Bad transmission sensor?

[PPro]

'00 4.0L

Heres the story:

My X is recently having problems shifting. It seems between each gear is puts the car into neutral and revs really high before shifting into the proper gear.

I had the tranny flushed, no help.

I had a family friend/mechanic tell me it could be a bad sensor.

That seems reasonable because the truck will shift through all 5 gears perfectly when its cold. If I just start it and get going there's no problems at all. After it warms up it starts having these problems. It doesn't happen between any two gears more than others. Sometimes it happens from a stop going into 1st gear.

Any predictions on what it could be and how much is may cost to fix? I know tranny work is expensive, but this doesn't seem to be a huge deal compared to a missing gear or something like that.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Glacier991]

A flare in all forward gears when the trans fluid is warm sounds more to me like a valve body leak (that would be the GOOD possibility) or a forward clutch seal leak (that is NOT a good one). If it was a clutch seal or other seal (like servo) leak it would only show up in the gears operated by that component... hence the possible forward clutch leak possibility - that clutch is engaged in all forward gears. It could also be that you have a torn separator plate gasket. Pulling the valve body and replacing the gaskets is not a big deal - it's not the most fun you can have on your back, but it won't kill ya either. Best diagnostic would be to put a pressure gauge on both taps, the EPC tap and the line tap and see what your pressures are. (check them in every gear and at cold versus warm temps too).

 

[Glacier991]

on further thought....could also be the check ball in the forward clutch drum. Also not a good thing. To get to the forward clutch you are talking rebuild.

 

[PPro]

Thanks for the input, I guess that was the 'best' news I could hope for.

I have absolutely no experience in any tranny work, is changing the gaskets something I could handle? I do all regular work on my cars, and have the tools to do so. I also have a family friend mechanic who will give me wholesale on parts and a cheap labor rate. Which would you recommend?

Do you know of any websites with pictures of this type of work?

Thanks for the help, its very appriciated.

 

[PPro]

Thinking about it more now...

When I had it flushed they told me it had very low pressure. Hopefully this is just another symptom of a simple valve body leak?

I've searched a bit and cant find a good tutorial on how to change the valve body. I also know nothing about transmissions. Is there more than one valve body on it? Do you have a link or some better words to search with to find the thread everyone is talking about? I've searched for 'shift flare' and 'transmission valve body' to no avail.

Thanks again. I really hope thats what it is, I cant afford much more than that.

 

[Glacier991]

here is a link...

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125362