5R55E - Stairway to a Diary (Companion Thread to the 5R55E Valve Body Rebuild Diary)

[warabozu]

New to this forum, but love what I've found here so far. Been having the same problems and am about to attempt the valve body fix for my Ranger. However, while researching this issue, I came across this Youtube video that shows this process. Hope it helps someone else besides me. Ben
(dead link)

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! 1A is one of the vendors on this site.

 

[apolo607]

Fluid capacity

I have a question, I am about to do my vb this weekend. By doing this, how much fluid do I need? I understand that from the manual 10 quarts are required (4x4 sohc 98), but also I have read that around half of the fluid will remain in the sytem and I should need maybe around 5 quarts. I am correct? how much fluid have you need?

Thanks.

 

[wrench1020]

line pressure riser

new to this forum looking for instructions for adding a resistor to raise epc pressure, electrical diag etc.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! EPC pressure could be fine tuned with a programmer. Why do you want to change the pressure? There might be another issue which is causing low pressure such as a blown gasket, clogged filter or a defective EPC solenoid. What is the year of your vehicle?

 

[wrench1020]

97 ford explorer i did a full rebuild, transgo shift kit had some shift problems as soon as the rebuild was done, installed gauge on epc pressure port, ended up putting new borg warner epc, shifts good now but seems like epc pressure is low warm , down to 40 psi sometimes, assume a worn valvle body but i see superior put a 75 ohm 10 watt reistor in epc wiring to raise pressure wich i have but not sure on the wiring assume it goes on ground side of epc but not positive any help would be great

 

[BrooklynBay]

Never interfere with a ground path. Always use the positive side of the circuit. Did you use a 1/4" drive In/Lb torque wrench on the valve body bolts?

 

[wrench1020]

yea and retorqued when i installed new epc just wondering if any has installed superior kit and resistor, maybe has the wire colors and what not

 

[BrooklynBay]

Check the 5R55E valve body rebuild diary.

 

[wrench1020]

yea i did check it out the resistor was mentioned many times but nothing about the install

 

[Spuddy]

'Pressure Riser' resistor wiring

... just wondering if any has installed superior kit and resistor, maybe has the wire colors and what not

Sorry for the late reply, but if this does not help you anymore, it may help someone else...

The resistor goes across the EPC solenoid wires (technically: in parallel to the EPC). Since this is just a resistor, polarity does not matter. It is a 75 ohm cement insulated resistor, measuring 9mm x 13mm x 26mm - according to my Moser catalog, it looks to be a 5W 'Xicon 5% Cement Power Resistor' in both appearance and dimensions. The one I have from the Superior kit is only labelled as 'PRESSURERISER' and tested to be 74.4 ohms. I'll update the wire colors tomorrow, as I currently have my VB off and have access to the wires. Mount it up between the VB and the case, so it does not interfere between the VB and the pan.

 

[Spuddy]

Pressure Riser Wiring

There are 4 wires that appear to be going to the EPC soleniod, athough the EPC has only 2 tabs... According to the Superior shift kit instructions, the red wires go to the Transmission Fluid Temperature sensor - which is a thermistor that is evidently located in the EPC connector. The other two wires on my 98 5R55E were violet (more like lavender to me, light purple) and the other was Olive Drab green - I didn't wipe these down, so they may (probably were) covered with a grey film. There's not a whole lot of length to play with on these wires, but I did manage to use the supplied insertion connectors to tap into these wires. Then I inserted the Pressure Riser tabbed connectores into these, and routed the wires along the wires to the other soleniods on that side of the VB and tucked it in between the VB and the lip of the TCC connector, then around and over the TCC and the shift soleniod next to it and let it dangle there. Seemed OK but the wires drooped a little, so I disconnected the wires and fished them through the gap between the VB and the wires to the TCC and then reconnected. This tucked the wires out of the way and kept them nicely tucked between the VB and the TCC connector lip and the Pressure Riser seemed pretty happy tucked up in there.

Here's a diagram of the connectors from the Service Manual - note that the EPC is at the top and the TCC at the bottom of this diagram:

Here's a ROUGH sketch of where I put the riser and its wires...

 

[Spuddy]

VB Bolts Template

Print out this template and tape it to the side of a box. Punch holes through the template and box at each screw location with a #2 Phillips. Put something heavy in the box, so it doesn't move around easily. Then push each screw into its proper hole as they are removed, so you know where they go!

