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E40D overdrive light of death

11K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  powerstrokelizzie 
#1 ·
Im new here, hopefully I wont get bashed lol....

Ive been browsing a lot about the many e40d issues, but never actually found what fits my exact issue.

I have a 97 extended cab 4x4 powerstroke...got a mega deal on it because it "needed a transmission". The guy I got it from took great care of it and its super clean. He's owned it since 2000, and bought it with 10k, and sold it to me 2 weeks ago with 200k on it.

He said the overdrive light had been flashing for months now, and he took it to a trans shop and said the clutches were toast and it needed a rebuild at $3000 (I know theyre expensive but that seems a bit much). He drove it 2.5 hours to my house from where he lived and it made it just fine.

Now from what I always thought, was that when the clutches go, the trans doesn't have much time left...seems to be fine, and has been for months and roadtrips even apparently haha.

Anyway, fast forward. I pulled codes p1728, and p0344 (cam sensor code). I reset them, and the light didn't come back on for another 50 miles or so. Even with the light off, the torque converter hadn't locked up, but the shifting was smooth.

Fast forward to tonight. Go out to get dinner and im doing about 50 on a bumpy bumpy backroad and the O/D came flashing again. After that the shifts got firmer, but nothing too crazy (this would be the "limp mode", right?) torque converter still never locked up at all ever. Fast forward to a few hours, on my way home from dinner, cruising about 60mph at 2k, light still blinking. All of a sudden the torque converter locked at the revs dropped to about 1500k at 65mph. Just for giggles I put my foot all the way down and it didn't unlock at all, and accelerated super slow.

Stop at a 4 way stop, take off, and as soon as it shifted into O/D the converter locked right away. This time it would lock and unlock as it should as I pushed the accelerator, and coasted. I stopped again, and once I got back up to speed, it locked right away, locked and unlocked as it should so I started cruising about 55...all of a sudden it unlocked, about 5 seconds later it locked again for a few seconds then unlocked and that was it. I tried pushing it to 60-65, and letting off the throttle trying to persuade it to lock again and all it did was lock for about a half second and never locked since.

Speedo is steady, no abs lights, or anything. wondering if this is a sensor issue because the fluid was deffinatly not brand new as if somebody tried to change it before they sold it, and it didn't smell burnt at all. Otherwise the truck shifts totally fine, and all gears work. Doesn't seem to slip, and if it does its not bad at all. Just seems the converter has lockup issues...no crazy shimmies, shakes bangs or anything.

ALSO...would it be possible for the p0344 (cam sensor) code to be related? Ive read 2 threads that are pretty similar and say the cam sensor made their O/D light shut off for good. Ive read its not related but seems like a pretty strange coincidence to me. Since theyre prone to failure ill replace it anyway.

So what do we think...TC? Full rebuild? faulty sensor?
 
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#3 ·
Im in the process of replacing a lot of things, and cam sensor is on the list. It just so happened that winter hit, and its been around 20 degrees lately, so thinner oil and glow plugs kind of took priority....

BUT! To bring this to conclusion, im a happy camper, and just got an awesome deal on this here truck with a "blown transmission"...

I bought myself some electrical contact cleaner, and dialectic grease, planning on pulling all the plugs out of the trans, and cleaning them. While I was under there, I noticed the main wire harness loom that goes to the trans was hanging on the front driveshaft and some point, and the P/O wire tied it back where it belongs....turns out it wore through 4 or 5 of the wires, some frayed and corroded, some completely broken in half. One of which was the TCC wire...

Soldered them back together, added shrink tube, dialectic grease, stuffed them back in the loom and its been 100% ever since.

So far its been about 400 miles without even a hiccup. When I first reset the codes it tripped again within 30 miles, so I think I might have found the solution.
 
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