I Just bought an 89 Ford F-250 5.8L E4OD. A farm truck with 79,000 miles
I got it cheap because the transmission slips
I had to add 3 quarts of Mercon V Plus a quart of Lucas stop slip to top off the dipstick. After driving the truck for a week, I don’t have a puddle of transmission fluid on the driveway, and the level on the dipstick is consistent. It looks pristine, as though the previous owner had it flushed.
The only issue I’m having is second gear. When it’s cold, it shifts fine As long as you takeoff gently and don’t gun it. When it warms up, you just have to accelerate to about 22 miles an hour, Pause, Resume acceleration, and it will shift nine times out of 10.
Since it shifts better cool, i’m considering putting the biggest transmission cooler on it I can afford. Do you think that would be a waste of money?
Transmission fluid actually goes through a cooler then a heat transfer unit to prevent over cooling of the fluid. What you propose sounds like a band aid to the real issue.
If you're having problems shifting to or from second gear, it could be whichever solenoid controls the 1-2 shift or 2-3 shift (since you didn't specify which shift is the issue), or some other device used during that application.
1-2. If it makes it into 2, it will usually go to three. Sometimes it goes from one to three, skipping 2. If it shifted from 1 to 2 every time, I believe the problem would be solved