Ford F-150 - 1997-2003 :: 2001 5.4L With 4R70W Transmission Won't Engage Any Gear
Mar 2, 2013
The problem started with a front seal leak a few months ago which I had no choice but to continue driving with because of low funds. I don't drive much so a couple of quarts of ATF was usually enough to get me out and about for what little driving I had to do. I know.. a front seal is cheap, but I'm partially disabled and unable to work on anything that is not under the hood.
I finally scraped up enough money to hire a friend to replace the seal, but he had a life crisis before completing the work, so I had to get another friend to reinstall the trany... still had the leak, but I could get around by adding ATF as before.
So we tried again... dropped everything and put another new seal on. This stopped the leak, but we got some grinding/squealing noises and could not get the trany to engage any gear.
From reading forum posts and other sources, we decided to replace the TC which we just completed this evening. We got some more of the grinding / squealing noise like before, except that it only occurred the first time we tried cranking the engine, the 2nd time we got no noises, but again no gears engaging.
What to check/replace next assuming there is something we can look at other than a total trany rebuild or replacement. I personally find it hard to believe we could have gone from a tolerably functional trany to scrap metal just replacing a seal and the TC. Its gotta be something simple we overlooked !!
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The truck:
2000 4X2 F150
4.2l V6
280k miles/ some towing
The problem : The trans has a hard time getting into 1st gear. When you put it into gear you have to rev it to about 3k (when it's warm, 4k when cold) RPMs at which time you feel a definite engagement and it goes through the rest of the gears just fine. Once it's warm it will do stop and go traffic as long as you start it with the OD off.
The background : Orobably the stock motorcraft filter on there, and I don't think the oil has been changed in the life of the trans, but I do know that it's never been ran low on fluid. I took a gander at it and found a plug where a gear type speedo went on older models to be loose and leaking. tightened it up about two full turns. also noticed what looks to be a leak where the main case meets the output shaft housing. now I know neither of these are the cause of my headache but I do wonder if the second leak might be a sign.
The research : I've been looking for almost a week now for a solution. I've been all over TCCoA, Explorer Forum,10 pages of search here on FTE and various other Ford based websites and have come across a single thread with the same symptoms but the OP never came back with a solution.
The plan : A fluid/filter change (and flush) is definitely in the plans as well as inline filter for my own satisfaction. from what I've read the stock 1-2 accumulator is known to go bad on some of these and if I have the pan off might as well check anyways.
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My 4r70w is having some issues. It drives/shifts fine in reverse, 1st and 2nd but wont shift past 2nd gear. Doesn't even act like it tries. No CEL. I dropped the pan yesterday and there wasn't any metal chunks or any other debris in the pan and only the normal fuzzes on the magnet and there wasn't even an abundant amount on the magnet. This is a junkyard trans that was put in before I purchased the truck (2001 F150 supercrew 2wd).
I've ohm'd the shift solenoids and they seem to be within spec (below 30 ohms) so i want to rule them out, but still thinking of replacing all 3 solenoids just to be safe. Also, the filter just fell out with the pan so I'm assuming that might be part of the problem. My next thing to check is the 2-3 accumulator and spring to see if its stuck or broken.
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4R70W. This one is in my 99 F-150 with the 4.6. From what the previous owner told me this trans only has 13k miles on the rebuild and I believe him because the converter is bright blue and when it does shift right, the shifts are solid and fluid is very clean. Truck only has 98k miles on the body as well, so it's possible the truck did sit a while because my tires have a ton of tread on them, but they are dry rotted a bit (dated 2006 IIRC).
Issue: When the trans is cold (sat overnight) it will shift to neutral between the 2-3 shift for 1-3 seconds depending on outside temperature and then drop into gear. But it only does this for the first 30 seconds or so of driving, after that it shifts normal (although it does seem to hold gears a little longer than I would think it should on occasion and not upshift). I have only gotten it to do it once per cold start so it seems like once the trans gets any heat it's fine.
I was also thinking I was getting drain back and maybe it wasn't heat related so I dropped the pan, replaced the filter, fluid and pan seal (it had a small leak) and torqued the valve body. Two of the bolts were a little loose, but the rest were fine. Tightened them to spec and put it back together with no dice. Truck also gets pretty bad fuel mileage so I'm starting to think maybe there is some temp sensor screwing everything up?
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Working on a 2004 E-250 van. [URL] ....
