I have a '05 Explorer 2WD with the 5R55E that will just drop into neutral while in D and you can rev the gas and coast...plus the warning lights all flash and sometimes it will shut off the engine! It will work properly by starting out in 1 and manually shifting through 2, 3 and D. But hitting the O/D switch in any of these will produce the neutral or complete engine shut off... any ideas on this one? Is it the infamous valve body gasket issue? Thanks

 

I bought my 2000 Ranger 3.0L FlexFuel (140k miles) on April 27th. The engine is very clean, all fluids looked good (transmission fluid included...no burnt smell and it was clear), and the truck ran smoothly...for 4 days. On the 5th day, I drove into town without any issues, stopped at a gas station to buy a drink...turned the truck off before I went in. When I came back out and started the truck, it was fine...pulled onto the road and started accelerating, and all of a sudden I couldn't accelerate past 20-25mph. Everytime I tried, the rpm's would spike and the engine would rev, then the truck would kick and downshift. Took it to the local Ford Dealer, and they ran diagnostics and said that my clutches were bad. I took it to a local guy who rebuilds and replaces transmissions (he was referred to me by a local trusted mechanic). He's had the truck for 3 weeks now, yesterday he told me that he replaced the clutches and the bands, and fixed a gasket that had started to blow. However, when he put the trans back in and ran my truck, it still had the same problem. He has the trans out again and is going over every little thing to see what the problem could be. Also, I haven't had any indicator lights come on at all (check engine, OD, etc). Does anyone here have an idea? I'm at my wit's end...I bought the truck from a private seller so I'm stuck, and besides that I love that truck and don't wanna ditch it! Help!!

 

Welcome to FTE.

Sorry to hear about your tranny woes.

Post All of the tranny trouble code Numbers that the Dealer found that caused them to come to the diagnostic conclusion that the clutch packs were at fault.

Would also be helpful to know which tranny is in the vehicle & if it had ever been replaced, recently been serviced & any past service history you can get from the previous owner.

Right now with the little input we currently have, I'm thinking maybe a suddenly failing tanny pump, blown valve body gasket, piece of trash from it, or a recent machine tranny flush, clogging something up, a bad solenoid that suddenly failed & caused an internal operational pressure problem & any of which likely had caused, or is now causing a trouble code to be set in the tranny computer.

So those codes could provide some good clues to whats going on with which part of the tranny..

The tranny computer is different than the engine emission control computer & a high end scantool is needed to pull it's trouble codes & the Dealer & tranny shop have a scantool that'll do that, so refer to your repair estimate paperwork for any codes recorded, or call the Techs that did the diagnostcs & get & post the past & current trouble codes.

When the tranny was opened up, what did the tranny shop find in the pan????

 

It could be many things that would cause this, one thing that comes to mind that can be overlooked during a rebuild is a cracked inner race on the center support.

Have him to move around the shift solenoids too see if the problem changes. I had one a few weeks ago that had a 2-3 flare after rebuild and the 2-3 shift solenoid was bad, I dont see that too much but its worth a try.

The transmission should be a 4R44E

 

Thanks! I will let him know of your suggestions. Hopefully that'll do the trick.

 

Ok, I will get the codes and post them. There weren't any codes listed on the paperwork from the dealer, only said that clutches were bad and described the way the truck drives. The tranny repairman said that the pan was "pretty clean" and that he didn't find much of anything. Thanks.

 

OK, good feedabck.
A clean pan is a good sign.

 

I called the dealership where the diagnostic was run. They said that the response they got when they scanned the tranny was "Internal Mechanical Failure", so no codes were able to be displayed. What does that mean? Do I have to trash the truck? I'm just sick over this whole thing.

 

Call the Dealer back & ask for the Servive Manager & tell him you want the tranny trouble code Numbes they pulled & you paid for!!!!
If they give you the same run around answer, ask them what the tranny code Number is for "Internal Mechanical Failure"!!!!

Ask the tranny shop what code Numbers they found also.

What's the tranny shop thinking about the problem now????

