ANY HELP GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!


I have a 97 Explorer with the 5.0ltr and the 4R70W transmission. This is going to be hard to believe but it really happens. When it snows over night, my wife will go to leave for work the next morning and as she goes down the road the tranny will not shift from 1st to 2nd and then again in the higher gears without letting off and then stepping back into it. This only happens when it snows. And no I am not losing my head. It has only happened 3 times now. Driving it in the rain or on very wet roads will not cause it to do this.

I took it to a very reputable tranny shop in town and they said that everything seemed to be fine and they couldn't find any codes in the system. IT happened to my wife again today and she took it to a tranny guy right down the road this morning and of course he could not get the problem to happen again. However he said that he got a code on the Throttle Positioning Sensor that was intermetent. Since this tranny does not have a vacum modulator could this sensor be the real problem? Also what about a speed control sensor? This never happens when its anything but snowing. BELIEVE IT OR NOT!




DON

 

http://tccoa.com/articles/tranny/index.html

If you have time, read the first 3 articles. You will learn TONS about your transmission. I have the 4R70W in my Tbird, they have some problems and the solutions are in those articles.

I'm not sure about the 97 Explorer tranny, but you may have the old parts that cause problems. See picture for comparison of old style vs new style accumulators, about 1/2 way down this article: http://tccoa.com/articles/tranny/tra...business.shtml

Hope this helps!

 

Jake, I would suspect a bad TPS, especially since you're getting a code. Maybe moisture in the TPS is freezing, and interfering with the transmission signal.

On an interesting note, the OHV engine has a plastic cover over the throttle body. Ford calls this a "SNOW SHEILD" !!!??? That seems like a strange name for a plastic cover. Apparently Ford knows of a connection with the throttle body and snow.....
_________

 

well i read the articles recommended by the first reply and i hope that it is something more simple than all of that. this last reply sounds more like the problem that i should hope for. will wait and see what happens tonite, after all we are suppose to get another batch of snow and if not then i will test that tp sensor and see if it is bad or looks like it is taking on moisture. thanks to all for the input and will let you know what i find out.


don