bpool
New Member
- Joined
- May 10, 2006
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Rogers Arkansas
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 2000 EB Explorer
Hey guys, I apparently signed up in 2006 when or around the time I bought the explorer, but I've never made a post. Sorry my first is a support request but you know... I actually recommend quite a few people here because I love your forums. And if I had a couple days to research this, I know my answer is here, I just absolutely dont and might risk a $4k tranny over it if I have to wait.
Honestly, I just bought a house and am now broke so I work on the road ALL THE TIME from florida to california and everywhere in between and I come home once or twice a month sometimes less. The wife grabbed me when I got home an hour ago and said "lets take a ride". I've just driven 14 hours so I didnt drive it and now its almost 3am, so I cant really say for sure the exact problem but let me start with this:
(Wifes car (dd @ around 20 - 30miles a day), E.B. 4.0sohc 4x4 auto 120k)
-while backing out of the drive, it seemed normal and shifted fine into R.
-reverse to drive was quick with no noise or whine
-1-2 was seamless and almost not noticeable under slow neighborhood driving at 1:30am.
-2-3 wrapped out for quite a while at low speeds (20-30mph) and seemed to jerk a bit while engaging
After stopping and accelerating normally, 2-3 engaged rather firmly with a noticeable jerk at a higher-than-usual RPM but no rpm jumping before shift (2-3 flare). Once it had settled into the overdrive cruse mode, we approached a hill where typically it would downshift but it just shuttered a bit (like right before it would shift). The peddle was slowly depressed to the floor and after dropping speed from 50mph to 20 (at around 1krpm) on a steep incline, it finally slammed down and accelerated, I did noticed a slight shudder while accelerating at around 2k. This downshift was extremely hard and I swore it tore out an engine mount. I sounded like the car hit an anvil in the road or something.
This was all done solely by the tranny/computer, we didnt just floor it or anything, it slowly ignored the peddle possition and engine stress, then quickly realized what it was suppose to do and decided to do it which kinda makes me think its a shift solenoid problem but I have no idea truthfully.
Out of the 20 minute drive, this was the most harsh shift encountered only because of the slow speeds approaching the steap incline, it shifts smoothly in every gear except downshifting from overdrive to 4th? or 3rd and from 2-3.
It also appears to stick into a gear at times when coming to a stop, not physically downshifting while stopping like the 06's, just stuck where you must stand on the brake to stop it, maybe idling in gear at 10 - 15 mph.
I will drive it once I get time tomorrow and manually cycle through the gears as well as experiment with the O/D button but I wanted to see what you guys thought being obvious fans and all. I have been looking around the net for about an hour now and have actually learned quite a bit about the r55e problems but I didnt find the tranny code on the door and its a bit late at the moment for me. I know this is probably the #1 or 2 issue that comes up but I also know I could be searching for the next 8 hours and only be confused at what it could be - getting myself ready to buy useless parts when the problem might be a fuse or relay. I dont have any problem dropping my VB its just when do I find the time and how can I do it quickly so she doesnt drive it in its state.
15 or 16 days ago when I was home, I was working on updating a database on the carputer with the engine running and noticed the idle suddenly increased from 650ish to 800ish all on its own. Now I built and installed the carputer back in 06 and have done this kind of thing numerous times but never noticed an idle increase. Typically it will idle at 650 then drop to 500 or 450 for a couple seconds like its checking a sensor setting, then it will go back and this happens every few minutes but it has never raise the rpms. The A/C was off and no load was activated this time. I plugged up my OBD scanner and noticed the spikes in the idle but I have no sure explanation cause I dont really deal with automotive anymore. A few spikes recorded over a 30 minute idle period were up to 2000 rpm, most were 800 - 1200rpm. 6 spikes total with no apparent repetition
My initial reaction was a vacuum leak, AIC, O2 sensor(s), PCM or MAF. Now that the tranny is shifting hard/downshifting funny, I am still thinking the same 5. I thought I heard a air leak around the manifold so I removed the breather tube (before the MAF) and it tried to die, so I assume the sensor is actually monitoring airflow.
The fluid is still red-ish but slightly burnt looking on a paper towel. I dont really know how to read the stick yet so it could just be low (hot/idle it shows just below cross hatched section). I purchased it at 75k, had the tranny flushed at 80k and nothing done since except personally cleaning the AIC one cold winter morning after listening to her hit the rev limiter trying to keep it running. 4wd was used twice in 06 since its hers and not mine, so it probably wont ever engage again until cleaned.
Any hyperlinks or assistance on where to look would be much appreciated, I'm not looking for someone to figure out my problem then tell me step-by-step how to fix it, just mearly asking for help from anyone with free time that might know the problem or some posts that could help. I have not had time yet to find the model code stamp, so I am assuming you might know the typical tranny and usual problems, VB, bad oil/sticking valves, TCC, EPC, shift solenoid, engine management stuff etc...
Oh also, I dont have any CEL or flashing O/D lights at all, everything appears normal so I am guessing the idle issue is not a sensor more like the AIC or something else "offline" like TPS, will the PCM throw a flag up in the ECM with a CEL or do you just need to login to the PCM itself and download them? I had a ex-friend at ford check out her ABS light back in 07 which turned out to be a rear axle speed sensor which I replaced. The computer showed that the PCM said it had reached maximum vehicle speed and other fun and exciting things including around 25 codes that had been reset (what he said).
Thank you to anyone who read through all this. I'm hoping to know more tomorrow (if I dont have to leave town), just wanting to quickly get the jump on this problem before I have to leave for another month or more only to get that call that goes something like "I am stuck with no gear at an intersection, what am I suppose to do? I hate this POS, come home and help me, I knew I shoulda traded it in last month." (haha I know that all to well cause I've replaced 4 trannies in my old chevy when I was teen
)
Thanks again for any assistance.
