Well well, after replacing the solenoid in my tranny for the harsh reverse engagement issues (600 bucks) and about 20,000 miles later (total mileage 43,000) I had to take it in yet again. It was feeling funny between first and second and second and third. Instead of one bump and going into the next gear, it was bumping 3 and 4 times. So Ford garage test drove said I needed the valve body. So I'm looking at $320 to replace it. I get it scheduled in and go to work and my phone rings,,not a good sign at all. Says when they took the pan off and went to replace the valve body there were bright silver shavings and brass shavings. Says nope not gonna do any good to replace the valve body you need a whole new transmission

So, mind you, my warranty is gone so I had to make a decision to get one from Ford with 36,000 mile warranty or one from junkyard with 30 day warranty. Since I use it on a delivery route, I decided the Ford one was the best way to go..but this is most frustrating. Take it in expecting $300 bill and now am gonna have to come up with $3k!!!!!

 

your tranny was first acting up at 13k, well within the fac warr. GET ANGRY! I delt with a car that blew trannies every 25k miles(Acura) and eventually got it bought back and got alot of cash in pocket for it.

 

There is a service bulltin out for the 04's- they filled it with the wrong tranny fluid! This should be free for you; as they know that this is a big problem. Also, if you had problems at 13K, then it is still covered!

Take it to another dealer, tell them you know about the service bullitin, but you don't know what's wrong with it. say you had the solinoids replaced when it first had problems at 13K but don't know what's wrong with it now. Have them test it and see what they say. the answer should be: "You need a new tranny, but these were bad and it's a free fix"

 

the problem you are having is a servo bore wear issue.there are 2 servos , 1 for overdrive band,witch is also used in second gear.and a intermediate servo that is used in third gear. the bores wear and fluid presure is bypassing the servo until enough line presure is increased to finally get the band to engage.the fix is to install a new case and servos.thay are on back orderthrew ford.buy the reman trans from ford,cause more than likly the junkyard trans isnt that far behind the one that you have.

 

I have a 2003 Explorer with the 4.0L and auto, I guess they all have auto now. Do these trans and fluid issues apply in any way to the 2003's? I followed earlier discussions last year and didn't see any references to 2003's. Ford says no recalls for me - make sense?

Thanks

Mike

 

Yield2 has a very good point and I actually used that trick with success. If you have paper work especially showing you complained about the trans problem before should help you get some compensation at least. It worked for me but is was a minor repair job nothing like a tranny.

 

write a letter to William Clay Ford, Jr., CEO, Chmn of Bd; Ford Motor Company, P.O. Box 685; Dearborn, MI 49126-0685; U.S.A. Include any documentation such as invoices of work under warranty (FoMoCo service dept should have provided with you one at the completion of warranty work and probably had you sign a work order before they did the work; if you did not save them, they can probably print you out a new set. Another approach is to file a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Office of Defects Investigation. Filing a complaint with the NHTSA/ODI can be done online and is easy to do and there is no charge, I have done all suggestions myself, and more. I also have requested an application to the Dispute Settlement Board; see page 212, 04 Explorer Owners Manual. My situation is better than yours in that my 2004 is still under 12,000 miles and will be one year old in two days. Suggest you take a look at the thread by john bagley, 2004 transmission. Even though your vehicle is off warranty I agree with the others who responded that you should get angry, or like me, Tickedoff2.
Prior to this incident I was a big Ford fan, only new vehicles I ever purchased and was always treated fairly in the past when there was a warranty problem, this time they are giving me a runaround and have refused to do any further warranty work on the transmission to fix the defective operation. Good luck with your problem. Incidentally, when mine was last in the shop, I had a 2005 Explorer rental with only 2,450 miles, it occasionally had a delayed reverse engagement and then engaged violently when just touching the accelerator-just like mine.

 

Might find something that would help with this at www.lemonaidcars.com