All gears forward! Don't forget the manual drive lever post!

[BrandedSohcman]

I was having problems with the shifting in the 1998 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer. It was revving up and not shifting and then I would have to lower the RPMs to 1500 RPMs and it would shift. Dropped the transmission pan and the filter, dropped the valve body and found I had a blown gasket. Replaced the gaskets, put the valve body back on, put in a new filter, put the pan back up. Filled the transmission fluid. And now I have park and 4 Forward speeds. I don't know if they're all the same gear, but they're all in forward. I don't have enough transmission fluid to do a complete drop and I have one gallon left. I have no reverse and no neutral.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

When I removed the servo cover plate the survo came out with the cover plate. And when I put it back in I forgot to put the gasket back in with the servo plate cover, I found it on the ground later. I don't know if there's spring action for the servo or if it's leaking around the O-rings. I don't know how to check that. But it looks like I have to remove the pan again and put the servo cover gasket in before I install the servo cover plate.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

It's definitely shifting in a crisper manner. The transmission shift indicator on the dashboard is out of alignment, it reads halfway between park and reverse when in park, due to, more than likely, a problem with the shift cable, going from the shifter on the column to wherever it goes. I hear that there's a plastic piece on top of the shift cable that sometimes breaks or needs adjustment.

 

[drdoom]

Check the manual valve pin. Make sure it's engaged.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

Check the manual valve pin. Make sure it's engaged.

What's that? I don't have a repair manual so I need description and or pictures.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

Manual valve lever post

When placing the valve body in position in preparation for inserting the first retaining bolt make sure that the manual valve inner lever positioning post is in the correct position as shown in the photo below.

View attachment 61745
The green arrow identifies how the positioning post should engage the manual valve slot. I had about 10 of the valve body retaining bolts loosely inserted before I noticed that the valve slot had slipped forward and the post was not in position. I had to back off all of the inserted bolts and lower the valve body before the valve slot could be moved to the proper position.

By the way, I bought a box of disposable surgical type gloves to keep the ATF off my hands. They work very well.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

Awesome picture. I did forget to position the pin! But like I said earlier, I found the servo gasket on the ground. I didn't see it when disassembling. It must have been stuck to the valve body spacer plate.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

Awesome picture. I did forget to position the pin! But like I said earlier, I found the servo gasket on the ground. I didn't see it when disassembling. It must have been stuck to the valve body spacer plate.

Sorry I didn't think to post in the transmission forum. I'm still not adept at navigating the site forums.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

Unfortunately I don't have a shop light to work by tonight. I will have to check that in the morning. Appreciate your input.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

I inserted the manual valve lever post into the proper place and reassembled everything. I filled the transmission fluid to full mark. I drove for about 5 miles and everything was very responsive. No problem! I parked for about 3 minutes shutting the engine off. When I came back I started her up and within 50 feet it started slipping second gear. Now first is starting to slip. Works great over 35mph. I really don't want to go through the gasket replacement again. I can't afford that for at least a month.

 

[BrandedSohcman]

There was a small amount of scoring on the servo rod. Do you think that the servo came down and dropped the spacer plate enough to cause the gasket to blow out again?