Honestly, I just bought a house and am now broke so I work on the road ALL THE TIME from florida to california and everywhere in between and I come home once or twice a month sometimes less. The wife grabbed me when I got home an hour ago and said "lets take a ride". I've just driven 14 hours so I didnt drive it and now its almost 3am, so I cant really say for sure the exact problem but let me start with this:
(Wifes car (dd @ around 20 - 30miles a day), E.B. 4.0sohc 4x4 auto 120k)
-while backing out of the drive, it seemed normal and shifted fine into R.
-reverse to drive was quick with no noise or whine
-1-2 was seamless and almost not noticeable under slow neighborhood driving at 1:30am.
-2-3 wrapped out for quite a while at low speeds (20-30mph) and seemed to jerk a bit while engaging
After stopping and accelerating normally, 2-3 engaged rather firmly with a noticeable jerk at a higher-than-usual RPM but no rpm jumping before shift (2-3 flare). Once it had settled into the overdrive cruse mode, we approached a hill where typically it would downshift but it just shuttered a bit (like right before it would shift). The peddle was slowly depressed to the floor and after dropping speed from 50mph to 20 (at around 1krpm) on a steep incline, it finally slammed down and accelerated, I did noticed a slight shudder while accelerating at around 2k. This downshift was extremely hard and I swore it tore out an engine mount. I sounded like the car hit an anvil in the road or something.
This was all done solely by the tranny/computer, we didnt just floor it or anything, it slowly ignored the peddle possition and engine stress, then quickly realized what it was suppose to do and decided to do it which kinda makes me think its a shift solenoid problem but I have no idea truthfully.
Out of the 20 minute drive, this was the most harsh shift encountered only because of the slow speeds approaching the steap incline, it shifts smoothly in every gear except downshifting from overdrive to 4th? or 3rd and from 2-3.
It also appears to stick into a gear at times when coming to a stop, not physically downshifting while stopping like the 06's, just stuck where you must stand on the brake to stop it, maybe idling in gear at 10 - 15 mph.
I will drive it once I get time tomorrow and manually cycle through the gears as well as experiment with the O/D button but I wanted to see what you guys thought being obvious fans and all. I have been looking around the net for about an hour now and have actually learned quite a bit about the r55e problems but I didnt find the tranny code on the door and its a bit late at the moment for me. I know this is probably the #1 or 2 issue that comes up but I also know I could be searching for the next 8 hours and only be confused at what it could be - getting myself ready to buy useless parts when the problem might be a fuse or relay. I dont have any problem dropping my VB its just when do I find the time and how can I do it quickly so she doesnt drive it in its state.
15 or 16 days ago when I was home, I was working on updating a database on the carputer with the engine running and noticed the idle suddenly increased from 650ish to 800ish all on its own. Now I built and installed the carputer back in 06 and have done this kind of thing numerous times but never noticed an idle increase. Typically it will idle at 650 then drop to 500 or 450 for a couple seconds like its checking a sensor setting, then it will go back and this happens every few minutes but it has never raise the rpms. The A/C was off and no load was activated this time. I plugged up my OBD scanner and noticed the spikes in the idle but I have no sure explanation cause I dont really deal with automotive anymore. A few spikes recorded over a 30 minute idle period were up to 2000 rpm, most were 800 - 1200rpm. 6 spikes total with no apparent repetition
My initial reaction was a vacuum leak, AIC, O2 sensor(s), PCM or MAF. Now that the tranny is shifting hard/downshifting funny, I am still thinking the same 5. I thought I heard a air leak around the manifold so I removed the breather tube (before the MAF) and it tried to die, so I assume the sensor is actually monitoring airflow.
The fluid is still red-ish but slightly burnt looking on a paper towel. I dont really know how to read the stick yet so it could just be low (hot/idle it shows just below cross hatched section). I purchased it at 75k, had the tranny flushed at 80k and nothing done since except personally cleaning the AIC one cold winter morning after listening to her hit the rev limiter trying to keep it running. 4wd was used twice in 06 since its hers and not mine, so it probably wont ever engage again until cleaned.
Any hyperlinks or assistance on where to look would be much appreciated, I'm not looking for someone to figure out my problem then tell me step-by-step how to fix it, just mearly asking for help from anyone with free time that might know the problem or some posts that could help. I have not had time yet to find the model code stamp, so I am assuming you might know the typical tranny and usual problems, VB, bad oil/sticking valves, TCC, EPC, shift solenoid, engine management stuff etc...
Oh also, I dont have any CEL or flashing O/D lights at all, everything appears normal so I am guessing the idle issue is not a sensor more like the AIC or something else "offline" like TPS, will the PCM throw a flag up in the ECM with a CEL or do you just need to login to the PCM itself and download them? I had a ex-friend at ford check out her ABS light back in 07 which turned out to be a rear axle speed sensor which I replaced. The computer showed that the PCM said it had reached maximum vehicle speed and other fun and exciting things including around 25 codes that had been reset (what he said).
Thank you to anyone who read through all this. I'm hoping to know more tomorrow (if I dont have to leave town), just wanting to quickly get the jump on this problem before I have to leave for another month or more only to get that call that goes something like "I am stuck with no gear at an intersection, what am I suppose to do? I hate this POS, come home and help me, I knew I shoulda traded it in last month." (haha I know that all to well cause I've replaced 4 trannies in my old chevy when I was teen
)Thanks again for any assistance.