To print this out as large as possible:
1. Right-click picture and save to your computer
2. Right-click on picture on your computer and select Open With and then Paint
3. Picture will open in Paint. Click File then Page Setup
4. Select Orientation as Landscape, change all Margins to 0 (note that each will revert to some minimum value), then select Scaling as Fit to: 1 by 1 page(s) - Click OK to close Page Setup
5. Click File and Print to print

 

[joeschwartz5150]

Hey guys,

I had been experiencing the 2-3 flare and hard shifts with the occasional O/D light flashing symptoms like so many others before me. And although I have never torn into a transmission in my life I figured I can't really do to much damage trying to fix it myself. So I found a good deal on a rebuilt valve body and aside from draining residual fluid in the beast I'm ready to reassemble her. Except for one "tiny" detail... I made what I know now is a not so "tiny" rookie mistake. I did not do a bolt template and have a pile of bolts of varying lengths that I am gonna have to figure out as I go about reinstalling the VB. Any suggestions?

 

[elrynon]

Joeschwartz, here is a diagram of the bolt lengths. If this doesn't do you any good you can go to google and type "5r55e bolt placement" and there are quite a few pictures out there. I keep this one on my computer AND the one that Spuddy posted for reference.

 

[joeschwartz5150]

Thank you!

Elrynon,

Thank you! This pic should do just fine! It is an immense help.

 

[elrynon]

Not a problem man, glad I could help. I can't take credit for the picture though. Other people have posted it before. Hopefully you can get the bolts sorted out!

 

[joeschwartz5150]

Help!

I just replaced my valve body in my 99 Explorer hoping it would bring it back to life. Unfortunately it did not. I found the rebuild diary here and have been learning quite a bit from that thread but now I am lost and figure that maybe I should tell my whole story and pray for input from the more experienced members on this site. So without further ado...

I purchased my 99 Explorer 4 door, 4.0L with the 5R55E transmission. She's got 180k on her now and had about 170k when I got her, about 8 months ago for $1000. The body is straight and clean and so is the interior. At the time I bought her the transmission was already on its way out. It slipped big time between 2nd and 3rd gear when in (D). I found that if I manually shifted gears that I could avoid the high rev's by maxing out 2nd, letting off the gas shifting into 3rd letting it catch and then I could continue accelerating. So that's what I did. I would start off in 2nd from a stop and shift into 3rd when appropriate. As far as downshifting went, I didn't bother. If I did come to a stop again I would put her back in 2nd and so on... This allowed me to get around and do what I needed and since I've been unemployed for longer than I care to mention I had to make do with what I had (I already borrowed money to buy the truck in the first place). So about three months ago it started having trouble when I would first get in and go no matter if it had warmed up or not. It would take a couple of minutes for her to engage in any forward moving gear. Once she grabbed though it was business as usual. That lasted for two maybe three weeks until finally I lost the ability to engage any forward moving gear. All I had was reverse. So she sat for a month until my girlfriends father gave me $400 to try and get her going. So I tried the valve body replacement as I had read about the gaskets causing shifting problems and just got done with putting it back together. She still refuses to engage any forward gear and to boot reverse is questionable at best. On top of that it seems as though my master brake cylinder has committed suicide because my pedal goes to the floor and will not build pressure with repeated pumping...

So now I'm $1400 into the hole with girlfriends dad. I Have a car that is not going anywhere and looks as if she will require a full transmission rebuild and brake overhaul. Unless anyone has some magic potion I can administer to fix the above. I guess what I'm getting at is what do you guys think is going on with the transmission? Is it the torque converter, bands, does it matter? Should I rebuild it myself (I have never been inside a transmission at all prior to this vb attempt), should I get a used transmission from a junk yard, look for a remanned one (mind you I have no money to do this with but I gotta come up with at least an intelligent plan for my girlfriends fathers sake). The brakes should be no big deal. I priced a MC for about $60 and that kinda work comes much easier to me. I am lost on this transmission thing though...

Any input is appreciated (even if you want to tell me how stupid I am to keep throwing money into her).

Thank you in advance,

 

[joeschwartz5150]

Got her up and running. She needed more fluid. Added several quarts more and initially everything was great. After my initial test drive she sat for a couple hours, no leaks. But now she is exhibiting one of the same issues. At startup engaging any forward gear takes some manipulation. I have to put her in reverse and then "pop" it into a forward gear.... any suggestions...