4r55e no reverse 3rd or 4th after rebuild

[Phrack3r]

Hey guys I'm stumped at the moment and have been going through threads trying to solve this problem I've had since I overhauled my tranny.

Well first I had to pull and overhaul my trans since I had my intermediate band break and I lost 2nd gear which is fairly normal upon test down I found a damaged intermediate ring gear and planetaries so I got new ones I replaced the 2 bands and replaced all the clutches and thrust washers that were damaged or worn, I tore down my valve body and replaced the 2 gaskets upon further inspection I found I had some scoring in my reverse servo hole so I got my servo machined down and installed the sonax sleeve kit in to the hole now after all is put back together I attempted to pull it out of the shop I had reverse when driving in the air and forward gears but once I tried pulling out reverse when bye bye. Next I know my o/d light is flashing and I pull codes for 647 and 648 no 3rd and 4th. I looked on my 4r44e/4r55e band application chart and found that the only thing they all have in common is the direct reverse clutch is applied in those 3 gears, now I thought I had problem with my valve body gasket if I got the 2 relief springs mixed up so I pulled that down last night and found no problems, I checked my reverse band by pushing against it with a long 1/4 in extension and it seemed to be in place fine and I can't find any problems I have no idea what to really look for anymore since everything worked fine before maybe some debris got stuck in my EPC so I heard something about a spool valve by im not sure any further help for me would be greatly appreciated since I'm now down a car have been having to use my girlfriends currently to get to work, thanks for any help given!

 

[TheJerm]

check out my recent thread, stuck after valve body repair.

the experience with my 5r55e is O/D light flashing means solenoid isn't working, or some other electrical problem.

this is the step I got to from this quote.

"5R55E no reverse, no drive,
this condition cannot be electrical;
disconnect main wiring harness to transmission,
if you still have no reverse and drive, it is a hard part.
if you now have reverse and drive, it is either a bad harness or bad PCM. " unquote


I unplugged mine and it went into reverse and drive. so i'll be checking the pressure, wires and pcm next. you can try and see. hope it helps

 

[Phrack3r]

I tested the wiring harness and solenoids earlier, ive found no shorts to power or ground and no opens in the wiring and all the solenoids ohmed out to fords specs so unless theres is internal damage to them they should be fine, I doubt my computer went since i had none of these problems when i first pulled my trans and the battery was disconnected the whole time but i will be trying this test if find nothing damaged in the valve body too see if it narrows anything down for me.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you check the fluid level? Did you use new O ring seals on the filter? If your vehicle is equipped with 4WD, then you have to use a deep filter. The standard depth filter won't have a long sump to pick up fluid in the bottom of the deep pan. Did you use a 1/4" drive In/LB torque wrench on the valve body bolts? Did you use 4R55E valve body gaskets (not 5R55E gaskets)? Did you reuse the same separator plate?

 

[Phrack3r]

fluid was at proper level, new o rings on filter and used a new filter that was for the 4wd trans, i used a 1/4 in inch lb torque wrench that was calibrated less than a year ago and torqued to 89 in lbs in the correct torque order, they seemed like the right valve body gaskets when comparing the new ones to the old and reused separator plate, saw no damage to the plate and used a straight edge on it and saw no bends or twists

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you check the adjustment of the range sensor?

 

[Phrack3r]

The only thing I checked for that was the reverse lights came on when the explorer was in the air

 

[BrooklynBay]

Do you have a 0 - 300 PSI test gauge? Take pressure readings in each gear range on the main pressure port, and the EPC pressure port.

 

[Phrack3r]

I do have access to one and will take readings after i put my valve body back up tomorrow if I get a hold of the gauge then compare it to the chart too see what i get after i check out the spool valves since the valve body is already down

 

[transman304]

Valve body gaskets for 4R/5R are the same. I would double check that the L shape retainer is in the right location on the rev mod valve. 4 check balls in the right locations?

 

[BrooklynBay]

 

[Phrack3r]

Ok so after a busy week of work and cleaning up my shop yesterday since it was a war zone I finally installed the valve body back in,

The check balls were all in the right locations, I found no issues with the spool valves or anything internal installed the valve body back up and checked the line pressures

D D1 And D2 were at 80-100 psi at idle
Reverse was at 60-70 psi at idle

I didn't load test them since I didn't wanna risk burning any clutches up unless they are already.

now I went to check my EPC pressures I go look for the port for them and it's non existent according to the picture you posted and anything I could gather online including ford manual images so I never go a reading for that.

 

[Phrack3r]

ok redid the test today at idle all ranges are in spec under load though is a different story

when cold everything is fine

when warm im low in all gears under load
im about 170 in all forward gears while fords specs are saying 207-241 in forward gears

reverse im at 270 psi ford is calling for 299-346
now going by the chart ford has the only thing i can find in common excluding valve body would be overdrive servo or forward clutch so im going to attempt to pull the o/d servo with the trans still up and hope for the best or seems like im gonna be pulling the trans out again

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you check the boost valve in the valve body? How old is the EPC solenoid?

 

[Phrack3r]

Yea I pulled the boost valve out and looked to see if any of holes were plugged in that sleeve or any other issues and found none and no idea on the age of the EPC I haven't replaced it in the length of me owning my explorer and she has 120k miles on here at the moment, also had the o/d servo out today and found no damage to the servo or the o ring