4R100 Horror stories

[amsmedic911]

I have a bone stock tranny in my 2003 F250 and I read A LOT of horror stories about them. Does anyone have a stock transmission that hasn't blown up on them? Somebody reassure me please...:sigh:

[rammertide07]

From what I've heard,02-03-04 transmissions were built out of stronger parts. The main failures come from a mixture of putting too much power through them and not paying attention to the temps with a real temp gauge. I want to say the torque converter was unchanged, but not sure. That is usually the first thing to go. Just be easy on the skinny pedal and get you a gauge to monitor the temperature if you haven't done so.

[907DAVE]

Both my trannys have been great, they are actually pretty good units when treated properly.

[amsmedic911]

Thanks! I have a gauge and completely ignore the dummy light on a stick in the dashboard. I wish Ford didn't hamstring their own equipment with the "Cadillac" shifts...

[Markj]

I have 534,000 on my 2002 dually, first thing I did after they came out was put a 6.0 trans cooler in. I haul a 20k 5th wheel and a 14k vending trailer. My first trans went out at 300,000 and that was my fault I was not changing the trans fluid enough. Smoked first gear did a bunch of damage on the inside purchased a after market trans. Would have been fine but I didn’t put a billet triple disk converter in that one lasted 100000 miles but it just couldn’t hold up to the heavy towing. So I just put in a new after market it cost me 5625.00 installed but this thing is built to haul. Very firm shifts so for normal driving I had to do some tuning adjustments. I can’t see this one going out as long as I keep up with fluid change. As for as motor is concerned haven’t had a lick of problems other than the normal bs. Like I said don’t make my mistake keep up with fluid changes and switch out to the 6.0 cooler

[Power Hungry]

Hey, Mark.... Welcome to the forum! :welcome2:

That's good information. People really don't put enough emphasis on just how important fluid changes really are. The 6.0 trans cooler, or any additional aftermarket cooler for that matter, makes a huge difference in the life expectancy of the transmission. Cool fluid is paramount to long service life of hard components as well as clutch life.

Look forward to seeing you around the forums. :D

Take care.