Hello my first post , Ok i got a 2000 ford ranger reg cab non 4 wheel drive , 3.0 motor , auto trans 4 speed , And my problem is when i take off from a dead stop the first to secound shift hits very hard and late but when i manaualy **** from first to secound it shifts fine , So i took it to amco and they said the problem with these trans is the gasket in between the valve body blows out , And they want $300 just for the tear down , So does this sound right ? Im shure i can handle the job if this is the problem with the valve body but if it deeper in the trans i dont want to mess with it , I was looking at that read me first part of this web site and found the trans gasket part but is that the trans i have or is mine the A4LD ? Or do they all have this same problem , Ok enuff questions for now thanks .

 

Welcome. I believe your truck has the 4R55E tranny which is indeed somewhat prone to valve body gasket issues. If you are handy with tools you can do the work yourself. There is even a nice tutorial with pics available now.

See: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...lick-here.html

 

Thanks Rockledge ok now what else should i do while i have the valve body off Is it wise to put a shift kit in ? Any up grades ?also what is this = I also recommend having a Ford dealership plug in the VIN so you can address a couple TSBs while you're in there. that was in that section on the valve body gasket fix ?- and where do i get this = Now you can address the ford TSB with the blow off valve. Below are pictures of how and where to install it. ? Ok i realy appreciate your help , And THANK YOUR in Advance

 

You might consider searching the threads on the Bama programmers. They can do performance tunes that include improving shift performance on the auto transmissions.

One of our forum members is a sponsor here and is a dealer for Bama.

 

Ok i just got done doing all my repairs and now it shifts just fine , It was not all that hard and saved some money , Here is my total cost , from auto zone $36.52 for brake cleaner & 7 quarts castrol mercon 5 trans fluid ,And from the ford dealer , bord ford in whittier ca, $152.70 , And thats for the trans filter & gasket , And the seperaitor plate and the Valve kit (TSB) Total = $189.22 Not bad since AMCO wanted $250.00 just for tear down For anyone else who has the 4R553 auto trans here are the part numbers , The plate with bounded gaskets was = 1L5Z7Z490EA , And the EPC Blow Off Valve kit number is= 3L5Z7M203JA also on the work sheet for this kit it also looks like it fits other auto trans = 4R55E/55E, and 5R44E/5R55E ,And for the trans filter which it says in the valve kit instructions to only use ford trans filter and gasket , And the part numbers are = gasket -F5TZ7A191A , And trans filter -ZL2Z7A098CA Ok i hope this helps others on here as this site helped me I am very thankfull for all the info on this fine site and hope to give back some help when and where i can again THANK YOU .

 

shook,

Just for grins, how long did it take you to do the whole job?


CMOS

 

Well i started at around 1:30 pm and ended about 7 pm no rush ,spent most of the time avoiding the splash from trans fluid lol , but now if I whould have to do it again i think about 2 hours knowing what to do and how lol .

 

Cool. That's pretty consistent with what a couple others have said here.

CMOS

 

so everything shifts fine now? im really happy to hear it. if you can please post an entire story about your problem and what you did to fix it including costs and parts used in the main 4r55 / 5r55 post so others can see what you did and use your experience to help them

Matt