2004 4.0 hard clunk when choosing gear - Automatic

[2004exlporer4.0]

Recently swapped a 2004 4.0 sohc for a 98 sohc. I drained the transmission fluid and didnt realize that there was no dipstick for easy refill. I believe i was able to get about 11.5-12 quarts back in when it requires 12.5.

The truck shifts from park to reverse rather annoyingly. At first it wont go in to gear unless i remove my foot from the brake. It honestly takes 2-3 full seconds for it to want to thud into gear.

Any takers as to why this is?

 

[Mrooney322]

how are your axles? my drivers side rear half shaft was shot, causing constant banging into park and drive. not sure if it helps but just a suggestion

 

[anthonymtz]

Recently swapped a 2004 4.0 sohc for a 98 sohc. I drained the transmission fluid and didnt realize that there was no dipstick for easy refill. I believe i was able to get about 11.5-12 quarts back in when it requires 12.5.

The truck shifts from park to reverse rather annoyingly. At first it wont go in to gear unless i remove my foot from the brake. It honestly takes 2-3 full seconds for it to want to thud into gear.

Any takers as to why this is?

That's going to be your solinoid pack, there is tiny passage that get dirty, I took mine apart, you have to drop the pan and remove about 12 torx screws, you have to take it apart and clean it, very time consuming about 4-6 hours start to finish, now mine goes into reverse with no problems, it would take about 6 seconds for it to shift into reverse now it's smooth and quick, alot of people say to buy a new one for 500$ but I have basically rebuilt them for a few people and charged them half of that.

 

[2004exlporer4.0]

That's going to be your solinoid pack, there is tiny passage that get dirty, I took mine apart, you have to drop the pan and remove about 12 torx screws, you have to take it apart and clean it, very time consuming about 4-6 hours start to finish, now mine goes into reverse with no problems, it would take about 6 seconds for it to shift into reverse now it's smooth and quick, alot of people say to buy a new one for 500$ but I have basically rebuilt them for a few people and charged them half of that.

Aside from the clunk i noticed that under a significant load in 2nd gear shifting into 3rd it wants to pop out. if i drive nice and slow there is no problem when it comes to shifting. Ocassionally the truck will lurch from 2nd to 3rd if i get up to speed slow. It is only when i try to get up to speed a little quicker does it pop out. Could this issue also be due to a solenoid? Almost feels like second gear past 2900 rpm is going out. i have had transmission issues before and have noticed that sometimes in higher gears when trying to accelerate the trans will pop out. if i down shift and leave it in 2nd gear and get past 2900 rpm it will increase the speed of the vehicle versus pop out... is this just a bad trans or could it be fluid, a solenoid? Thanks!

 

[anthonymtz]

Aside from the clunk i noticed that under a significant load in 2nd gear shifting into 3rd it wants to pop out. if i drive nice and slow there is no problem when it comes to shifting. Ocassionally the truck will lurch from 2nd to 3rd if i get up to speed slow. It is only when i try to get up to speed a little quicker does it pop out. Could this issue also be due to a solenoid? Almost feels like second gear past 2900 rpm is going out. i have had transmission issues before and have noticed that sometimes in higher gears when trying to accelerate the trans will pop out. if i down shift and leave it in 2nd gear and get past 2900 rpm it will increase the speed of the vehicle versus pop out... is this just a bad trans or could it be fluid, a solenoid? Thanks!

Yikes, sounds like the trans is going! Was there any cluch material in the transmission pan when the fluid was changed? I had a hard clunk when it would shift back down to 1st, I changes the fluid and added 2 bottles of Lucas stop slip, it also said it fixed some hard shifts, it worked pretty well if you ask me, my lexus's trans was bucking and clunking, added a bottle of that lucus with a fluid and filter change and it's back to normal, I would suggest you try that since it's only 10$ bottle at Walmart.

 

[2004exlporer4.0]

Yikes, sounds like the trans is going! Was there any cluch material in the transmission pan when the fluid was changed? I had a hard clunk when it would shift back down to 1st, I changes the fluid and added 2 bottles of Lucas stop slip, it also said it fixed some hard shifts, it worked pretty well if you ask me, my lexus's trans was bucking and clunking, added a bottle of that lucus with a fluid and filter change and it's back to normal, I would suggest you try that since it's only 10$ bottle at Walmart.

I just added 7/8 of a bottle of the lucas stop slip today and drove it around for about 15 mins. Once i felt confident i gave it a little bit more to get up to 40 and sure enough it popped out. It should start working relatively quick but i noticed that the transfluid was darker than it should be when i pulled the fluid out of it. Should the fluid take more than 15 mins of driving to fully run through all of it?

And a side note, what a dumb design by ford to not include a damn trans fill dipstick! Since that lucas stuff has a higher viscosity it is virtually impossible to pump in with what i have.

 

[anthonymtz]

I just added 7/8 of a bottle of the lucas stop slip today and drove it around for about 15 mins. Once i felt confident i gave it a little bit more to get up to 40 and sure enough it popped out. It should start working relatively quick but i noticed that the transfluid was darker than it should be when i pulled the fluid out of it. Should the fluid take more than 15 mins of driving to fully run through all of it?

And a side note, what a dumb design by ford to not include a damn trans fill dipstick! Since that lucas stuff has a higher viscosity it is virtually impossible to pump in with what i have.

Ok, most likely the transmission is going, the darkness of the fluid is probably the cluch material, I would let it run a while more, maybe a nice drive on the freeway a few times, it took about 1 week of driving with the lucus in there to help with my clunk downshift, so did my lexus, can you record this clunk when you accelerate? I know the feeling, it sucks! The next sign is the transmission starting to slip, or a delayed 1st to 2nd and 3 to 4th, then you'll notice 5th is gone, my 4.0 trans was totally sh*t faced before the heads warped and the engine blew up..

 

[anthonymtz]

Question, did you find metal bits in the pan? It just hit me that the servos could be worn, look up the ford servo bore fix, also if metal bits get into the solinoid (which they are very commonly known to do! ) they can clog the tiny passages and cause a ton of problem's! You should take it off if the vehicle is not a daily driver and send it in to me so I can look at it for you, I can check if the little solinoid's are sticking, we can work something out if you would like to do that, I would also try and manually shift it from 1st to 2nd then 2nd to 3rd and then back to drive and see if it will clunk again.

 

[2004exlporer4.0]

When i initially drained it i was not looking for little bits of metal since my focus at the time was trying to do a motor swap. From here on out i will be sure to try to make a note of shards/shavings. I will update this thread once i get this thing out on the road again, my egr valve is taking a massive **** because my load leveler cracked it when trying to position the motor and of course the 2004-2006 are no where to be found because of the differential position sensor. All of the pick and pulls basically stop at 2003 locally. I am having it shipped out to me for cheap.

Once the part arrives and i drive it some more i will try shifting it how you said and report back.

Thanks brotha!

 

[anthonymtz]

When i initially drained it i was not looking for little bits of metal since my focus at the time was trying to do a motor swap. From here on out i will be sure to try to make a note of shards/shavings. I will update this thread once i get this thing out on the road again, my egr valve is taking a massive **** because my load leveler cracked it when trying to position the motor and of course the 2004-2006 are no where to be found because of the differential position sensor. All of the pick and pulls basically stop at 2003 locally. I am having it shipped out to me for cheap.

Once the part arrives and i drive it some more i will try shifting it how you said and report back.

Thanks brotha!

No problem man! Hope you get the explorer running great again! It's also pretty easy to find some explorers here in texas, they usually have a blown engine or blown transmission or both lol!