I have to say gentlemen, this is one of the best written and updated tech threads I've seen in about 9 years of posting on auto forums. Awesome job!
I used the original posters procedure to do the solenoid pack replacement today (actually my brother did the work as I'm 3 weeks removed from shoulder surgery). Did the whole thing stem to stern as written. Unfortunately it did not help my problems. My symptoms are very similar but slightly different than most here. My '04 4.0 is not shifting into 2nd until 3000 or more RPM's regardless of throttle pressure. I have the "O/D OFF" light flashing and a recurring P0745 code locked in. Also, it will not go into 5th at all under any circumstances, even if the "O/D OFF" light is not flashing. Thus far I have done:
Fluid flush and fill
Band adjustment
Solenoid pack replacement
One thing that I have been doing that I have not read of anyone else doing is manually shifting with the column shifter. From a dead stop I pull it all the way to first, then at ~2500RPM I move to second and let off the gas and it shifts reasonably smooth, again around 2500 RPM, I move to 3rd...and then into Drive. Each shift is fairly smooth with little slippage. But the MIL and O/D lights still do their thing.
I have not tried having the ECU flashed by the Ford dealership, but I plan on giving that a try Monday morning.
I am just about ready to chuck this trans and buy another one because I'm at my wits end with it. However after shelling out about a grand for out of pocket surgery expenses plus the $400 for the solenoid pack, I'm a little short on cash at the moment. Do these symptoms sound like I'm a candidate for a valve body rebuild if the ECU flash doesn't work? I have little issue with dropping the pan and yanking that thing off to fix it IF I have reasonable expectation that it will fix the problem.
Oh yes, and my wife is just about tired of driving my POS Hyundai beater now. She wants the Explorer back.
One more thing, pumping fluid back into the transmission was a piece of cake with the hand pump that was mentioned in an earlier post. I used it along with a 1/4" hose X 1/8NPT male fitting to screw into the center plug of the drain bolt. Whoever dug up that gem of knowledge deserves a damn medal! The last time I did a transmission fluid change I spent 2 hours squeezing fluid back in via a trans cooler soft line near the radiator.
Is the fill device mentioned readily available at a Ford Dealer, or is that a special order type of thing?
