matchT

Hello,
I've only been a ford owner for 2 months and I have had a great time learning how to repair the repo truck i bought. Its a 1997 ford f150 4x4 Lariat package with 5.4l engine. The tranny is 4r100 model. I love the truck and power it has. First truck I have every owned.

I feel like i bought an abused pet. I really like the truck but I have recently ran into yet another hurdle.

Background: When I purchased, would not shift out of 1st gear/4x4. Mechanic charged me 800 bucks to repair fork in transfer case and replace rear drive shaft axle. He allegedly fixed tranny by mounting the transmission against engine block. When I picked up, it did not shift beyond 2nd gear. he told me he could fix for another $1000 bucks. I cut my losses with this guy as I discovered that the front differential was toast, just didn't bother to tell me yet as he continued to nickel and dime me for more work.

I purchased a junkyard tranny, differential and replaced them on the truck. (both on 90 day warranty) 700 bucks for both and they looked in great shape.
My problem: Only been about 600 miles since and now the the speedometer has been fluctuating and I noticed the the transmission seems to slip in and out of gear. Now I hear a clicking noise near the torque converter area. It comes and goes as I shift the truck in and out of gear. mostly when i am stopped or parked does it click lightly and fades away. removed inspection plate to torque converter and checked torque on nuts and inspected for damage on fly wheel. nothing obvious but the clicking is driving me nuts, and now i wonder if that is why i have the speedometer/tranny slip issue.
I have changed out sensor (VSS)? for speed in transfer case and no change. also for giggles changed out sensor in rear differential, no change either(admit did not expect change since rear diff senor is for abs right?).

I am wondering if switching the cluster might help my variable speed issue, but also wonder why torque converter area is clicking at parked and shifting into load.

any suggestions or thoughts?
at this point I am wondering if I should pull the tranny and return whilst its still under warranty before its to late.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions.

Match

I have not had check engine light, so I haven't tried pulling any codes. I do have ABS light but autozone told me they cant read ABS codes.

Almighty

My speedo starting freaking out at one point on my old truck then eventually went to limp mode and I needed a new cluster

matchT

Thanks. will try and find one at the junkyard and replace. I noticed this truck has the mod for all illumination in the truck. The lighting is blue instead of green.

Eventually might pull tranny before warranty ends and maybe use my old torque converter and try that to get rid of low rpm knock that fades in and out...

Match

Almighty

Is it like a constant knock thats consistent with the drivetrain moving or is it just occasional?

OutlawBiggie

You sure thats the right trans? I have a 97 4x4 lariat 5.4 and thats not the trans i have...shouldnt it have a E4OD? I could be wrong and they could have used the 4r100 that year also.

matchT

I need to find out how to decipher the door codes to tell me if I do have the proper transmission? can some one point me in the right direction.

My guess is the Lariat Tow package makes the difference in parts?

maybe the guy that had it before installed the wrong tranny?
Match

OutlawBiggie

Take a pic of the trans pan and post it. The shape of the pan will tell u.

matchT

Ok,
When I get home, I will post pictures of old and newly installed tranny.

I will also attempt to youtube video of clicking that fades in and out during shift selection.

I want to point out the reason I replaced the tranny is becuase the original did not shift into 3rd gear or overdrive. it only shifted from 1st to 2nd. reverse worked great. since mechanic I hired wanted 1k more to get the tranny working, i chanced replacing it myself . I actually was told by the tranny mechanic it was a 4r100. the junkyard told me the tranny I bought came from 56k mile Expedition ( i assume that it was a 4R100). Since they have a 90day warranty I figured why not.

after the change out everything worked ok up till last gas fillup. speedometer and clicking started. I suspected bad gas so I seafoamed engine, and since I have used premium gas with no difference clicking/ speedometer issue. (actually engine sounds smoother)

DavidSalsbury5150

You just can't swap out interment clusters in these trucks. If you do that it won't start. These clusters are tied into the computer. You have to take it to Ford and have them programmed. Also, the miliage is stored in the cluster and has to be transferred to the new cluster, again at Ford. Good luck.

matchT

Thanks for the heads up on cluster swap david. I called junkyard today and they have a cluster for $20 if I want to go pull it. might have to hold off on that untill i figure the trany noise. I am now thinking if this ford 150 is not supposed to have 4R100, what should it be? TRANS code on door jamb says E.
as promised:

Clicking noise that fades away as you shift or if you stop to idle comes on louds and kinda fades away.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N-gPy3WSlpI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Pictures of trany I pulled off:



Newly installed tranny, only differenced i noticed when I installed, the new one had a deeper pan and so I had to buy the deep pan filter both have 20 bolts I think. bolted right up:


Hope someone can point me in the right direction. If I have the wrong trany, why did it run good for a couple of weeks? If I have the right trany, I'm guessing I will take to dealership have them confirm bad trann/converter/flywheel and warranty the parts.

thanks for any feedback and patience.
Match