Changed the Tranny valve body gaskets-Results

Well thanks to Brain, I found out that I had a torn valve body gasket when I opened up the tranny a few weeks ago to originally clean out the solenoids. It had the usual 2-3 shift issue AND it was slipping in 1st about 50% of the time. After cleaning the solenoids a few weeks ago it helped the slipping 1st gear down to only about 5-10% of the time. 2-3 shift issue was still there.

So on to today when I had the two new gaskets from Ford ($16 for both). I also went ahead and bought a new filter and pan gasket even though I had just put new ones on a few weeks ago. First of all I should have put a drain plug in last time but oh well. Everything actually went pretty smoothly other than the fact that I should have definitely kept better track of where all 20 or so bolts went to on the valve body. I actually had two tears in the "upper" gasket, the one between the seperator plate and the tranny. one tear on the side of the gasket right above the 4 solenoids. The other tear was on the corner of the reverse servo(??). I went ahead and "cleaned" the solenoids again while they were out.

After putting it all back together, my dad and I filled it up with 4 qts. and cranked it up (with the garage door open of course). Let it run for a few minutes and then tried to pull it out of the garage in Reverse. Nothing happened. The engine didn't bog down or anything. After I crapped my pants real quick, I put it in Drive. Again, nothing happened. Crapped my pants again while thinking that I forgot to reconnect something or left something out. I wasn't happy. So I then just shifted between all of the gears a few times and then dropped it in Reverse. It didn't move for about 3-5 seconds then dropped into gear finally. Long story short, it did that with all of the gears and even slipped a few times while I drove it around the block. After I few laps around the block I finally got Drive to work properly and WITHOUT THE 2-3 SHIFT PROBLEM!!! Even after it was running a lot better I was still nervous. Mainly b/c Reverse still wasn't shifting into Reverse as soon as I put it there. It has gotten better but still not perfect or even like it was before today. Hopefully tomorrow's driving will help it.


My big/main question to Brain/Glacier/whoever else after today:

Does it take a while to get the fluid to circulate throughout the valve body, are there airpockets that need to purge themselves out? It has taken a while but it seems like it is driving better the more I drive it. I didn't finish till 8:30 tonight and it is now 10:30PM so hopefully the drive to work tomorrow will help purge the system.

Thanks for any comments/suggestions/answers anyone might have,
Geoff

Yes... make sure you recheck the fluid levels.... it CAN take a little while to get the air out sometimes....relax. Did you remember the O rings on the filter? We're here to help... nothing you did will cause catastrophic problems.... keep us posted and we'll support you. Breathe deep grasshopper. r e l a x.

Glacier991 said:

Yes... make sure you recheck the fluid levels.... it CAN take a little while to get the air out sometimes....relax. Did you remember the O rings on the filter? We're here to help... nothing you did will cause catastrophic problems.... keep us posted and we'll support you. Breathe deep grasshopper. r e l a x.

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My dad was saying the same thing. Telling me to relax and all. I was just worried about having a working transmission at the beginning of the day and a non-working one at the end of the day. I did remember the O-rings on the filter. I will test the reverse multiple times tomorrow and see if it gets better. All of the gears except Reverse seem to be working well now. I am also keeping a funnel and tranny fluid with me in the truck just in case. I didn't read anything about air in the system and taking a while to get it out so I was a little worried. Thanks Glacier, it does make me feel better knowing that there are airpockets that need to find their way out...I will keep an eye on the fluid level the next few days. Going to Mardi Gras in Lafayatte, LA this weekend so I need it working as well as possible. I'll keep this thread updated.

Thanks,
Geoff

Geoff... we're here to help.... PM me and I can give you my phone to call if you keep having troubles.

