ahuggins6
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 20, 2011
- Messages
- 194
- Reaction score
- 88
- City, State
- New Boston, TX
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 1999 explorer 4.0 auto
Today I managed to get my transmission right! Full story after this:
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Following is a story of how my 5r55e went from flare to no forward, to inconsistent forward and reverse, and finally no 2nd or overdrive--all because I installed a Sonnax Zip Kit.
A few weeks back my family was supposed to go on a quick 7 hr (one way) trip. My wife's escape had tire wear issues and I didn't want to get it that far from home and have trouble. My super duty desperately needs an oil cooler, but I'm still piecing an external cooler kit together... The only other option was the '99 explorer that was given to me by a neighbor lady whose husband has dimensia. I've put a little work into it, and have been driving it to work, in hopes that it'll prove trustworthy enough to put my wife in it. She's been begging for rear ac for the kids.
I had been cringing at the 2-3 or 3-4 flare (I don't even remember which it was anymore.). So I decided to get a zip kit and fix the shifting issue before we left on this trip. As in, the night before we were to leave at noon on Friday.
So, it's no big deal to pull the pan, right? Well, I got the kit installed and valve body ready to reinstall the next morning. Sure enough, it went back in easily. I filled it with about 6 quarts of Mercon V till the stick showed full, then went for a ride. It's about 1/2 mile up our county road to the highway. I was pulling out onto the highway when it lost forward gear.....
Still had reverse so I backed the it all the way home, very slowly. Parked it, loaded up in the escape and went on the trip.
On Sunday afternoon, I dropped the vb and looked it over really well. I had worked really hard to make sure all the new parts got put in right. I found a spring retainer had dropped in upside down and I didn't catch it. One diagram I found called it a spring seat. (Part of the pressure regulator valve.). This seat kept the valve from properly opening and regulating pressure. I corrected this and reinstalled the vb. Still no forward. Over the next week, I pulled the vb to look at various potential causes about 20 times. Or so it seems...maybe I'm exaggerating. But maybe not.
I even ordered another vb off eBay, advertised as cleaned and checked. I took a chance on it. It was cheap enough... It didn't help.
I finally pulled the transmission out, and found the forward clutch "cylinder" (according to the ford shop manual) was exploded. (I have pics, but I'm not hosting them. If someone else wants to post them here for me, I'll gladly email them.).
The local Transtar store had a used one in stock so I installed it, and voilà, it works! Well.... It worked for half a mile. I turned onto a road that runs parallel to the hwy, and found I didn't have reverse. So I dropped in drive and made a loop home. In my driveway, I found that reverse could be had by shifting to neutral and letting the pressures bleed out where needed. Then I put it in drive, and found I had no forward... But the same thing. Nuetral it and wait, then go.
So I swapped my zipped vb back in (which I should've done when I had the trans on the table, but I'm trying to learn from each change. Well--except that while I had the OD and intermediate servos out, I cut grooves for o rings on them to make them seal off in worn bores (why pay 200 some odd bux when I can build them myself?). I took it for a drive and it was pretty solid, except for 2nd and OD. So I took it to get it scanned, found a p0732 code and the guy suggested a EPC solenoid and then a rebuild... So I got the solenoid and dropped the pan for the 1281st time and installed it. No fix.
When I had the trans on the table, I had bought a new intermediate servo, and used the OD servo to learn how big and deep to cut the grooves. It turns out, the two servos have a 0.2" difference in apply-side diameter. I had installed the original intermediate servo in the OD hole. This kept the front band from applying. Well, the front band is where second and over drive comes from... So today, I picked up a new OD servo, and my problem, so far appears to be fixed.
Again, if you want to volunteer to host my pics on this forum, let me know and I'll email you my pics.
[insert advertisements here]
Following is a story of how my 5r55e went from flare to no forward, to inconsistent forward and reverse, and finally no 2nd or overdrive--all because I installed a Sonnax Zip Kit.
A few weeks back my family was supposed to go on a quick 7 hr (one way) trip. My wife's escape had tire wear issues and I didn't want to get it that far from home and have trouble. My super duty desperately needs an oil cooler, but I'm still piecing an external cooler kit together... The only other option was the '99 explorer that was given to me by a neighbor lady whose husband has dimensia. I've put a little work into it, and have been driving it to work, in hopes that it'll prove trustworthy enough to put my wife in it. She's been begging for rear ac for the kids.
I had been cringing at the 2-3 or 3-4 flare (I don't even remember which it was anymore.). So I decided to get a zip kit and fix the shifting issue before we left on this trip. As in, the night before we were to leave at noon on Friday.
So, it's no big deal to pull the pan, right? Well, I got the kit installed and valve body ready to reinstall the next morning. Sure enough, it went back in easily. I filled it with about 6 quarts of Mercon V till the stick showed full, then went for a ride. It's about 1/2 mile up our county road to the highway. I was pulling out onto the highway when it lost forward gear.....
Still had reverse so I backed the it all the way home, very slowly. Parked it, loaded up in the escape and went on the trip.
On Sunday afternoon, I dropped the vb and looked it over really well. I had worked really hard to make sure all the new parts got put in right. I found a spring retainer had dropped in upside down and I didn't catch it. One diagram I found called it a spring seat. (Part of the pressure regulator valve.). This seat kept the valve from properly opening and regulating pressure. I corrected this and reinstalled the vb. Still no forward. Over the next week, I pulled the vb to look at various potential causes about 20 times. Or so it seems...maybe I'm exaggerating. But maybe not.
I even ordered another vb off eBay, advertised as cleaned and checked. I took a chance on it. It was cheap enough... It didn't help.
I finally pulled the transmission out, and found the forward clutch "cylinder" (according to the ford shop manual) was exploded. (I have pics, but I'm not hosting them. If someone else wants to post them here for me, I'll gladly email them.).
The local Transtar store had a used one in stock so I installed it, and voilà, it works! Well.... It worked for half a mile. I turned onto a road that runs parallel to the hwy, and found I didn't have reverse. So I dropped in drive and made a loop home. In my driveway, I found that reverse could be had by shifting to neutral and letting the pressures bleed out where needed. Then I put it in drive, and found I had no forward... But the same thing. Nuetral it and wait, then go.
So I swapped my zipped vb back in (which I should've done when I had the trans on the table, but I'm trying to learn from each change. Well--except that while I had the OD and intermediate servos out, I cut grooves for o rings on them to make them seal off in worn bores (why pay 200 some odd bux when I can build them myself?). I took it for a drive and it was pretty solid, except for 2nd and OD. So I took it to get it scanned, found a p0732 code and the guy suggested a EPC solenoid and then a rebuild... So I got the solenoid and dropped the pan for the 1281st time and installed it. No fix.
When I had the trans on the table, I had bought a new intermediate servo, and used the OD servo to learn how big and deep to cut the grooves. It turns out, the two servos have a 0.2" difference in apply-side diameter. I had installed the original intermediate servo in the OD hole. This kept the front band from applying. Well, the front band is where second and over drive comes from... So today, I picked up a new OD servo, and my problem, so far appears to be fixed.
Again, if you want to volunteer to host my pics on this forum, let me know and I'll email you my pics.
