tackleberry
Active Member
- Joined
- February 14, 2009
- Messages
- 86
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- City, State
- vegas
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 05 XLT
My friend has a 2005 explorer, with 250k miles on it. the trans is def not original but is failing.
a little background....
the trans has an unknown number of miles, but it was a former las vegas taxicab. this cab, like most vegas cabs, run consistently for at the minimum 16 hours a day. shortest shifts this company had was 10 hour shifts, so figure some very few drivers may turn it off for 2-3 hours a day. most shifts are 12 hour. this cab was retired in december of 2009. so it has seen 4 vegas summers with 100 degree temps, and about 4 additional months of 90-100 degree months.
his trans has no first gear. even if you select first gear it does nothing but start in 2nd.
the trans has working reverse but only under certain conditions.
1. from a dead cold start, it will easily and promptly move into reverse.
2. when vehicle is warmed up, reverse is intermittent. sometimes it engages, but after a delay, and when it does it slams into reverse enough to chirp the wheels.
3. when its warmed up for longer periods of time, it very rarely goes into reverse, and sometimes shifting it a few times in reverse may get it to slam into reverse if the gas pedal is tapped a bit to raise RPMS
some good news tho, once 2nd gear is done (which is basically now first gear) trans is ready to shift into 3rd, 4th, 5th it is smooth and seems to be on time. he takes it on the freeway all the time and i personally have driven it and its smooth, just the lack of first gear its slow, but once 2nd gear is at its speed point its all good to go like normal.
now in my old 05 explorer, when i got it, it had 24k miles and had a similar problem but nowhere near severe. i always had reverse but when cold it was quick and when warm it was delayed a bit and felt hard going into reverse, but never slammed into gear to a point where it chirped the rear wheels. when the dealer i got it from took my explorer to get fixed at the ford dealer, i remember the repair sheet saying something about pitted checkballs.
this was the work order details.
================================================================
my tranny needed the following
transmission solenoid body erratic when hot caused checkballs in valve body to become pitted. removed solenoid body and replaced, removed valve body overhauled and replaced pitted checkballs
9L2Z 76391 A - solenoid assembley Q1 378.83
F6TZ 7E195 BB - Ball-checkvalve Q3 3.75
4L2Z 7Z490 AA - plate-thrust Q1 14.70
1L2Z 7A09B AC - screen assy Q1 24.15
6 qts of mercon fluid
total for this issue was $1159.51
================================================================
could the valve and solenoid body get so bad it could completely leave out first gear? comparing my issue to his symptoms, not all are the same his are more severe but many sound similar.
do the gears get damaged or is it basically disabled.
any help is appreciated, he cant pass smog without this fixed because the OBD2 is throwing trouble codes that cause it to fail. he has been driving this around like this since march lol. one mechanic said it would cost 2300 to rebuild. another option was to buy a trans and have it installed for 1500 total, but if its just the valvebody, i think i may be able to do this for him for a lot cheaper.
a little background....
the trans has an unknown number of miles, but it was a former las vegas taxicab. this cab, like most vegas cabs, run consistently for at the minimum 16 hours a day. shortest shifts this company had was 10 hour shifts, so figure some very few drivers may turn it off for 2-3 hours a day. most shifts are 12 hour. this cab was retired in december of 2009. so it has seen 4 vegas summers with 100 degree temps, and about 4 additional months of 90-100 degree months.
his trans has no first gear. even if you select first gear it does nothing but start in 2nd.
the trans has working reverse but only under certain conditions.
1. from a dead cold start, it will easily and promptly move into reverse.
2. when vehicle is warmed up, reverse is intermittent. sometimes it engages, but after a delay, and when it does it slams into reverse enough to chirp the wheels.
3. when its warmed up for longer periods of time, it very rarely goes into reverse, and sometimes shifting it a few times in reverse may get it to slam into reverse if the gas pedal is tapped a bit to raise RPMS
some good news tho, once 2nd gear is done (which is basically now first gear) trans is ready to shift into 3rd, 4th, 5th it is smooth and seems to be on time. he takes it on the freeway all the time and i personally have driven it and its smooth, just the lack of first gear its slow, but once 2nd gear is at its speed point its all good to go like normal.
now in my old 05 explorer, when i got it, it had 24k miles and had a similar problem but nowhere near severe. i always had reverse but when cold it was quick and when warm it was delayed a bit and felt hard going into reverse, but never slammed into gear to a point where it chirped the rear wheels. when the dealer i got it from took my explorer to get fixed at the ford dealer, i remember the repair sheet saying something about pitted checkballs.
this was the work order details.
================================================================
my tranny needed the following
transmission solenoid body erratic when hot caused checkballs in valve body to become pitted. removed solenoid body and replaced, removed valve body overhauled and replaced pitted checkballs
9L2Z 76391 A - solenoid assembley Q1 378.83
F6TZ 7E195 BB - Ball-checkvalve Q3 3.75
4L2Z 7Z490 AA - plate-thrust Q1 14.70
1L2Z 7A09B AC - screen assy Q1 24.15
6 qts of mercon fluid
total for this issue was $1159.51
================================================================
could the valve and solenoid body get so bad it could completely leave out first gear? comparing my issue to his symptoms, not all are the same his are more severe but many sound similar.
do the gears get damaged or is it basically disabled.
any help is appreciated, he cant pass smog without this fixed because the OBD2 is throwing trouble codes that cause it to fail. he has been driving this around like this since march lol. one mechanic said it would cost 2300 to rebuild. another option was to buy a trans and have it installed for 1500 total, but if its just the valvebody, i think i may be able to do this for him for a lot cheaper.
