1993 F-150 Flare Side

[Mainemantom]

I found the 80 Granada on a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury lot in San Diego. It was a 2 door, red body with white, 1/2 top and red cloth interior. am/fm, a/c, bumper guards, reclining front seat. The wheel covers had white circular accents. It had side moldings that had white accents. I got a screaming deal at $4200 plus tax and license.The salesman got fired because he was suppose to charge me for the extended Ford warranty but did not. The dealer could not do anything because I paid the car in full in cash. The error wasn't found out until weeks later. Really a beautiful car. I put JC Whitney clear diamond plastic seat covers on. Since I lived in the desert, those became super hot. I put about 60,000 miles on it before I sold it to buy my 82 MGM. Transmission worked fine after it got replaced. Long story about the difficulty getting it replace. Very short version is; The local dealer in the desert would not warranty the car because I did not buy from his dealership. Had to get the district rep involved. Ford paid for the car to be towed 120 miles away to have it replaced. Last time I saw it was about 2008. It was all there and running. I needed to be cleaned up. paint was faded. If I still have a picture, I will post it.
Doing a write up on the 45 cars I have owned would take a year !

[friskyfrankie]

I found the 80 Granada on a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury lot in San Diego. It was a 2 door, red body with white, 1/2 top and red cloth interior. am/fm, a/c, bumper guards, reclining front seat. The wheel covers had white circular accents. It had side moldings that had white accents. I got a screaming deal at $4200 plus tax and license.The salesman got fired because he was suppose to charge me for the extended Ford warranty but did not. The dealer could not do anything because I paid the car in full in cash. The error wasn't found out until weeks later. Really a beautiful car. I put JC Whitney clear diamond plastic seat covers on. Since I lived in the desert, those became super hot. I put about 60,000 miles on it before I sold it to buy my 82 MGM. Transmission worked fine after it got replaced. Long story about the difficulty getting it replace. Very short version is; The local dealer in the desert would not warranty the car because I did not buy from his dealership. Had to get the district rep involved. Ford paid for the car to be towed 120 miles away to have it replaced. Last time I saw it was about 2008. It was all there and running. I needed to be cleaned up. paint was faded. If I still have a picture, I will post it.
Doing a write up on the 45 cars I have owned would take a year !

Had a 1977 Ford Granada, baby blue 4 door with white vinyl rook. 302 V8 that ran like a top but started frame rusting from being up North. Got it with less than 7K miles on it as it belonged to the mother of the dealership owner. Wish I still had it (minus the rust issue) as it was one of the best cars I ever owned. Had a girlfriend whose parents had a '75 Grenada that was black with a red interior. That is what turned me on to those cars (besides her)!

[GM_Guy]

Question for those who have lost a trans, especially one that was "rebuilt." Were there any warning signs or did it just stop being a transmission? My experience is they just work, I've never lost one until now, but trying to see if I should be concerned about anything with this "new" trans.

I've had a mix. Original transmissions usually become slip and slides in some way or another. (ie: rpm flares between shifts, or in the extreme case of pushing the shitty 700r4 that was in my truck to its last living moments, losing gears on the drive to the shop. So bad I had to use 1st gear the last couple miles in order to be able to keep moving. Didn't care, I hated, and still do 700r4s and had a non-lockup th350 to take its place.
Of rebuilt transmissions it has always been shifting issues--less than stellar shops despite the reputation. In the nova I had two "built" transmissions have catastophic failure, no three. first one didn't make it down the street on its first test drive. 2nd one went a 28 hours made a clunk and grind and lost all forward gears. 3rd one went almost 7 days went with a BANG and also lost all forward motion took full throttle to slowly drag itself to the side of the road. Funny thing was this was a sunday morning, I was driving my dad somewhere and wasn't even leaning into it, just what should have been a leisurely shift.
My vomit comet I had the trans done pre-emptively because of odd noises coming from it. From ratcheting type noises to buzzing (the buzz I assume being the accumulator pistons flopping in the bores), and since it wasn't getting better I figured I better do something before I get stuck at the side of the road. . No issues with it so far. Just strange things I notice becuase its probably a computer controlled trans and doesn't behave quite like the old school stuff after some work. Biggest thing that baffles me is why it shifts nice and firm when OD is activated, including a nice firm OD activation (and deactivation), but with OD turned off it shifts like a f'in stock trans. Makes no sense to me.

[sly]

In the AODE/4R7#X, the OD solenoid is a little more of a beast (the mechanical part) but the rest of the trans is stock mush by stock software tuning. The firm engagement may have more to do with the lockup being in the torque converter instead of the trans itself. The lockup is supposed to take place after the shift and is allowed in 2, 3, and 4 on the electronic transmissions. This may be what you're feeling. With the OD/OFF activated, it prevents lockup and 4th gear. This is probably what you're dealing with.

