P0734 and P0735 What does it mean? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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P0734 and P0735 What does it mean?

Lectricman

Member
Joined
April 23, 2011
Messages
24
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City, State
Brooksville, FL
Year, Model & Trim Level
'97 XLT 4.0 OHV 2WD
Been having intermittant problems with my '97 Explorer and finally got a flashing O/D light. Had the codes pulled and got P0734 (gear 4 incorrect ratio) and P0735 (gear 5 incorrect ratio). Aside from the fact that it is not shifting correctly (delayed shifts, flaring on last shift, and running at higher rpms than normal) what exactly do those codes mean? Would it be something electrical, mechanical, or all of the above? I have had the pan off twice in the last few weeks, and the fluid is clean and does not smell burnt. The valve body gaskets look to be in good shape and there were no remnants of gasket in the pan. The internal wiring is intact and looks to be in good shape, but I have not done a continuity test on it. Also this morning I tried manually shifting through all the gears and when I turned the O/D back on by the button I got a loud whining that did not stop until I shifted the truck into neutral. Sorry this is so long, but I really want to try and fix this myself, just trying to provide as much info as possible. Thanks everyone!
 



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Thansk for the quick reply Brooklyn; the bands have been adjusted already. I plan to do a continuity check on the shift solenoids as well as the internal wiring this weekend. Do you know off hand what the readings are supposed to be for the solenoids? I don't know if the servo pistons have been replaced or not, and the heat shield is in place. The outside of the tranny doesn't look like it has been tampered with in any way, i.e., the servo covers aren't clean like someone has worked on them, etc. Also the valve body looks to be a little cleaner than the rest of the tranny internals, like maybe it was replaced or repaired at one time. The strange thing is the first time I did a fluid and filter change a few weeks ago, I added a quart of Lucas tranny additive upon refill and the shifting corrected itself for a couple weeks, then went back to how it is now.
 






Your problem could be mechanical or electrical. Did you remove the valve body? You can't always see where the gasket blew out, just by looking around the edge and looking in the pan. If you remove it, you should use new separator plate gaskets. Here is the ohm readings for the solenoids.

EPC 3.1-5.7
SSA--SSD 22-48
TCC 8.9-16

Here is a link to the codes.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238818
 






I haven't removed the valve body, just looked around the edges of it. I will check the wiring and solenoids this weekend. Any other suggestions while I'm in there, and where is the best place to get valve body gaskets, I would like to use the bonded gaskets if possible.
 


















Just to update everyone, I dropped the pan again this morning to do some more checking around. I can't see any indication of the valve body gasket blown out anywhere, but I know that its not always evident. I did notice that it does NOT have the new style blow off valve with the holes in it. I also found a small tag under one of the bolts retaining the solenoid bracket that had "97" and "DED" stamped in it. Does anyone know anything about that? I haven't seen any reference to it in all of my reading on here. While I was in there I did a continuity check on the solenoids and they were all within specs. I did notice, however, that the SSA solenoid was rather loose in the bore. The retaining bracked appeared to be in good shape from what I could see (I didn't remove it), but the solenoid was definetly loose, while all of the others were tight. Is this the solenoid for the 1-2 shift? I haven't had any problems with 1-2 only with 4-5. After putting it back together, I took it for a drive and it shifted somewhat normally, but with a 800-1000 rpm flare from
4th to 5th. I am leaning more toward a rebuilt valve body from central valve bodies because I need to have it running again the same day. Thanks for everyone's help on here!
 






Hello Lectricman. I recently had to work on my transmission, and although I don't know the meaning, the tag read "97 FED". By the way, how many miles do you have on that rig?
 






Just over 118,000. Sounds like that might have been a factory tag if you found one also. I see that yours is a '97 also. Are you the original owner? I bought mine used so I don't know if it ever had any previous tranny work done or not.
 






Just over 118,000. Sounds like that might have been a factory tag if you found one also. I see that yours is a '97 also. Are you the original owner? I bought mine used so I don't know if it ever had any previous tranny work done or not.

At least the third owner...I bought it at about 100,000 miles, and had problems with the torque converter clutch system at 174,000 miles.
 






Well, I called Donny at Central Valve Bodies today and ordered a rebuilt valve body for the Explorer. I cannot say enough about Donny's customer service. He was very knowledgable and provided a lot of good information. With the explorerforum.com discout the total came to $247.49 with shipping. It should be here on Friday and I plan to install it this weekend. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes. Thank you to everyone on here for their help and a big thanks to Donny at Central Valve Bodies. Highly recommended!
 






My rebuilt valve body from Central came in yesterday and I installed it this morning. The Explorer shifts great now! The old valve body had a blown out gasket near the reverse servo and the rest of the gasket was very brittle. Also, one of the small pieces of gasket was lodged in one of the passageways above the valve body in the tranny. So far it seems to have fixed the problem, all shifts are clean and firm. Time will tell, but so far so good. Thanks to everyone on here for their help and information and thanks to Donny at Central Valve Bodies. If you are in need of a rebuilt valve body, be sure to give him a call.
 






Glad to hear you got it fixed, thanks for the reply back.
If a valve body from Central doesn't fix the problem and it was installed correctly, then the problem is inside the trans.
 












I am currently having the same problem with my 2003 Sport Trac. Did the Valve Body fix your problem?
Thanks.
 






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