My '02 Explorer transmission is giving me a little trouble. The vehicle has 240,000 miles, but the transmission has been rebuilt several miles ago. I recently had the fluid changed, and I had them add a bottle of Lucas Transmission Fix, which I have had good luck with in the past. Most of the time, the transmission behaves normally.
Occasionally however, when I come to a stop after driving for a while, the transmission stops pulling, like it has shifted into neutral. Sometimes it will re-engage after a couple seconds, and sometimes I try to hurry it along by shifting to Park, then back to Drive and it will go. If I am on an incline, and the vehicle does this, it will actually roll down the hill. Hopefully there is a simple fix because this thing is too close to the end of its life to require a hefty repair investment! Maybe a switch or a sensor. I'd love to tell you that I checked the fluid level, but Ford forgot to put a transmission dipstick on it.....

 

It could be low fluid. It's most likely a bad seal in the forward clutch. It certainly is not a switch or a sensor.

 

I am going to acquire the items needed to check/add fluid today and check it out.

I'm sure there was some semi-reasonable explanation for omitting the dipstick. Do you know, Mark?

 

It goes back to the Lincoln LS. The Explorer uses the 5R55S, the LS uses the 5R55N. The dipstick wouldn't fit in the LS. There literally was not enough space in the engine compartment to get it in there. Since the S was almost identical to the N, they also dropped the dipstick in that model. Also, the industry in general has been trending away from transmission dipsticks.

 

Thanks for the help, man! And for the info!

I'll admit, I'm a relic. I'm not anti-change, but I need a good reason to understand. I don't want to get bent out of shape about it, and I'm sure most folks these days don't do their own simple maintenance work, so it doesn't matter to them. I have discovered another reason to be irked about this deal, however. That stupid little fitting that goes into the bottom of the transmission pan is $15 - $20, depending on where you shop. Probably cost $0.25 to make. It's like they told all us old timers that still do our own car maintenance to screw off, then stuck it to us again by charging so much for the required tool for those of us who still persist. I need to just make my own....

 

The required tool to check the trans fluid is an Allen wrench.

 

Found the fitting to add fluid at O'Reilly's website - $15

Stopped at local O'Reilly store - Out of stock - special order - 7-10 days

$8 freight charge

Saved $23!!


They actually had the fluid on sale, so I bought a couple quarts, and a pump to put it in with....

 

I use a weed sprayer with a rubber cork on the end to press and seal against the bottom of the fitting.