I never in all my life would have thought it could have caused total havoc, but it did...

I installed a FTVB model 2C and a Ford Racing deep-sump pan at the same time. I also used the appropiate deep-sump filter, too. Filled her up with Valvoline MaxLife Mercon III, cold line was good, hot line level was halfway on the "HOT" section of the dipstick. Everything seemed ok at first, but then tragedy struck after about 30 miles of highway driving.

Sometimes, it slams 2nd HARD, with very small throttle openings. Sometimes, it takes a long time to shift into third. After driving it for a while, it won't shift into 4th at all, and the O/D light will start blinking.

The damndest thing is, when starting up cold, you can shift it into reverse, and it will not engage. Feels just like neutral. It will sit there for a while, then slowly "catch".

I've checked the fluid levels and they are within norms. Does anybody have a clue as to what might be the problem? This is my third FTVB install, so I'm experienced as to what should be removed and what shouldn't.

 

Hmm, I have installed 6 or 7 of these and never had that issue. Didnt mix fluids by chance did u?

Im sure if there is a issue with the VB, Greg will replace it.

 

All Mercron III Valvoline. I did a transmission service a while back and replaced the filter and fluid.

 

are we supposed to use Mercon III? My 03 says plain old Mercon.

 

didnt the later years use mercon v?

 

Did you check the tranny fuse under the hood??

The 02's are easy to displace under there and they are tied into the Tranny fuse. When that blows the OD light blinks and the truck will lock into 3rd I believe. Although it sounds like you might have another issue....

 

OMG NO~! 5 is the devil. 5 will kill us!

 

If it worked before it has got a blockage in it. Or the filter could have a crack in it and sucking air.

See you gave me all that ragging the other day about me putting the other vavle body in but it is working so far. Just picking at you so do not get mad.

I have had some funny things happen before. Like the paper work with mine told me that it would take 6 qt with stock pan and 8 with deep pan. The truck was full when I got started and I had to put 8 to 9 in it to get it full. It has the pan on it that came on it from ford.

Did ford put a deep pan on some trucks in 01.

Good luck man.

 

That sucks man. I hope you get it figured out. Sometimes it's the small stuff that causes the biggest problems. Where's Greg?

 

First off, NO MERCON V. Second, it is plain old mercon, Which most will say MERCON/DEXTRON III I dont believe there is such a thing as MERCON III; however, I am not sure as to the answer to your problem, other than check and make sure you didnt accidently disconnect anything while changing, like an electrical connection to the tranny, or loosen it by any chance, as I have heard that can be a problem sometimes. I guess you could check the fuse as well like WaveBlaster785 said. You might just have a bad valve body, and I am sure that greg will replace it if that is the case. Anyways good luck and hope you get is worked out.

later
brian

 

might not apply to you but was a few posts about adjusted line pressures causing problems after the install,..something along the lines of resetting line pressures to stock points and no more problems

 

Put the stock VB back in and see if it straightens things out. A couple of guys in the past couple of months got a FTVB with sticky valves. Hopefully it didn't break anything.

 

A lot of people have been mislead by post in the past about this subject. If the line pressure is raised it will just shift firmer than you might like it at light throttle. I will be very consistant. If you have intermitent slamming that is the VB.

 

Maybe the filter fell out??? Drain that bad boy and check it.

 

What about the valve body screen thats like 1 inch big above the VB? Did that fall out by chance?