The junkiest automatic transmission ever manufactured?

[sloinker]

Saw another post where they mentioned the E4OD transmission. I had this tranny first year in a 7.3 diesel. Biggest piece of junk ever built, not only for me but for tens of thousands of other folks too. So what is the consensus junkiest transmission ever built? I'm sure the jatco's will at least get an honorable mention but seeing as the are put into lowly Nissan's and that E4OD was in an XLT 4X4 Lariat it is a matter of perspective. What's your vote?

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

I had the E40D in my 94 Bronco. Transmission was about to go so I let it go.

 

[StevieC]

Ford Focus DCT.
Chrysler 4 speeds from the 1990's.
First generation Jatco CVT's

Although not the worst but a terrible one at that is the UA80E I had in my Highlander. 8-speed. Enough that I traded it.

 

[eljefino]

The CVT in Saturn VUEs may be a contender.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The Subaru Justy CVT from the early 90s
Honda's V6 automatic
The Smart car's transmission
Chrysler minivan transmissions
The Focus/Fiesta DCT

any of those

 

[Michael_P]

The Chrysler A-604 Ultradrive transmission, hands down. Honorable mention goes to the Ford AXOD.

 

[road_rascal]

Originally Posted by Michael_P
The Chrysler A-604 Ultradrive transmission, hands down. Honorable mention goes to the Ford AXOD.


Yup- I had to take Chrysler to small claims court over that pile of junk. 3 rebuilds in less than 70k.

 

[steveh]

The one in my 95 Intrepid.

 

[joegreen]

Originally Posted by road_rascal
Originally Posted by Michael_P
The Chrysler A-604 Ultradrive transmission, hands down. Honorable mention goes to the Ford AXOD.


Yup- I had to take Chrysler to small claims court over that pile of junk. 3 rebuilds in less than 70k.

Do you know what kept wearing out to require rebuilds?

 

[Gasbuggy]

I will throw the 30RH Chrysler 3 speed in as possibly the worst 3 speed auto made.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Hard to beat the AXOD, but I'm gonna throw 700R4 on to the pile.

The early Ford 4R70 definitely belongs there, as well as it's AOD predecessor.

Anything Jatco that came in a Mazda.

 

[14Accent]

Have to say, I agree with many but disagree with a few:

Yes, the very early E4OD was rough around the edges, but it lived on as the 4R100 for a LONG time and is basically bulletproof.

The Chrysler Torqueflight 3-speed, at least in the FWD models was pretty darn solid. Granted it was mostly behind anemic 2.2/2.5's but still.

Early Honda 5-speed auto's for sure, those are mostly all gone by now having been replaced (and replaced, and replaced) with updated units.

Saturn VT25 or whatever it was, those were trash off the line.

Ford 5R55, not a terribly strong unit for what it was asked to do most of the time.

GM 4T60/4T65E, those were no treat. Decent enough, but they don't take to abuse well especially behind a 3800SC, let alone the 5.3 in the SS/GXP cars. Volvo used a version called the 4T65V behind their 2.8 twin turbo inline 6, those were like walking on glass most of the time.

Ford DCT for sure, that's a failure waiting to happen.

The early A604 Ultradrive was a bad one, but like the E4OD they were improved, and improved, and ended up being pretty decent by the end. It WAS a very advanced transmission at the time.

Honorable mention: any Nissan affected by the transmission-cooler failure. It's not the transmission's fault, but there were a string of years that the Pathfinders/Frontiers/Xterra's would blow the transmission cooler internal to the radiators, but of course being low pressure the high pressure coolant would pass into the transmission fluid and slowly destroy the clutches. It's easy to diagnose, pull the dipstick and look for the pink milkshake!

 

[02SE]

Originally Posted by DoubleWasp
Hard to beat the AXOD


That's my nomination as well. I rebuilt so many of those that at one point I think I could've done so in my sleep.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

The old 4-speeds seemed to outlive the new, current 8+speeds.

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by 14Accent
GM 4T60/4T65E, those were no treat. Decent enough, but they don't take to abuse well especially behind a 3800SC, let alone the 5.3 in the SS/GXP cars.
Agreed. Ask me how I know!

From my personal experience, the worst transmissions I owned (in order) were:
1. 545RFE - 2003 Dodge Dakota 4.7L 2WD
2. 4R70W - 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis (I know I'll get flamed for this, but it was mainly the torque converter)
3. 4T65E-HD - My current SS (not terrible thanks to extreme caution/care/maintenance)

My favorites, again only from personal experience (most are manual):
1. Tremec T-56 - 1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 (let's just not mention the opti...)
2. Tremec TR-3650 - 2004 Ford Mustang GT 40th Anniversary Edition
3. If I'm forced to list an auto, I guess whatever is in my Elantra. Can't find much info on it. But still far from superb.

Man I miss that T-56. If only there were some magical way to pair it with my LS4...

 

[Rand]

I think alot of these are disliked and possibly not the best.. but no where near the worst.

How about a list of the best automatic transmissions?
to go with the worst.

 

[bullwinkle]

I'll do the best-
Chrysler A-727 Torqueflite
Ford C6
GM Turbo 400
All of these could even handle RV duty, I had a 727 in an 11,000 pound Class A (1973 with a 440-3 big block), and it handled flawlessly. Unfortunately the addition of overdrive to all of them seemed to cause problems (47RE, E4OD, 4L80/E).

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted by road_rascal
Originally Posted by Michael_P
The Chrysler A-604 Ultradrive transmission, hands down. Honorable mention goes to the Ford AXOD.


Yup- I had to take Chrysler to small claims court over that pile of junk. 3 rebuilds in less than 70k.

The Chrysler A604 Ultradrive transmissions came within a hairs breadth of being forced to recall by the NHTSA. Somehow, Chrysler was able to talk their way out of it. They had a 10% failure rate within warranty. I had my own experience with it.

 

[4WD]

The 727 loadflite did not excel at pulling over large old hackberry trees with my '79 PowerWagon ... it did the job but required a rebuild after that

 

[tig1]

The 2 speed Metric trans I had in a 1977 Chevy Nova V8. Failed at 8K but still under warranty and was beginning to fail at 120K when sold.