Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Transaxle CD4E FAQ

CD4E FAQ
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Modifications -

Modifications to the CD4E are few and far in-between. Actually, modifying the CD4E actually means building it up for better reliability. The weakest point of the later model CD4E's found in the Contours is the torque convertor bypass valve, located in the Valve Body. This valve was poorly designed, but thankfully, Sonnax makes a replacement valve that solves this issue. Actually, there are several weakpoints, as with anything made by man, and the fact that there are several weak points that can be addressed and when addressed properly, can increase the overall reliability of the transaxle.

So what about performance modifications? Well, there aren't any. The only real performance mods you can do to the CD4E is take the Direct and Coast clutch packs from the 98-2000 models, which host High-Energy Kevlar Composite clutch plates, and the 2000 model CD4E found in the Escape and Tribute also have a wider High-Energy band. Thes small changes will help with overall clutch life, which takes us right back to the fact that modifying the CD4E means modifying for reliability and not so much for performance. Since I first typed this, almost a year or so ago, Level 10 has released the PTS clutch packs that they use when rebuilding their high-performance CD4E's. I have many thoughts here, but since this is a FAQ, I will leave it at that.

Below I will list of a few of the more common modifications that can be made to this transaxle along with how-to's were I can.

External Cooler
An external cooler is a wise investment for any automatic transmission, no matter what type! The number one killer of any automatic transmission is heat. By adding an external cooler will greatly decrease the overall operating temperature of the unit. This will help in several areas like; fluid & clutch life and operation.

So how can I install a cooler on my car? Well here is a quick drawing that Hector (LoCoZ2.0 is his screen name of the CEG forums) did for someone awhile back.



As you can basically see, all you have to do is tap into the "return line" coming from the radiator to the trans and place the cooler there. Mounting the cool is really based on where you have room to mount it. Just make sure that it gets plenty of air flow. Most place it in front of the A/C Condenser. Most of the people that have installed these have noted that mounting it here does not affect the overall performance of your A/C.

This is actually a simple operation, that most anyone could do themselves over a weekend. It can also be done, most of the time depending on the brand and size of cooler you use, for less then $100! Most only spend about $70 for all the parts including all fittings. Not bad for something that could easily save you several thousand dollars for a rebuilt tranny!!

Full Synthetic ATF
"Not only have we not had a single member lose a CD4E while using it, if they started using it early enough, but the temperatures that these guys run are just sick! One member has claims of, in the winter, 90 degree operating temperatures while driving on the highway when the outside temps are 50 or below. City driving, under the same conditions were around the 110 - 150 degree range. When the temps are well above 50, normal operating temps were around 120 - 150 highway and city is around 175 - 200. The normal operating temp of the CD4E is around the 220 degree range. Bear in mind that these numbers come from the combined use of the full synthetic ATF and an external cooler. AWSOME!!"

I will say again, do your own research here. I cannot possibly cover every fluid manufactuer out there and give you a straight answer. Do your homework and pick what you feel the most confident with.

Shift Kits
"Plain and simple... There aren't any performance kits available! The only thing on the market right now that has anything to do with shifting for the CD4E is the TransGo CD4Ejr kit. This is more of a problem solving kit that, when installed, fixes a bunch of known weak points of the CD4E's hydraulic system. Most of the kit is for the valve body. The valve body can be removed easily enough and the kit includes all the needed bits for drilling out the valve body where needed. Here's a link to the TransGo site, which you will be able to better educate yourself on it's purpose. If you would like to purchuse one of these kits, you can check Bulkpart.com. There's also a nice thread, located here that contains a link to the instructions that come with the CD4Ejr kit. That should help give you a head start on what to look for in this project."

High Energy Clutch Packs
"If the build date of your CD4E is pre96, you can have High Energy clutch packs installed. In 1996, the coast clutch replaced with the High Energy material and in `97 the Direct clutch was as well. These packs are only available, for the Direct & Coast clutches. High Energy clutches are clutches made with a Kevlar Composite material. Raybestoes and Borg-Wagner both make aftermarket High Energy clutches for the CD4E."




Now for some random possibilities that I bet a lot of people will laugh at, but it's just stuff that I have thought about. (uh oh! There I go thinking again!!)

Swapping Around
"Alright! So 3L swaps are all the rage right now with the Contour and Cougar. So what if someone did all the normal engine swapping, but instead of using a normal CD4E, use one out of the Mazda Tribute. Well, you would not have to find just a Tribute I don't think, but any 2001 or above CD4E would possibly work. Anyway, my point here is that the Tribute has a little more aggressive shift pattern that is better suited for street use. You could then get a chip from Streetflight or someone like that, which would accentuate that aggressive shifting even more. Why not? Hey it is just an idea?"

