2005 Transmission help please. Thanks.

[shane733]

I have a transmission problem I just can’t seem to figure out. Here is the background on it…..

I have always researched and figured out my own problems but this one has me stumped. I have a 2005 Ford Explorer – tag on door says TR (V) – guessing a 5R55S. We bought the Explorer with about 17,000 miles on it. We had a 3 year – 60,000 mile warranty when we bought it. The original transmission had been acting up a little right at 77,000 miles before the warranty ran out, we told CarMax and they sent us to a recommended “guy” and had them check the transmission. The company they sent us to said we needed a new one. We were like ok – all free and they gave us a free rental car – go ahead and put us in one. They gave us a 1 year or 12,000 mile warranty on the new one. Shortly into this new one we noticed when you put it in reverse – it would slam into reverse. Hard enough that you better have your foot on the brake good or you were going to get your head slammed on the steering wheel. It would also drop out of gear sometimes (be in drive going down the road and it was like it got knocked in neutral. We would have to pull it down in “2” then “D” or stop – put it in park then drive and all was back normal. We took it back – told him what it was doing. He seemed upset because went to CarMax first and asked could we go to another place and they said we have to give him a chance to fix it first. After he had it a couple days – he called us and said it was a loose battery cable. I asked him to explain to me how could a loose battery cable could cause it to do all that when the cable was tight enough to charge the battery, start the car, run the head lights, and he said it just caused the problem. After another few weeks the reverse was still slamming in reverse but not as bad and it started doing the out of gear thing. Took it back again – talked with CarMax and the company / guy said they would pull that transmission out and just put a brand new one from a crate in it. Got it back after another week and reverse still hitting hard but all else seemed ok. So other than reverse – we was ok other than once every 10,000 miles it still done the pop out of gear thing.

Fast forward to about 160,000 miles and while pulling a large hill – we noticed a large smoke screen behind us. We pulled over and the underside looked to have 2 quarts of fluid sprayed everywhere. No dipstick so I couldn't check fluid level. Car seems to still function fine and we finished our weeks’ vacation with no problems. I figured it may have been over full all this time and it got vented going up the hill.

Fast forward another 10,000 miles and now my current problems. For the past week – since cold weather – we have to let it warm up for 5 minutes before it will go. If you jump straight into it, start it and throw it into drive, it’s like an older 1970s ford trucks when they are low on fluid. RPMS go up and it barely moves. After it warms its fine. It has done the pop out of gear once in the last 1000 miles.

Today my wife said it’s making a whining noise. I checked it out and it’s a very light whining noise that sounds like its coming from under the pan. Maybe the bell housing but I think it’s the pan. It makes this very light whining in all gears including park and neutral. It is most noticeable at low RPMs 1500 – 1600 RPMs. Any higher it gets kinda gets drowned out by motor sounds. It makes this noise sitting or moving.

Would a filter change help this any? Is it low on fluid? This last transmission has about 100,000 on it – is it just gone finally? Drive it till it won’t go no more? Is it something simple I can fix myself?

I was planning on changing the filter and adding how many ever quarts of Mercon V it took to fill this weekend anyway.
Thanks for any help on this, Shane

 

[ponkotsu]

I think it's unfortunate, but you got a bad tranny from the beginning. No tranny rebuilt by a reputable builder is going to slam into reverse. Seems unlikely to have two transmission with exactly the same symptom, so probably they just did some adjustment on the original one and told yo they put in a new one. Used car dealers are pretty much crooks and they are in bed with the crooked transmission shops.

Regarding current problem, the one time smoke/leak issue seems bizarre, especially for being that long ago. Probably it overheated and vented excess fluid out. Maybe the breather tube fell off? Hard to say.

Regarding current slow engagement and considering the high miles, you almost certainly need a rebuild. It's probably the same problem everyone else has, worn out servo bores. Getting 100k on a dubious transmission I'd say you did pretty good, but luck has run out.

You can try adding fluid to it, but I doubt it. I'd suggest bringing it to a shop to have fluid added unless you have the pump and know how to do it yourself.

 

[shane733]

Thank you so much ponkotsu for taking your time to respond. Yes I think the tranny guy was a little shady too. I wanted to take it to another place and have them just look it over but CarMax said I had to let the original guy fix it first. I think his fix was to lie and put a band aid on it till the warranty ran out.

Yes the fluid smoke/leak was bizarre to me too. Reason I had thrown that out there. I have never had a vehicle do that or heard of one doing it. I always pressure wash under my vehicles, fender wells, and engine compartment at the car wash about once every 2 – 6 months. This way it’s easier to notice when I have a leak to fix and it’s a lot cleaner to work on things when needed. There was so much fluid under it this time – I honestly couldn’t tell where it came from other than it was transmission fluid.

You mention worn out servo bores. Is that what these would fix? http://www.fordservoboretransmissionfixsolution.com/

And yes, I was going to drop the pan myself, change filter and add fluid. I always try to do my own vehicle repairs / maintenance because who cares more and wants it done right than me? You can learn to do just about anything now days on the internet. But I know very little when it comes to transmissions.

I was also thinking about changing the fluid in the transfer case. Manual says Mercon V in transmission but Mercon ATF in transfer case. I seen people on forums saying they used Mercon V in transfer case too. Is this true?

I mainly just need the transmission to last me another 10 - 20 thousand miles if at all possible. Then we are looking to purchase another vehicle and this will be a spare back-up for us. I will have time and money to replace the transmission then.