4r100 in and out of shop. Have a few questions.

purpleheart350 · Nov 16, 2014

Ok so this makes the 4th time my truck ('01 Ex 7.3) was in the shop for trans issues. I had the trans completely rebuilt and upgraded with bigger TC and tow valve body, in January 2014. Since then I have had to take it back 3 times, 1st bad trans pump, 2nd bad valve body, third OD issues which still aren't fixed. It feels like it won't go in to OD (or it is but the TC isn't locking, not sure which) until it's at operating temp, which it has never done that before until recent. Well the guy at the trans shop said that is how it's supposed to be. Also I have bad glow plugs (which are being replaced this week) and he said that the trans will have issues because of the bad glow plugs. Is there any truth to these statements. I don't think there is but I just want to make sure before I go chew his a$$ out for chitty work. It's still under warranty until the new year but I start the police academy in 3 weeks and need my truck back.

NEVRNF · Nov 16, 2014

TC is not supposed to lock until transmission temp reaches a minimum temp. I don't remember the exact # but somewhere around 70*. This is designed to cause faster warm up. Kind of like the EBV closing on cold start.
Glow plugs can cause issues with the Ex as it is ECM monitored. If you have a CEL on it could be going into limp mode.

purpleheart350 · Nov 16, 2014

No CEL, truck starts fine even at 28*, and it won't shift into OD until the truck is at op temp but is the trans at minimum temp before that? The OD light does flash sometimes, not always though. I don't have a way to read it. Last time I took it up there with the light flashing the mechanic shut the truck off then started it again saying that the light wasn't flashing.

purpleheart350 · Nov 16, 2014

Also it started doing this way before it got cold out. The air temp was about 70-80 when this all started.

Mark Kovalsky · Nov 16, 2014

purpleheart350 said:
Last time I took it up there with the light flashing the mechanic shut the truck off then started it again saying that the light wasn't flashing.

The light doesn't have to be flashing to be able to read the codes. They will stay in memory for about a month after the last time the light flashed.

The converter won't lock until the trans warms up. That is true at any temperature, it has to warm so many degrees from whatever temperature it started at.