Cooling Issues
"We all know that the CD4E has some serious cooling issue's. So how might we be able to cool the tranny even better then the above mentioned method of stuffing a small unit in front of all the other stuff that is down there already (power steering cooler, a/c condenser and radiator). What if you took a radiator from an SVT contour, which has a little better flow characteristics then no-SVT radiator, and replace the stock one with this. Then remove the a/c condenser, which would make more room for a larger tranny cooler. This action would also remove the CD4Es cooling system from the radiator, which would be a good thing. Even if you had an external cooler installed and your engine overheated, you could still run the risk of causing the ATF to become super heated if the conditions were right. If you didn't want to go with a Contour SVTs radiator, you could get a Focus radiator from Fluidyne. I am not sure if it would be an exact fit, but something to think about anyway and that is what all this is about."


How-To's -

CD4E Trans Temp Gauge Install How-To
"Go to Summit Racing and get yourself a 5/16" Autometer Trans Temp Manifold.

You can install this like I did, but you've got to be extremely careful in your measurements, cause this will come really close to your lower radiator hose. I installed my temp sensor so that I could read the ATF oil temperature after it leaves the tranny, but before it enters the radiator cooler. This temp reading coincides with the same reading you will get using a scan tool and looking up the TFT value. (Transmission Fluid Temperature)

Only cut the ATX oil cooling line using a pipe cutter. Do NOT use a hacksaw or a jig saw. You will introduce metal shavings inside the pipe, or you will bend the pipe out of round.

Follow the ATX Cooler line from the top of the rRadiator back to the transmission. Crack the fitting at the radiator and remove the line. Crack the fitting at the transmission and remove the line from the vehicle.

Following the directions that come with the manifold, you want to leave about 1/2" - 1" of pipe between where you cut the pipe, and the elbow behind the nipple that fits into the radiator cooler. Mark where you are going to make your upper cut into the pipe, mark where you are going to make your lower cut into the pipe based on the manifold's directions. Fit the temp sensor into the manifold using teflon tape to seal the threads. Fit the couplings into the manifold using teflon tape.

Now using a bolt and nut that will fit all the way through one of the mounting holes on the manifold. You want to anchor about a 3' section of wire using a terminal that fits over the head of the bolt. This is going to become your ground strap for the sensor. Since the ATX Cooler Lines are not all pipe, the portion of the pipe that attaches to the radiator is isolated from the vehicle and not grounded.

Attach the compression fittings to the cooler lines and assemble the lines to the manifold. Make sure that you position the pipes as close to their original positions as possible. They don't have to be exact, you can alwasy bend the pipes a little to get them into the correct position.

Attach one end of the wire you are running from the sensor to the gauge, at the sensor, also using a terminal that fits over the bolt.

Reinstall the cooling line. (When I reinstalled my line, a corner of the manifold was pressing against my lower radiator hose. I had to remove the cooler line and use a Dremel to cut enough material off the corner of the manifold block so that it would not touch the lower hose.)

Attach the sensor wire to the gauge.

Cut accordingly and attach the ground strap to a ground point on the radiator support just behind the headlamps. You will see about two or three black wires that are all attached to the support, just behind the passenger headlamp, on the engine compartment side of the radiator support. I used this point to anchor the ground strap.

That's it! Check the oil level of your transmission. You will lose some oil when you remove the line, but it shouldn't be more than 1/2 quart.



- Pete (Roadrunner) The offical CEG CD4E Burner!!


CD4E External Cooler Install
This way will save you from having to cut any of your stock lines incase you are on a lease.

Parts List:

-Tranny Cooler From a post by Terry Haines: Terry suggested either a Hayden 'Ultra-Cool' (#404 side connections) or a 'Rapid-Cool' (#678 bottom connections)
-About 6 feet of 3/8 inch transmission hose. (Get longer if you're not sure or your cooler has a bottom feed)
-2 hose barbs/adapters One male, one female
-4 hose clamps
-Teflon tape, or your sealant of choice
-Brackets
-Sheet metal screws
-Zip tie style holders to hold the cooler (will probably come with the cooler, otherwise the guy at the parts shop will know what you need)
-Zip ties
-Fresh tranny fluid

Tools needed:
-3/4 inch wrench
-3/8 inch ratchet
-Short ratchet extension
-8mm socket
-Scissors or utility knife

*Obligatory Disclaimer: I'm not responsible if you ingest tranny fluid, it tastes nasty, but you'll live, maybe, probably not. Tranny fluid does seem to make good hair conditioner though. Also don't be dumb, and drop your car on yourself. I'm not going to hold your hand through this install, you'll have to figure out some for yourselves, but please ask questions in the forum if you have any)*



Step 1) Park on a flat surface, secure your car from rolling (don't be lazy and just set the parking break, chock those back wheels) jack it up, and put jack stands under it.

