high shift points

[blacktop]

today when i was driving my 1990 f-250 7.3L diesel i noticed that it was shifting at unusually high rpms. even if you take of really slow, it acts like you take off really fast by shifting really high. normally it will drop into overdrive at around 35 mph but now it doesnt untill like 45 mph. i checked the trans fluid and there were bubbles on the dip stick. it is a 3 speed trans plus overdive. anyone have any info for me?

[argve]

your FIPL is more than likely out of adjustment. It's located on the drivers side of the injection pump. Three wire sensor (potentiometer) with the engine at normal operating temp (key ON - engine OFF) place a voltmeter between the center wire on FIPL and the negative battery terminal. Now don't disconnect the electrical plug from the FIPL because you want to read the voltage at the center wire. In most cases you will need to jam a paper clip in from the backside of the connector (wire side) to get a good contact to the terminal. then by loosening the torx screws that hold the FIPL to the injection pump (the ones that have the slots for the screws) then rotate the FIPL until you achieve somewhere between 0.95 volts and 1.20 volts on the center wire. Now I'll tell ya it's a touchy little begger. You can adjust the shift points and firmness by either rotating the FIPL clockwise or counter-clockwise. Me I always liked firm shifts that held out before a shift (sort of like your complaining about) so I would set it closer to 1.2 volts. Typically you will get a warning that the FIPL is out of adjustment because of a flashing OD OFF light, hard and late shifts.

FIPL = Fuel Injection Position Level

The transmission that you have is a E4OD which means Electronically controlled 4 speed trans or as some folks look at it 3 speed with an Overdrive... but overdrive is nothing more than another gear. Just that you can lock out the final gear via a switch.

Another thing that can cause havoc is the Tach - is it reading correctly because a bad reading tach can give the same indications.

[blacktop]

thanks a lot for the info. when i checked the trans level i saw a lot of bubbles on the dip stick that i have never seen before. do you know why they were there?

[Mr_Roboto]

Most likely you are in fail-safe mode because of failure of one of your sensors. Or possibly a corroded electrical connection.

Possible sensors are tach sensor, FIPL sensor, and VSS sensor.

Tach sensor is fairly failure prone, and you won't notice if you don't have a tach.