A.R. Heinkel

I have a '94 F-150 XL with the 4.9L inline 6. It has been sitting for close to 2 years and when I last drove it was slipping when taking off from a stop and would only intermittently go into reverse. It is an e40d. I had it rebuilt 4 years ago and had to take it back to the transmission shop on warranty 4 or 5 times due to issues.

I haven't tried to start it yet because it needs a new battery and I've heard that I need to drain all of the old gas out of the tank. I am not sure how to accomplish this because I'm not sure how much gas is in either tank or how to dispose of such a large quantity of gasoline.

I know that it is leaking fluid because it is beading up on one of the corners of the pan. It wasn't overtly leaking when i parked it but I put it in neutral and rolled it out to wash it and there was a stream of bright red transmission fluid under the truck.

I plan to fix the leak in the pan, drain and refill to the fluid to the proper level, and replace the filter to see if for some reason that might be the problem.

If that fails I was planning on going to pick-n-pull and getting a transmission from a wrecked truck to slap on it until I can get something better or get the better of the two rebuilt. I was wondering if I could slap a newer transmission on my '94 without having any sort of problems or needing to change out computer parts.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

BrendenMarquis

Is it for sure trans? Or is it power steering fluid. I've had that puke out when not running but pushing it around

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

If you turn the wheel when the engine's not running, it will puke power steering fluid. As for the trans, the e4od is actually pretty good. Some guys have had trouble with them and they for sure will say they're junk, but the other 3 or 4 hundred thousand of them worked real good for a very long time. Sounds like you got a bad rebuild job.
If you're buying a replacement, staying with the same thing will allow you to reuse everything that isn't pooched, plus if you go with a rebuild you'll have spare hard parts if anything inside is damaged on the one being rebuilt.
I found 2 year old gas burns off ok if it's mixed 50/50 with hi-test (with a little methyl hydrate to soak up any moisture). Not recommending it, just saying it worked ok for me. Maybe a new filter after as you should probably change it out anyway.

A.R. Heinkel

I have an update on my project.

It was the power steering pump that was leaking fluid. The lid was half popped off when I opened up the hood.

I replaced the battery today, and changed the oil and filter. I bought a small transfer pump from harbor freight. I siphoned the gas out of the rear tank. I could not get any out of the front tank. This leads me to believe that the front tank is nearly empty. I am going to refill the radiator and try to start the truck tomorrow.

I have a picture of the gas that came out of the rear tank. I'm not sure but I don't think it looks that bad. It's a blurry picture but you can still see color.



Here's a picture of my truck.



Excited to see if I can get her to start tomorrow.

memoniz

My truck sat for 3 to 4 years with nearly full tanks in it and I started it up and used it without even changing the filter and it ran fine once the truck was tuned. Maybe some dry gas would help. Gas takes quite a while to turn to sludge, to many people watching the old car shows.

A.R. Heinkel

It started right up with new gas in it. It's idling rough though. It seems like it's surging and is just a high idle in general. I suspect I have a vacuum leak. Also, the power steering pump is being very whiny. One thing i noticed that I'm not sure about is that the AC clutch keeps engaging and disengaging at 5-10 second intervals. I don't know if this is normal. I worry about it because I had an AC clutch come apart on my wife's 02 mercury and It broke the serpentine belt causing a host of other small issues. I don't care so much about having working AC. I'm towing it into the transmission shop on Wednesday. It drives forward and in reverse. It thuds hard when you put it in reverse and the reverse cuts out intermittently.

A.R. Heinkel

One more question, should vacuum lines be hard? They seem intact but hard. I was thinking about trying to replace them all with something more durable. I think I've seen steel braided vacuum line.

LOCO LAPTOP

OEM vacuum lines are hard plastic.

mark392001

The plastic lines become brittle and sometimes break to the touch. I replaced all of mine with 5/32" windshield washer tubing and it worked perfectly (used connectors to hook up the elbows at connections). Cheap too and more heat resistant than the Dorman stuff they sell in the Help section at auto parts stores.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

A/C cycling in and out could possibly be low freon. That was a transition year in transmissions - does yours have a vacuum line to it, or is it fully electronic ?
Earlier trans had governors in the tailshaft that got dirty and made the 1/2 shift hang up when cold, the reverse servo could be going bad, and the band could need adjusting.
If it does have a vacuum line to it, and you have a vacuum problem, you will also get a transmission problem. But that could be irrelevant to your truck, I can't remember all the years and configurations precisely.
Vacuum lines just have to hold vacuum - don't worry about getting fancy (save your money)