5R55E? No reverse.

[heinzinator]

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[BrooklynBay]

Drop the pan, and the square plate with 4 holes. You will see the low/reverse servo. Check the tip of the servo for chips, and the O rings for deterioration. Check the low/reverse band with a long phillips screwdriver to see if it has spring action. Do you have manual 1st gear?

 

[heinzinator]

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[KitfoxMike]

5R55E No reverse

BrooklynBay, my 97 Ranger 4x4 with 202K miles and fairly fresh rebuild on tranny (done by me, maybe not so good?) lost reverse while dumping trash at the dump. On the five mile drive back, it didn't want to shift correctly, (flaring), and then the check engine light came on. Like a fool I just pulled the tranny before getting the codes since I figured there was something really wrong. I talked to a guy at the local dun-right transmission shop and he said my reverse solenoid probably messed up and showed me a reamer kit that was labeled 55W. He said their rebuild job would be around $2,500 that would go through everything, too rich for me.

I have never seen any thread on reaming and bushing the reverse solenoid. Any idea what might be wrong?

 

[BrooklynBay]

There is only a low/reverse servo, and no solenoid. You only have to ream the case to replace a bad bushing (due to irregular bore wear). There are other factors involved such as the servo, band, seals, internal clutch packs, sprag, and the valve body. Sometimes a bad shift fork or a shift rail in the transfer case could cause a no reverse issue.

 

[KitfoxMike]

5R55E No reverse

Thanks. I meant servo but typed solenoid. When I pulled the servo out and inspected the case, I did not see any abnormal wear pattern. The servo still had the spring back when pushed and did not seem to be leaking around the seals. Since the transmission itself was acting up in shifting, I think I will rule out the shift rail in the transfer case for now unless I find nothing wrong in the transmission. I am hoping it will be something very evident when I pull it apart.

There was absolutely no indication of it wanting to move in reverse, as if it was in neutral, but if the shift mechanism was out of adjustment, that would not cause the shifting and check engine light being on would it? I did not notice any OD light blinking while driving home.

Any suggestions on any special way to tear it down so I may easier find the problem?

 

[BrooklynBay]

It could also be a valve body issue (loose bolts, blown gasket or a stuck reverse modulation spool valve).

 

[KitfoxMike]

No Reverse

Not much time to work on transmission. I pulled the first clutch pack (OD?) and the outside of the drum was burned which I thought was strange. Then when I pulled the clutches out, I found that the inside of the clutches were no longer notched, they were worn smooth. All the clutches were virtually welded together so there was no slippage to them at all so I guess the notches were the weak point. The notches on the planetary gear set were also messed up with grooves across the notches and metal from the clutches embedded in them.

What would cause this type of catastrophic failure?

Hope to get deeper in the transmission tomorrow.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check the one way sprag, and the adjustment of the shift cable once you get it back into the truck.