Maybe a stuck or non operating solenoid, so check the external electrical connector for corrosion, bent pins or socket, or loose connection & if that checks out, maybe thump the solenoid & see if it'll wake up!!!!

 

The only problem with that is that when I out the vehicle in reverse, I do feel the "bump" associated with it going into gear, and it does move. just barely. It's like a stick shift when you slowly release the clutch.. you can feel it grabbing but the engine's revving high just to get it to inch along. Would the bad speed sensor do that? Maybe sending a bad signal to the PCM saying yep it's moving okay keep the solenoid right where it is? When it all started, it was working fine then after I had shut the vehicle off one morning at the local donut shop, I came out and reverse was acting like this, as well as drive. So since then I had to drive it in manual first, then manual second, then drive with overdrive off, then with overdrive on. I have the 5r55e service manual but i haven't found anything pertaining to "no reverse"

 

Well maybe a sticking solenoid, low line pressure, or a piece of the old gasket got in a bad place & has something clogged up, just thinkng out loud!!!!

Maybe a Trannyman will chime in & offer up a clue or two.

 

next weekend i'll probably drop the valve body again and start from scratch. I have and extra gasket set and seperator plate. When I bought the reman vb, it came with the plate and gaskets already installed..

 

is it a non bonded gasket that goes between the valve body and the tranny?

Matt

 

non bonded meaning it's not already attached to the sep plate? if so then yes, the gaskets came seperate from the sep plate.

 

ok, did u replace the sep plate?

if you want to eliminate one problem, go buy the bonded gaskets. they come attached to the sep plate on both sides, meaning they cant be out of alignment. if they are, they dont seal and cause problems. also, check your reverse servo while you are in there. ill bet your problems stem from there as well. mine didnt have reverse for a couple days, then it popped and worked.

i got mad, rolled in revers, then popped into into forward and it started working.

Matt

 

I did get the plate with the bonded gaskets.. I forgot, i got that from the ford dealer and i got the actual gaskets from another source. I'll head to the ford dealer this week and get new o rings for the reverse servo along with the gasket.. and I'll replace the oss sensor as well.

 

nice. make sure you do some research on the reverse servo, i think i put mine in wrong

Matt

 

Okay so I've been looking into all of this and trying to think about it in any ways that I can and here's some things that I've come up with that may or may not be related to what I'm facing with my Exploder...

The Torque Converter

If the stator is locked up, then at low speeds you wouldn't notice a difference, but high end would suffer badly. not what I'm dealing with. however if the stator is freewheeling (allowed to spin in either direction) then low end suffers and high end is ok. This would make the torque converter act as a fluid coupling with no torque multiplication. Hmm kinda sounds like what I'm experiencing.

The OSS sensor

In the tranny guide, it says that one of the symptoms of a bad OSS sensor is no torque converter clutch engagement. Seems that when your vehicle is going over 37 MPH, your PCM activates the lock up mechanism to have your torque converter act in much the same way as it would if the stator was freewheeling i.e. no low end power but ok on the top end. Now seeing as how I was driving to the coffee shop when my drive and reverse seemed to let go (I was doing about 40 or 45 since the speed limit in the area is about 40) it is conceiveable that my torque converter lock up mechanism engaged and never disengaged. Since I have the ODB code saying that I have a problem with my OSS sensor I'm going to replace it anyways.

I'll let you know the result of it, and for good measure I may just take a hammer to the side of the tranny and see if that jars the TCC clutch free... I may be way off course here, but to me it seems logical and definately possible. Mind you the reverse and low end problems happened at the same time. I had to 2-3 slip and then wham, this came along. Like I said previously there was a tear in the gasket when I removed the VB, and I did not have engine braking in Manual 1, but after the VB swap, I do have the engine braking in Manual 1...

 

Don't know if I'd take a hammer to the side of the trannies case aluminum casting, but maybe thump suspect things with the hammers handle, or at least put a block of wood on the case to spread the load & tap that. You sure don't need a cracked or broken tranny case to go with the other problems your having.

 

is the 4R44E trans valve body gasket install the same as the 4R55E tutorial

 

i actually did the tutorial on a 4r44e, but its all the same general parts, just different numebrs

 

well things went from bad to worse.. recently after driving and leaving the exploder, i went back to it and it no longer wanted to engage in drive, only if I revved the engine up to 3000 rpm.. wait, not drive but manual 1, drive still has the weak engagement/slipping.. so i'm guessing either the pump is no good, or the epc is acting up.. i'm going to drop the pan this weekend, swap the valve body with my old valve body, but with the new bonded gasket plate, change the reverse servo, and if that doesn't solve it, let me know if you're interested in a 2000 Ford Explorer, because mine will be going for sale soon!

 

Has anyone found the reason for this or have a solution? I have the same vehicle with the 4r55e trans and it just stopped moving at a stop light. Brought it home, tore out the tranny, put in a rebuild kit, all new clutches, new intermediate band, new seals, o-rings, valve body gaskets and o-rings. Put it back together and same problem, won't move until it's revved to about 3 grand and then it only seems to work in R & 1.
Put new seals and o-rings in the pump but it had a little wear on the plate. Is it possible the torque converter is the problem?
I am not sure how to check the fluid pressure. I put a guage on the upper line at the rad and plugged the inlet on the rad but I'm not sure this was effective as it only showed about 25lbs. of pressure. Could there be a switch bad or is it in the valve body itself?
Too many possibles and the Ford manual is a little less than clear on which direction to go first. Plus it doesn't have an option for "Ya gotta rev it up to 3 grand to make it move" which would help considerably.
Gotta get this thing outta my garage, any bright ideas???