Mine (93) has a "stage 1" flow mod and street firm shift j-mod. All this does is allow better flow to the torque converter to prevent cooking it and provide better engagement force for the lock-up in the torque converter and the better flow allows shifts to engage faster. I can use my laptop and tuning software to make it "race spec" by forcing the fluid pressure governor to force pressures higher and chirp tires every shift or shift soft and not feel a thing, but I like the shifts you can feel because I know the clutches aren't slipping near as much if at all as a stock setup. This increases reliability by leaps and bounds from my understanding.

[DerekTheGreat]

I found the 80 Granada on a Ford/Lincoln/Mercury lot in San Diego. It was a 2 door, red body with white, 1/2 top and red cloth interior. am/fm, a/c, bumper guards, reclining front seat. The wheel covers had white circular accents. It had side moldings that had white accents. I got a screaming deal at $4200 plus tax and license.The salesman got fired because he was suppose to charge me for the extended Ford warranty but did not. The dealer could not do anything because I paid the car in full in cash. The error wasn't found out until weeks later. Really a beautiful car. I put JC Whitney clear diamond plastic seat covers on. Since I lived in the desert, those became super hot. I put about 60,000 miles on it before I sold it to buy my 82 MGM. Transmission worked fine after it got replaced. Long story about the difficulty getting it replace. Very short version is; The local dealer in the desert would not warranty the car because I did not buy from his dealership. Had to get the district rep involved. Ford paid for the car to be towed 120 miles away to have it replaced. Last time I saw it was about 2008. It was all there and running. I needed to be cleaned up. paint was faded. If I still have a picture, I will post it.
Doing a write up on the 45 cars I have owned would take a year !

That's great you still remember! For context, $4,200 in 1980 money is roughly worth ~$16,200 today. Smokin' deal indeed. Interesting to hear those were great cars, I always felt they were kind of chincy, but in a lovable way. I didn't hate 'em, just wasn't drawn to 'em either. Two door would've been much more desirable. That color combo sounds nice too, red on red is nice. Shame about the dealer interaction. How long did it take before the car got towed? Phone tag back then was very different...

It's a good thing we've got plenty of time! You could make it take three or four years. Even so, the information would be out there! Without it, the history around each car is gone, but maybe somebody has one of your former vehicles and might stumble upon the stories, good stuff. I wish there was personal information on several of my vehicles, namely the '93 F-150 and my '89 K1500. The K1500 is essentially a black hole, can't find anything about it prior to 2000 and when it moved to Michigan.

Had a 1977 Ford Granada, baby blue 4 door with white vinyl rook. 302 V8 that ran like a top but started frame rusting from being up North. Got it with less than 7K miles on it as it belonged to the mother of the dealership owner. Wish I still had it (minus the rust issue) as it was one of the best cars I ever owned. Had a girlfriend whose parents had a '75 Grenada that was black with a red interior. That is what turned me on to those cars (besides her)!

Black with red, doesn't get much better than that to me! Comin' around to black with blue, that's pretty striking too.

I've had a mix. Original transmissions usually become slip and slides in some way or another. (ie: rpm flares between shifts, or in the extreme case of pushing the shitty 700r4 that was in my truck to its last living moments, losing gears on the drive to the shop. So bad I had to use 1st gear the last couple miles in order to be able to keep moving. Didn't care, I hated, and still do 700r4s and had a non-lockup th350 to take its place.
Of rebuilt transmissions it has always been shifting issues--less than stellar shops despite the reputation. In the nova I had two "built" transmissions have catastophic failure, no three. first one didn't make it down the street on its first test drive. 2nd one went a 28 hours made a clunk and grind and lost all forward gears. 3rd one went almost 7 days went with a BANG and also lost all forward motion took full throttle to slowly drag itself to the side of the road. Funny thing was this was a sunday morning, I was driving my dad somewhere and wasn't even leaning into it, just what should have been a leisurely shift.
My vomit comet I had the trans done pre-emptively because of odd noises coming from it. From ratcheting type noises to buzzing (the buzz I assume being the accumulator pistons flopping in the bores), and since it wasn't getting better I figured I better do something before I get stuck at the side of the road. . No issues with it so far. Just strange things I notice becuase its probably a computer controlled trans and doesn't behave quite like the old school stuff after some work. Biggest thing that baffles me is why it shifts nice and firm when OD is activated, including a nice firm OD activation (and deactivation), but with OD turned off it shifts like a f'in stock trans. Makes no sense to me.

Great information. Based on it, this trans should've died already However, there is an RPM flare-up happening from 3rd to 4th, as if the converter is unlocking and locking for a split-second. Old trans didn't do that, this one didn't until a few days ago. Nothing harsh about it, wife didn't even notice until I pointed it out. We've been having some cold temps recently (~5F) and the trans was shifting hardish into 2nd when cold. Pretty normal I'd say, the 4L60E in her '02 Tahoe shifted harder than usual as well and held 2nd longer than it should've. Not to mention it cranked forever on the first try and then finally sputtered to life on the 2nd. The F-150 fired right up. My K1500 too, this morning. Haven't driven the K1500 in several days. The F-150 was shifting normally by the time we dropped the Tahoe off to have a "new" ABS module stabbed in it.