I went through this transmission completely, its back in the van and I get no 1-2 shift.
when I first put it together, I missed the hole in the flex plate for the torque converter stud and started tightening the bell housing bolts down, I heard loud "POP" and realized what I had done. maybe I damaged the pump?
forward and reverse engagement is firm, both give a nice bump when it goes in gear. This tells me the forward clutch is working, but the intermediate clutch is not applying to make second gear happen.
I have done all the easy stuff I can think of, replaced the shift solenoid and put in a new 1-2 accumulator piston. I guess i need to air check the intermediate clutch piston again and make sure its applying. this a 2004 model trans, so it has the new style pump and intermediate piston.
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I have a 2005 ford expedition with 91000 miles, it has the 5.4 w/ the 4r70w transmission.
For some reason when my truck tries to shift into 4th gear, the RPM's climb to approx. 3000 rpms (meanwhile the truck is not gaining speed) and slowly drops down to about 1000-1500. once the rpms drop down fourth gear eventually engages and I can go about my business as normal as long as I do not let my mph drop too low.
If I turn O/D off, the truck drives perfect, minus not having overdrive.
If I come to a dead stop and put the truck in 2nd gear, with O/D on the truck drives great and it has good engine braking so I am assuming that the band is holding.
I took it to a transmission shop to have some diagnostic checks done, they told me that fourth gear was barely engaging and that they would have to tear apart the transmission to diagnose it further, I told them not to disassemble the transmission.
So I changed out the torque converter (which I assumed was "fourth gear") and changed out all the fluid, the fluid looked a little burnt but there was no debris in the pan but there was some silver material on the tranny pan magnet, and installed a new filter. and the problem still exists.
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I just put a rebuilt 4r70w in my '97 expedition and it shifts good but in 4th gear when I let off of the accelerator it starts to shudder until it shifts to 3rd. It acts like it is freewheeling then catches on and off. My thoughts so far is that I don't have the digital transmission range sensor positioned right or the overdrive servo isn't working properly.
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Our 2002 Elantra (automatic, 57000k) seems to have a blown transmission. A few days ago, it sounded like the car was "whining" and then it was having difficult time engaging next gear and eventually check engine came on and the car stalled. Firestone said it's a transmission problem.
We've had the car for less than 10 years so technically this should be covered under their powertrain warranty but I have a strong suspicion that the dealership will find a reason to not honor the warranty. It's still below 60k miles so we really didn't have to replace transmission oil.
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Anyway, I'm gimped in my left shoulder for a while and I'm trying to do what i can with my 03 F150 Supercrew /4bt Cummins conversion. I am using a Dodge 47rh tranny and need to know the wiring for the 4R70W so I can hook up my 12 + ignition wire, back-up lights and neutral safety switch. I'd like to build my wiring harness.
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I engage my 4wd all the time to keep it working and lubed up. tonight i turned it on and it was making a light clicking noise like a card in the spokes of a bike (not loud) and there was no vibrations or nothing that really sounded bad..what could be making this noise, what should I look for...
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I have a 2001 supercab 4x4 with a 4.6 in it, it has 186k on it and the only issues I've had was a misfire not to long ago. I replaced the plugs and coil packs and fixed that issue. 2 days ago she ran fine with no issues and this morning I went out to go to the store and she wouldn't start. All the dash lights come on and all of that normal stuff when you turn the key. When I turn the key I hear what sounds kind of like a clunking noise towards the bottom of the windshield and the middle of the dash. The starter does not engage, no nothing, really confused here. I thought maybe the battery was bad so I put my jumper on it and tried but again nothing happened.
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When I turn the switch on the front wheels don't engage. I replaced the two vacuum solenoids on the firewall no change. I replaced the actuator motor on the transfer case and everything worked....once. Tried to go around the back of the house thought I was in 4x4 but front wheels not engaging again. buried in mud. I let it set there overnight. Went out earlier started it and put it in 4x4 and it started puling out front wheels engaged. As soon as I gave it a little gas the front wheels became disengaged and it wouldn't go anywhere. I made several more attempts and no luck. I did the vacuum test where you turn the heater on panel and if there's a vacuum leak somewhere the heater blower will default to defrost. It passed this test so I'm assuming there is no leak anywhere. Why it worked right after I replaced the transfer case motor and again only after I got stuck and it set in the mud overnight?
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99 F150, 4x4, 5.4L, 4R70W trans.
I am experiencing a shudder at speeds between 45 and 50 when trying to accelerate mildly - it usually occurs after slowing down from a higher speed.
It is similar to the bucking that occurs when you do not downshift a manual trans.
