt the vibration and seen the smoke. That's when I shut it down. Geeez what a bummer to know that Ford came up with a speed limiter solution to circumvent possible driveshaft destruction, rather than trying to engineer a remedy. Surely they know that some of us like to make minor performance modifications and from what I thought there is plenty of space to do just that without needing to replace the whole drivetrain. WTF over!?!

Thanks for the information and have a good one!

 

It all depends on the driveshaft that you have in your truck. I have heard rumor that Ford MAY racall the trucks effected by the problem, although I highly doubt it. However I would be willing to bet that your dealer would have covered the repairs since this is something that Ford is aware of even if your dealer is not. Like I said, only a Rumor! I don't even know if they have a TSB out on this.

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98 F150 XLT Super cab s/b
Two-Tone paint: Moonlight Blue w/Light Prairie Tan Accent
4.6L Auto 4X2
3.55ls 255/70r16
Premium sound w/6Disc changer
Captains chairs