Step 2) Drain the oil from the transmission through the drain plug. This will keep all the fluid from pouring out of the cooler hoses and help with that fluid ingestion part. Just use the square end of a 3/8 inch ratchet and short extension, no sockets needed on this one.

Step 3) You will probably need to remove some shield right now to access the space behind the bumper. Matt and I didn't need to do this because his 2000 didn't come with it. (matt, put a smiley here)

Step 4) Crack open a beer with your buddy.

Step 5) Place a pin in the tab in the top of the radiator. (not necessary, we did the install without it, but it's in the Ford manual so it's probably a good idea) This is to keep the radiator from falling down when you remove the bottom support.

Step 6) Remove the two 8mm bolts that hold the lower radiator mount in place, and turn it around so you can access the lower hose connector of the radiator.

Step 7) Undo the flare nut (3/4 inch) that holds the lower tranny cooler return line in the radiator. Be prepared with a bucket for the fluid that will pour out.

Step 8) Time for another beer!

Step 9) Take your two hose adapters, using teflon tape or your sealant of choice, put the adapters onto the tranny hose and into the radiator. Make sure to use sealant, otherwise it will leak and you'll have to do this all again (voice of experience here)

Step 10) Test fit your cooler, and cut the hose to length. We routed them along the same path as the power steering cooler lines. You may place it wherever you wish, we put it in front of the AC condenser but not against it. You don't want to put the cooler against the condensor or ps cooler, because then you will be heating the tranny cooler and it wont do it's job as effectivly.

Step 11) The brackets we used were from a B&M cooler kit, but you can find something similar at a hardware store. The tops were bent over so that we could use sheet metal screws to attach them to the metal behind the bumper.

Step 12) Grab another beer and admire your handy work on those brackets

Step 13) Attach your hoses to the cooler and to the hose adapters and clamp them in place. You might want to orient the hose clamps so that you can undo them later with out removing the cooler. You might need to pop the hard metal line for the tranny out of it's holder and slide it sideways so the hose adapters can clear each other and fit like stock.

Step 14) Attach the cooler to the brackets, we used the black zip cord things that came with the cooler, and used the foam pads to cushion the fins of the cooler.

Step 15) Secure the hoses in place, we used zip ties.

Step 16) Put the radiator mount back in place with the two bolts.

Step 17) If you haven't already, put the drain plug back in place, using some teflon tape to seal it up.

Step 18) Get your funnel out and replace the fluid you took out with 5 quarts of new fluid. (maybe a little more to make up for the fluid that will be in the new cooler and hoses) If you run the engine while doing this, the fluid will be circulated through the transmission and cooler lines and not spill out of any vent holes. This is a problem when refilling transmissions that are completely drained and might not apply here, but it couldn't hurt. If you're feeling ambitious (read drunk) you could replace all your fluid with the hoses attached to the adapters and not the cooler.

Step 19) Take those jack stands out from under there, and drop, I mean lower(!) the car back down. (not the voice of experience here, but I like seeing the look on Matt's face when I suggest something like this around his car.

Step 20) You guessed it, one more beer. Unless you're going to go test drive the car, in that case skip all the beers and have your sweetie make you some kool-aid.

Notes: This install went fairly easy for us, and looks very clean. Its hard to tell that anything was done even from underneath except for the bright shinny cooler. A black one would probably be completely stealth. We only had a few problems. We ran into some trouble when we were getting the new hoses onto the cooler, they were a very tight fit. We tried heat, grease and stretching out the hose with a larger bolt. In the end it just took time to get it on. We also had some trouble getting to the flare nut on the radiator until we moved the mount out of the way. We also put the cooler inline after the stock one in the radiator. This will let the radiator pull a lot of heat out of the fluid and let the new one do the rest, as opposed to taking the heat out of the fluid and then putting it back in when it flows through the radiator. This will also help in the winter in that the fliud will be warmed up faster in the radiator to get the tranny up to operating temp. All in all this is an easy job that just about anyone could do, you just need a little know how and a few simple tools. If you need help enlist a friend, that's how I keep ending up working on Matt's car.

- Chlorine & SpeedDemon (Dan & Matt)


A few things I might add here... Another cooler that quiet a few people have used is the B&M Super Cooler. This cooler comes in a kit that includes all the necessary fittings and tubing that might be needed. Bear mind that the Contour does have a slightly different size fitting then most. IIRC, it is 5/16, so you might have to get the fittings from somewhere else.


- unisys12

I would also like to add here, that if anyone has anything that they would like to add or any questions about this FAQ, please either start a thread here about it or PM me. I am always looking to expand on any information that I may have and I am not too proud to make corrections.