Ford Explorer 5r5ee Transmission Issue (weak reverse/drive)

[CLG]

My finance's truck broke down the other day. No reverse or drive at all. To fix the problem, I was going to replace the entire valve body but since she needed her vehicle the next day for work I replaced the vb gaskets instead. The valve body would have taken a few days to acquire. Turns out, one of the old vb gaskets was blown.

The new gaskets helped out a lot. Now she can use reverse, although it is weak. Drive works now too but you have to spoon feed it gas and accelerate slowly. If you try to force it, it will just rev up the rpm's and not go anywhere. I found that driving it up to speed in 2nd gear and then shifting into drive once the truck reaches 40 mph or so works fine. Then it is easily able to accelerate to 70+ mph with full power and no issues.

Do you guys think a full valve body replacement will fix this problem or am I looking at an entirely different issue altogether?

Thanks in advance for your help.

1998 Ford Explorer 4.0L v6 OHV
Tranny: 5r55e

 

[flyboyjr31]

i"m having similiar issues... can't start out in "drive", I manually shift to 2nd, then about 45 mph I shift to Drive and then continue on without any problems... please tell me you fixed this before I pay for an overhaul!!!

 

[02ford=$]

Having the same issue with my 02 explorer no od light or nothing I hope somebody can help

 

[drbenz]

CLG did you torque the valve body bolts with a torque wrench? They torque to 87 INCH pounds. The epc solenoid is known to wear out causing no end of problems. You might want to scan through the writeup on the 5R55E but there are so many possible problem areas it is hard to give firm advise. Some of the problems are caused by worn passages in the valve body and there are several companies that sell reman valve bodies to swap out rather than you repairing it yourself.

 

[CLG]

Thanks for your help drbenz. I appreciate it. Yes, I tightened the bolts in sequence to specs using a torque wrench. This site had some good instructions on the install.

I have no problem replacing the entire valve body. 800700tran.com has a good deal on a rebuilt unit. I understand nailing the problem down can be difficult, but if it turns out it's not the valve body unit (w/solenoids), what should I be looking at next? I'm not getting any trouble codes or a flashing o/d light if that helps.

Also, I suspect the valve body or vb gaskets had been replaced in the past. About half of the upper and lower gaskets on the valve body seemed to be bonded to the unit. I had to scape much of the gasket off. What year did Ford start bonding the gaskets to the unit?

 

[swetrid]

Valve body isn't going to fix it, internal problem.

 

[CLG]

Thanks swetrid for your input. I suspected that it may be an internal problem. Just curious though, do you believe that it's an internal issue because there aren't any trouble codes?

 

[drbenz]

Ford didn't use bonded gaskets from the factory, the gasket just seems to grow on the plate but if the parts from the Ford tsb were installed then certain models did get bonded gaskets. As far as internal problems go if a reman valve body and solenoids doesn't fix the problem then internals is all that is left with or without codes but slipping engagement sure does make you think something is kaput. It's possible that the servo piston has failed, at least that can be replaced w/o trans r&r.

 

[joecrna]

Id replace the valve body and the reverse/low servo. Its easy to get to with the trans in the truck.

 

[CLG]

Thanks for all of your input. I've decided to go ahead and replace the valve body and see if that helps. I figure it's due for replacement anyhow. If that doesn't work, then off to the shop it will go.

The reverse servo looked fine but I can replace the o-rings. Anybody know of a good place that carries them?

I'll post back when the truck is up and running to share what the problem/fix ended up being. Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[BigBeeBby]

My finance's truck broke down the other day. No reverse or drive at all. To fix the problem, I was going to replace the entire valve body but since she needed her vehicle the next day for work I replaced the vb gaskets instead. The valve body would have taken a few days to acquire. Turns out, one of the old vb gaskets was blown.

The new gaskets helped out a lot. Now she can use reverse, although it is weak. Drive works now too but you have to spoon feed it gas and accelerate slowly. If you try to force it, it will just rev up the rpm's and not go anywhere. I found that driving it up to speed in 2nd gear and then shifting into drive once the truck reaches 40 mph or so works fine. Then it is easily able to accelerate to 70+ mph with full power and no issues.

Do you guys think a full valve body replacement will fix this problem or am I looking at an entirely different issue altogether?

Thanks in advance for your help.

1998 Ford Explorer 4.0L v6 OHV
Tranny: 5r55e

 

[Steveyp21]

Thanks for all of your input. I've decided to go ahead and replace the valve body and see if that helps. I figure it's due for replacement anyhow. If that doesn't work, then off to the shop it will go.

The reverse servo looked fine but I can replace the o-rings. Anybody know of a good place that carries them?

I'll post back when the truck is up and running to share what the problem/fix ended up being. Thanks again for all of your help.

Did you ever find out if the VB solved this issue? I am having a similar problem and after dropping the trans and breaking it down, there doesn't appear to be any issues...

 

[Fix4Dirt]

usually if the vehicle moves in 1/2 but not d, thay points to a VB issue. not sure about reverse, though could be gaskets servos accum etc, can you check your lije pressure, or is it already out of the truxk?