The fact that they didn't find any metal in the tranny pan is a good sign, but it doesn't take much in the way of debris in the valve body to cause mischief.

So don't be too hard on the tranny shop, I'm sure they're trying their best to put your problem right as quickly as they can.

 

I have just replaced the 5R55E transmission in my 2000 Explorer 4.0L 4wd and am having the exact same problem!!

I just had a "new" used tranny installed (102000 miles from a junkyard) by my mechanic and now I am getting a blinking O/D light intermittently, and DTC codes P0705, P0708, P1704. The codes are for the transmission range selector which I believe is unrelated to the above problem. (PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong!)

The main problem is as described by airbeast in the above posts, however with mine if you place in D it does move a bit, like there is a bad slip happening. HOWEVER if you place the shift selector into 1 or 2, and then back to D, it drives just fine!! FWIW The old tranny did this too, just had no 2nd gear and very little reverse!!! Everything else works fine, shifts thru all gears, O/D kicks in on the freeway, O/D off switch works when not blinking.

The tranny now has about 50 miles on it since the rebuild. I am going to meet with my mechanic today and have it checked out. I am trying to determine whether we should try and fix the valve body or just return the tranny to the junkyard (it came w/90 day warranty). I guess it depends whether they will reimburse me for the R&R&R (&R eventually).

I am new to transmission internal diagnosis but very interested in learning how they work (and fail)!!

 

The dealer's technicians are insisting that no codes came up running the dtc, only the "internal mechanical failure". I asked them if they even ran the diagnostic on the tranny computer, or if they ran diagnostics just on the engine emission control computer...they said the scantool they use does "all electrical systems at once". I am somewhat skeptical about that...
Anyway, the mechanic that is rebuilding my tranny told me yesterday that he ordered and put in a new center support, but he hadn't put the tranny back in the truck yet...he said something about a lot of fluid leaking out when he had the tranny apart before putting the new center support in, but he hadn't mentioned that to me before. I'm really trying to be patient with him, because I'm sure it's not an easy job, but sometimes I wonder if he is giving me the runaround. I'm just hoping that the new center support fixed the problem.

 

I would only replace the center support if the one in the transmission is bad, was yours bad? if not, then it probably will not fix the problem........


I don't understand the fluid situation, of coarse you will loose all the fluid installing a center support.

 

The guy who is fixing it said that the center support looked pretty rough, and he replaced it with one that was "a lot better quality" than the original. I'm gonna call him after while and see if the truck is running well yet.

 

After this tear down & rework, Ford recommends/specifies that an inline tranny filter be installed in the tranny fluid return line, between the fluid to air cooler & tranny, so if it doesn't already have one, make sure one is installed, or if one is in there now, that it's replaced with a new filter.

All this to catch any debris missed, or thats dislodged during the tranny work, cleanup & refill, so it doesn't cause mischief.

Ford has a part number for the installation kit, or filter only, or you could have them use an aftemarket equivalent inline filter from most any parts store for about $15-$19, like the Magnefine, which is good quality. Welcome to the Australian Magnefine Website

Edit: Fords TSB on adding an inline tranny filter on reman, or rebuilt transmissios.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/tsb/full...?tsb=*00-23-10

 

Well, I just got off the phone with my transmission repairman...he put the tranny back in after replacing the center support and drum, and he said that it runs a little differently than before, but still has the same problem. He said that when he hooks the tranny computer up to his scantool, it states that there's a problem with solenoid 1...but he said that that can't be right, because he's changed the positions of the solenoids several times (interchanged them), and each time he hooks the scantool up it says the same thing instead of changing to the position where the solenoid had been moved. In other words, no matter which solenoid was placed in position 1, the scantool still says that there's a problem with it. He is thinking that the computer is bad, and that makes sense to me...at this point we're trying to find a used tranny computer, part number XL5FHG, with the least amount of miles as possible...the one that he has found locally has 105k miles, and he's afraid that it won't last long. He said that he's called several places, and although they have used trannys to fit my truck, they've already sold the computers. Seems like there's a common problem with the transmission computer? Has anyone else had experience with this?