'05 5R55E drives beautiful; shut off for 2 hrs NO GO; rev eng to 3k quick & it "goes".

[Burke Sinclair Jr.]

Hello all - So I actually own two identical vehicles which makes it SUPER convenient for troubleshooting lol.

My son's truck has 170k on trans and 20k on engine. He comes over to my house and says "It has a weird hesitation from 2nd to 3rd and it's whining a bit when I start it." So underneath we go to check trans fluid. Truck is at op temp (drove it around for 20 mins), in P, level ground, idling. Pull little center plug - OIL COMES GUSHING OUT!!! Like 3 quarts! It's kinda stinky and much darker than I usually like to see. SO.....I'm thinking "Ok it was overfull". Let's do a trans svc tmrw.

Later that afternoon, he drives it to restaurant for dinner and shuts it off.

2 hrs later he starts it, shifts to gear and NADA. Nothing. Reverse, D, 3,2,1 nothing. YES checked linkage. Trailer back to my house. Pull center plug - OIL GUSHING OUT AGAIN. (almost like the converter isn't sucking it up and circulating it)

Now at this point I pause and think "Ok - let me think AROUND Ford's stupid no-dipstick design". I put the truck into D and ensure there is nothing in front of me. I begin giving the throttle little blips. First one engine goes to 1500 and back to idle. Nothing. Second one engine goes to 2200 and back......nothing. I'm already thinking I have to pull trans anyway so I blast throttle and release .........engine hits a bit over 3k rpm's. TRUCK LURCHES INTO GEAR.

(Disclaimer: Pretty great mechanic w/ limited auto trans experience thinking out loud from this point on)

After a momentary "Alright, this is something" pause, I release the brake and drive around the neighborhood. After a minute or so, the truck suddenly loses propulsion again. LOW FLUID NOW!?!???

I blip throttle again and truck LURCHES forward! IMMEDIATELY return to driveway and LEAVE IDLING. Pull trans fill plug - NOTHING.

I proceed to add SEVEN QUARTS before it's trickling from fill hole.

I drive truck all around neighborhood for 30 minutes - all gears, 4x4 etc. Drives beautiful. Park in driveway and shut off. After it cools, I drain fluid and drop trans pan. The fluid is obviously now a mix of the semi smelly stuff that was in it before AND SEVEN QTS OF BRAND NEW MERCON V. Ok.....it got a half-ass impromptu semi-flush.
Install new filter, wipe out pan (NO surprising chunks or shiny parts that look like they belong inside somewhere, but the typical fuzz-ball of most likely semi-metallic clutch disc wear on the magnet)

Re-install pan, pump in 6 qts, start engine, let warm for a few mins, shift to D, truck engages (YAY!), leave idling in D w/Ebrake on for 10 mins til engine/trans are toasty warm, shift back to P. Leave idle for 10 more mins, pull center plug, about 1/4 to 1/2 qt dribblish out, replace plug, drive truck for about an hour.

*NOTEABLE improvement in shifts!


Next morning start truck, put into R, back out, into D and drive all over east Jabip. Beautiful. Park truck. Wait 10 hrs. Drive again. Awesome. Son brings my truck back and takes his.

Next morning at 5:30 am son calls "Truck won't move again ". I go to his mom's house, blip throttle, drives beautiful. I bring truck back to my house. Contemplate using mild explosive to permanently solve trans problem. Decide against.

I park truck FOR THREE DAYS through Sub-Zero temps. Start truck - drives like a dream. Shifts awesome. Park truck. Come back late afternoon about 8 hrs later - NO PROPULSION. Blip throttle - it engages. Drive truck around for an hour, then park for A WEEK!

Start truck after a week. Engages beautiful. Drive around neighborhood.

Truck had 8 successful starts following that, THEN 9th start no engage w/o throttle blip.

POSSIBILITY #1) In my mind I'm thinking the torque converter is "LOSING ITS PRIME OCCASIONALLY" if that's even in the realm of possibility.

Possibility #2 is some sort of "sticky pressure regulator"???

I ABSOLUTELY HATE not "KNOWING" what the actual issue is, EVEN IF it's several issues!!!! I also really hate "OCCASIONAL" issues.

Please......oh please let there be someone who appreciates my tired thumbs, and thanks in advance!!!!

Burke

 

[JK080]

Hi Burke, That transmission is the 5R55W, the 5R55E is in earlier models and has a dipstick.

It's hard to say what's all wrong with the transmission but it would seem that converter drainback is a real possibility because of the changing fluid levels. However a more common cause of this in the 5R55W is the pump flow valve located in the pump, it is known to stick and when this happens the vehicle can have little or no engagements, they can stick and unstick causing a intermittent "no go" condition just as you have described. I have had to tow a few back to the shop after being stranded on a road test, not fun.

I am not sure if this will cause a fluctuation in fluid levels however, when I have one of these with no engamentes and is full enough to drain from the fill port I will recommend a overhaul to the customer.

Your thinking is right on the money but I think the outcome will be the same, this transmission will have to come out and be rebuilt, there are plenty of other areas inside that transmission that need to be addressed at the time of the overhaul to make it back into a reliable transmission so dont short cut it if you decide to tackle this yourself. Let us know!