Well this morning it was getting me really P.O. It was slipping all of the time, mostly from gear to gear but sometimes while it was IN gear. I checked the fluid when I got to work and it wasn't reading at all on the dipstick . So I go on into work. Fast forward to getting off of work (wish it were that easy in everyday life). I reread the dipstick (truck has been sitting all day) and it shows about 1/4 of the way up between the circles, the cold reading I believe. So I go ahead and pour the other 3/8-1/2 of a qt I had in the back of the truck in the tranny since I was about to get out there into rush hour. Anyway, long story short, it worked just about perfect the whole way home . Go figure. My Dad and I do have a question though. Since we dropped the valve body, how much fluid would you estimate we lost? With the little bit I put in this afternoon, we have now put in 5qts. The book says only 4qt capacity but I figure maybe that is only if you drop the pan and only the pan. What does the whole system hold, TC and all? How long does it usually take for the system to purge all of the air out?

Thanks again,
Geoff

The entire system holds 10 or so quarts. Yes you were low and probably still are... a slight over fill is not soemthing awwful... get it warm,in park on a level surface and get it properly filled. Absent replacing a TC, getting any air out shouldnt really take all that long. I think you sound fine.

Glacier991 said:

The entire system holds 10 or so quarts. Yes you were low and probably still are... a slight over fill is not soemthing awwful... get it warm,in park on a level surface and get it properly filled. Absent replacing a TC, getting any air out shouldnt really take all that long. I think you sound fine.

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Thanks for the answers and the confidence Chris. I will take you up on that PM if things make a turn for the worse **knock on wood**, though I REALLY don't want to go into that thing again. Not for a while anyway.

Geoff

Chris,
On my way to work this morning it was acting up/slipping a little bit and then the same when I left work. Seems to be at it's worst when the truck has been sitting for hours at a time. The biggest problem with it when it has been sitting is when I try to put it in Reverse or Drive. It won't actually go into gear for about 5 seconds or so, the engine doesn't bog down or anything like it should. When I got through rush hour this afternoon on my way to school, I stopped by an AZ and bought some Lucas Tranny stuff. I got to school and checked the fluid level and it didn't read anything. Keep in mind I have already put 5 qts in there since I did the VB gaskets and all on Sunday. I poured that whole qt of Lucas in and it ran fine after school....little over 3 hours. Hopefully you were right and I still didn't have enough in there.

Geoff

Geeze where is it all going ? You do not have a vacuum modulator so it HAS to be leaking.... get it full and monitor it... slipping is not healthy for it.

One more thing I forgot to ask. In your Diary's you said the low/reverse servo has a spring on it correct? Mine did not but I didn't know if the A4LD did and my 5R55E did not.

I watch the garage floor all the time and I don't see any leakage.

Geoff

I had the same problem and it was the bore for the spool had a very small burr on it and took some extra pressure to move it. Once I took it out again and cleaned it out and relooked at the spools another was sticking as well. Just my experience with the valve body rebuild. It also does take some time to get the air out but from the sound if it it may be more than air. Does it only slip when cold. after a freeway run does it slip from the off ramp stop to street traffic if you have to stop for a light?

If you had the valve body off for a good length of time, up to half of the fluid in the torque converter could drain out. That would bring a total of about 7-8 quarts. Now, if you didn't have the VB off that long, maybe five minutes, I'd expect that only 5 quarts would be needed....

Brain said:

If you had the valve body off for a good length of time, up to half of the fluid in the torque converter could drain out. That would bring a total of about 7-8 quarts. Now, if you didn't have the VB off that long, maybe five minutes, I'd expect that only 5 quarts would be needed....

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Might be getting somewhere there. My Dad and I made an observation while the VB was off/out. On the front side (of the truck) of where the VB mounts up to the tranny, we had seapage(sp?) that seemed to come every 30 seconds or so. It was as if it would suck some air up in there and then release fluid...over and over. If I had to guess, I would say the VB was out for about 30 minutes to an hour, I honestly can't really remember but it was definitely longer than 5 or 10 minutes.