I am guessing that it is the torque convert clutch staying locked or the tranny staying in OD too long. The shudder will go away if I give the truck enough throttle to downshift or simply push the overdrive off button - which forces it to downshift to drive.
What is the probable cause?
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here is the full story. just gotten truck out of the shop for a lower end rebuild and diff rebuild, truck set for about 5 to 6 months with no battery or motor. Engine runs great! besides a P1000 code.
I can drive down the road and can't go no faster then about 40mph without going to or over 3grand on the tac. I took it to auto parts store and gotten codes for both shift sol. and found out that the internal wiring harness was bad, and replaced it today. and cleared the codes. left parts store truck went shifted to 2nd and started to seem like it was going to go into 3rd then the rpm's went up like I was getting on the pedal when I wasn't and now it is going the same thing again. but took it back to parts store and checked for any codes and just got P1000 code and code about my speed sensors but they have been bad for a while.
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Code P7081
Do I have to drop the valve body to get to the shift solenoid? Is there only one solenoid? Anything special or tricky I should know about?
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I have a 98 f150 with 4.6l an 4r70w trans. I am on my second flex plate when I pulled the trans this time the tc was stuck to flex plate an the center of flex plate was busted around the bolts it has the remo engine in it but the studs on the tc were stuck in the flexplate I got them apart but it looked as if holes were off center on studs orded new tc an flex plate again. There is 1 bolt missing in top of housing an one was to long an didn't tighten up could that cause it to do it...
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Just put the 6.0 back in the truck, engine working good now. Went to take it for a test drive and the transmission will not engage in any gear. I don't have any codes coming up on my scanner. Can not figure out why the transmission is not working from engine R&R.
- Fluid level is good
- Swapped wiring harness from my other truck and still nothing
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Woke up this morning and was going to work. Went to unlock my truck and noticed the lights didn't come on inside when I used the remote door unlock. Then I started truck and the tranny lever on the steering column wouldn't go into gear plus the sterring wheel will not lock when the truck is off!
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I have a '97 F150 4x4 with the 5.4L engine and automatic transmission. The tranny's been slipping on and off for a couple of years. It started when it was hot outside, I had been driving a long ways, and I was trompin' on the gas to pass someone. Still, the slips were rare. As it got worse during the hot summer months, I just minimized my long-distance travels.
I recently took it to a transmission mechanic. Like some of the feedback to posts in here, he felt it was a problem with the engine - because we had a bad EGR valve signal on the computer. (We still flushed the fluid. I later replaced the EGR and the DPFE. Another mechanic went through everything, replaced some valves that had something to do with the EGR, and feels the engine is 100% (and it runs very, very smooth). For those that will bring it up - I have replaced all of the coils (though it's been a few years). Having actually replaced some numerous times over the years, I can feel when one is bad (of course, the 'check engine' light as well). Lastly, we've replaced all bulbs in the dash so they are all working as well. Also, the transmission is not leaking. The computer system is giving us no errors/throwing codes.
After a couple of weeks, I happened to drive the truck a long distance one day and it started slipping. It got bad enough that it was slipping every time going from first to second gear. It would usually engage as I took my foot off the gas. Since then, because I haven't driven long distances, I have not had a problem.
The transmission mechanic thinks it's still an engine issue. He also mentioned a mechanical/electrical switch system on the side of the transmission (?). Give me a list of things to look at.
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I have just put in another transmission and the truck will not shift out of first gear, it will go in reverse and first and reverse. The guy who had it before me had the same problem when he put in a transmission with only about 40-60,000 miles he assumed it was a bad transmission. And that's how I ended up with the truck. We have so far installed yet another transmission and it is doing the same not shifting out of first that it did for him. There is no cel or blinking overdrive lights, checked fluid levels, checked selinoids, gonna purchase a used computer for diagnostics, I am stumped with limited knowledge. The dealership said the transmission should be the e40d I'm reading it should have the 4r100 is that correct? The truck is the 5.4L v8 with 74,000 original miles. Truck sounds amazing. I really want to fix it.
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I have a 1997 F-150, 2 wheel drive, 4.6L truck. Recently the transmission got to where it didn't shift properly. Then it got to where, after driving it about 10 to 15 miles the transmission would drop out of gear with the transmission selector in drive.
I have replaced the transmission sensor, the rear end sensor and it still does the same thing. Drive about 10 to 15 miles and, with the transmission selector in drive the truck will not pull. The motor can be rev'ed but the truck won't move just like it was in neutral.
What is wrong. The transmission shifts fine, the truck runs fine, but after 10 to 15 miles the transmission quits working.
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