I have read lots of disdain for the 700R4 and 4L60E. The 700R4 in the Firebird is original, or I presume it to be. Dad got the car with 36,000 miles on the clock when it was ~six years old. Never died on his watch and when I got it in '04, the converter didn't always lock. Started changing the filter every five years and it's been flawless. Car was not driven easy by my dad and certainly not be me while I was a teenager. Trans still shifts beautifully. It has ~120,000 miles on it now. The 4L60E we have has nearly 300k miles on it and is also original to the truck. That thing shifts great, so far it's my favorite four speed auto. If it died this week, I'd practically salute it. I'd cringe about the future with it though.

Crazy those "built" transmissions didn't last either. What did the autopsies reveal, anything? Also slightly reassuring that they can just fail under normal driving conditions and do so in a craptacular fashion. I've found myself going easy on the trans we put in the truck, but shouldn't be.

[GM_Guy]

In the AODE/4R7#X, the OD solenoid is a little more of a beast (the mechanical part) but the rest of the trans is stock mush by stock software tuning. The firm engagement may have more to do with the lockup being in the torque converter instead of the trans itself. The lockup is supposed to take place after the shift and is allowed in 2, 3, and 4 on the electronic transmissions. This may be what you're feeling. With the OD/OFF activated, it prevents lockup and 4th gear. This is probably what you're dealing with.
.

Good to know. I can discern the gear and od engagements under light to moderate throttle, didn't think the OD engagement would even be playing a part during harder runs. I will have to pay closer attention to whats happening.

Great information. Based on it, this trans should've died already However, there is an RPM flare-up happening from 3rd to 4th, as if the converter is unlocking and locking for a split-second. Old trans didn't do that, this one didn't until a few days ago. Nothing harsh about it, wife didn't even notice until I pointed it out. We've been having some cold temps recently (~5F) and the trans was shifting hardish into 2nd when cold. Pretty normal I'd say, the 4L60E in her '02 Tahoe shifted harder than usual as well and held 2nd longer than it should've. Not to mention it cranked forever on the first try and then finally sputtered to life on the 2nd. The F-150 fired right up. My K1500 too, this morning. Haven't driven the K1500 in several days. The F-150 was shifting normally by the time we dropped the Tahoe off to have a "new" ABS module stabbed in it.

I have read lots of disdain for the 700R4 and 4L60E. The 700R4 in the Firebird is original, or I presume it to be. Dad got the car with 36,000 miles on the clock when it was ~six years old. Never died on his watch and when I got it in '04, the converter didn't always lock. Started changing the filter every five years and it's been flawless. Car was not driven easy by my dad and certainly not be me while I was a teenager. Trans still shifts beautifully. It has ~120,000 miles on it now. The 4L60E we have has nearly 300k miles on it and is also original to the truck. That thing shifts great, so far it's my favorite four speed auto. If it died this week, I'd practically salute it. I'd cringe about the future with it though.

Crazy those "built" transmissions didn't last either. What did the autopsies reveal, anything? Also slightly reassuring that they can just fail under normal driving conditions and do so in a craptacular fashion. I've found myself going easy on the trans we put in the truck, but shouldn't be.

The first year or two of the 700r4s where not very good. I had a first year 700r4, so all the worst parts. The early years had near endless tsb's issued. Design revisions, endless updates. If its a pre-1990 700r4 its probably been to the dealer for warranty work more than once. After 1990 they had all the serious bugs worked out, and evolbed into the 4l60/80.
Good to hear you got one that works properly! I've had later ones in work vehicles, no issues with those either.

Re the built transmissions, unknown to the repair shop I went to back then, the trans guy handed the reigns of his buisness over to his son, and you can guess the rest. Apparently the kid left a trail of headaches in a short period of time. Transmission Dad basically came out of his very short retirement to smooth things over with the shops that used him for trans work. The current th350 was rebuilt by the trans dad and has been trouble free and has taken a lot of abuse--and trust me, I beat the ever loving snot out of it to make sure if it had problems I'd know about it before it was too late. Anyway, the repair shop had further issues with them and dropped them not too long after. Was a few years before they had a trusted transmission shop again, lots of issues they had to deal with in the meantime. Anyway, the good trans shop is an hour away. If that tells you the sorry state of transmission repair shops that are close by if the repair shop won't use them.

[sly]

OD only engages during light-moderate throttle with steady throttle position. Moving the throttle past some value depending on current load calculation will disengage the lockup. This is less than what it takes for a downshift. So heavy throttle (WOT) shouldn't allow lockup at all and won't allow shifting to OD (4th gear) during WOT. You'd have to be going stupid fast to do that though (about 140 mph with 3.55 gears... not sure what it is with 2.73 gears) so it's really a moot point unless you're doing the Texas Mile or something crazy like that and I don't think you'd manage to get going that fast within a mile without some serious kit from ADTR. But yeah... in light throttle conditions, an AODE/4R7#x can feel like it has 7 gears. TC always (should) unlocks for shifts.