For an update on today's performance, It seemed to only slip once when I first started driving it down my street this morning. Other than that it seemed to handle perfectly fine all day. It still seems to pause a little too long after I put it in gear though to when it actually goes into gear (starts moving. I checked the fluid when I got home a few minutes ago after a good 40 minute drive. The level was about 1/8 the way up on the crosshatching, so barely enough I guess. If that seapage that I was talking about earlier was the TC draining partly, could it be understandable that 6 qts is just barely reading ok? Should I add 1/4 to 1/2 qt tomorrow to see if that fills it up and levels it off?

Anybody have an answer to my question 3 posts up about the low/reverse servo spring?

Nuggethead, what bore for what spool? Still a n00b with the tranny.

When you had the valve body off the TC lockup solinoid and the 3-4 shift solinoid they operate spools that are behind them in the valve body. They have to slide nice and smooth in order for the solinoids to do their jobs. When you had the valve body off did you pull them out and take a look at them? The bore they go into can in some extreme cases get something hard in there I had a very small piece of some thing that worked up a burr after bieng in there for I don't know how long and kept it from moving easily.
I had to clean out the bur and polish the spoon a little to get the smooth motion back.
There is a very good thread that shows that posted right now take a look and you will see what it all looks like Also did you take a q-tip and clean the passages and grooves from all the grunge that built up over time?
I put some new balls in as well not that you have to but I did.

Good luck, it is just something to think about.

Good point..the 5R55 does not have a low reverse servo spring. Also, how did you retorque the valve body bolts ? To what spec?

Nuggethead 420 said:

When you had the valve body off the TC lockup solinoid and the 3-4 shift solinoid they operate spools that are behind them in the valve body. They have to slide nice and smooth in order for the solinoids to do their jobs. When you had the valve body off did you pull them out and take a look at them? The bore they go into can in some extreme cases get something hard in there I had a very small piece of some thing that worked up a burr after bieng in there for I don't know how long and kept it from moving easily.
I had to clean out the bur and polish the spoon a little to get the smooth motion back.
There is a very good thread that shows that posted right now take a look and you will see what it all looks like Also did you take a q-tip and clean the passages and grooves from all the grunge that built up over time?
I put some new balls in as well not that you have to but I did.

Good luck, it is just something to think about.

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I didn't take anything out of the VB except the solenoids. I was kind of trying to avoid getting too deep or over my head. Overall the VB looked pretty clean but I didn't really give it a good examination. It seems to be operating pefectly right now, so I will leave it as is for now. I don't mind working on vehicles and in fact I enjoy it a lot......as long as it isn't MY DD.


Chris, I tqed them to...heck I can't remember but I got almost all of my tq specs off this site. As long as you were correct in your previous posts/threads than I guess I am good. 71 in/lbs Does that sound right?

Geoff

Sounds right, just so you were cognizant of the importance of proper torquing.

Gcrop said:

I didn't take anything out of the VB except the solenoids. I was kind of trying to avoid getting too deep or over my head. Overall the VB looked pretty clean but I didn't really give it a good examination. It seems to be operating pefectly right now, so I will leave it as is for now. I don't mind working on vehicles and in fact I enjoy it a lot......as long as it isn't MY DD.


Geoff

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Gcrop does it seem to be working fine now (I think I've got the same symptoms )?

Dave

IN THE STICKS said:

Gcrop does it seem to be working fine now (I think I've got the same symptoms )?

Dave

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Well I just got back from Lafayette, LA (Mardi Gras) and that is a good 1,000 mile trip (round trip) and it worked perfect every step of the way. Got it up to 90-95ish a couple of times just to see how it acted....perfect. Holding a consistant amount of fluid now also, not losing any it looks like.

Chris and Brain....thanks a million!!! No telling how much money you guys saved me, not to mention the huge boost of self confidence that I successfully tackled a problem that I knew nothing about. Kudos!!

Thanks,
Geoff

Always happy to help - your good results make it all worthwhile. Congrats to you!!!