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More 5R55W problems

99minneotaexp

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Joined
September 3, 2009
Messages
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City, State
greenfield, mn
Year, Model & Trim Level
99 xlt
I recently was given a 02 Mountaineer with the 4.0 and of course AWD. 98,000 mles on it. My plan is to fix this thing up and sell it. Being unemployed currently it was my mothers way of helping out.
Anyhow, the biggest issue it has is the transmission. when started it will sometimes go into gear, either forward or reverse, and sometimes it won't. If you rev it slightly (around 1500-2000) it will slam into gear. Once it's engauged it will stay that way as long as you keep your foot on the gas pedal. Sometimes if you come to a stop it will not be in gear and as soon as you hit the gas it again slams into gear. After doing a lot of research on here and other places and using a little common sense I've narrowed it down to
the solonoid block or low reverse servo. Being on a budget I'm looking for some advise from the guys who have dealt with this before. I'm sure I could replace a shopping bags worth of parts and probably get it, but the less i can spend on it the better.

Below is a list of things i know, history as I know it.

Issue began after a transmission "flush" when the truck had 60,000 +/- miles on it. the flush was done at a quick change place. It acts like it's low on fluid so i told her to take it back to the quick change place and have them pay for the dealership visit to make sure it was correct. The level was fine. This was 4 or 5 years ago. I know she has had the level checked a couple times since then.

The truck has been driven fairly limited in the last 2 years as it was her snow car but the tranny has not really gotten much worse or better in that time.

Driving it: Once you get it into first gear it works fine, shifts through all 5 forward gears, and if you manually pull it down a gear it's normal. engine brake through 3,2 and 1 works fine. force down shift is good, first to second under hard accel is good. But if you come to a stop sign it may or may not be in first. No 2 to 3 flair. OD works fine, no OD light unless locked out.

I'm leaning towards the solonoid pack, but then sometimes i'm thinking low reverse servo.
As far as I know the pan has never been off.

I'd really appreciate everyones input who has dealt with a similar problem!!
 



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Honestly, that sounds nothing like I have ever read about for these transmissions. I'm guessing that yours has some unique damage caused by the botched transmission flush, which is pretty unfortunate.
 






That does not sound like a solenoid issue. Start by adding a quart of fluid and see if anything changes. Honestly, if it has been driven for 35k miles or more like that, it should be rebuilt. Find a competent shop that knows the 5R55 transmissions and it should be just at $2k for a complete rebuild including the converter, solenoid block, servo bore sleeves, VB updating, and all necessary parts.
 






Update. So after a bunch of hours of research on this transmission problem, I decided to put it up on the jackstands and pull the plug to check the fluid level. Once up on stands, I started it back up, ran it through the gears, and held the brake a few seconds in low and then again in reverse followed by letting the tires spin freely. i repeated this a couple times just to get the fluid warm. Then I pulled the plug and got a couple drips of fluid. I pluged the hole with a temporary plug and rigged up a pump with a fitting. would you believe that i pumped in 3 QUARTS not pints of mercron V before I would get anything resembling a steady stream comming out of the hole. by the time i pumped all 3 quarts in it was getting warm so I made sure it was barely dripping and put the plug back in it. i ran it through the gears still on the jackstands and i could tell it was better. i let it sit for 20 minutes or so, started it back up, Ran it through the gears and pulled the plug again, barely any drips. So i plugged it and took the truck off the ramps and took it out for a test run and it runs Perfect. I can't believe that a transmission could be that low for that many miles/years and still be working. I'm going to drive it a couple days the pull the drain plug and refill with fresh fluid, drive it a couple days again and pull the pan and do the filter and refill it a final time. My plan was alwayse to sell this truck, but I'm too honest of a person not to make sure the tranny is going to stay alive for the new owner. I'd feel bad if somebody else just bought this and it died on their trip home.
3 quarts.....
 






My oh my :( That really is a shame. That really shouldn't have been ignored for so long, but oh well right? Hopefully it lasts a while for the next guy. I think you and your family member would have loved the Mounty for many years had that not been the case, they are awesome trucks.
 






That's a lot of transmission fluid to be missing! Doesn't the thing hold like 5 quarts?
 






That's a lot of transmission fluid to be missing! Doesn't the thing hold like 5 quarts?

The pan holds ~5 quarts, but there is about 15 quarts in the entire transmission system.
 






OP you have a PM, didnt want to hijack your thread.
 






OP, YOU ARE THE MAN! I had pretty much given up on mine and had planned to drive it till the tranny quit or till I could afford a decent used trans. Tri City Ford told me I needed a rebuild and it wouldnt be worth checking the level, quik lube said all they could do was take it to Ford because they didnt know how to check or add fluid to it. Aamco wanted me to drop it off for a couple days for diagnostic and valvebody and solenoid replacement.

Went and got the nipple from Osmileys for $4, cheap hand transfer pump for $10, and 6 quarts of Mercon V from Walmart for $4.27 each. I originially bought 3, and still wasnt full, so Picked up 3 more. Ended up taking 3 and a half quarts to get a fairly steady stream. Truck was fully warmed up for last 1/2 quart so I plan to check it agian after a full cool down and warm it about half way up again. I bought the truck with the problems, for a good deal, with the intentions of replacing the trans when it finally gave out. This thing has never driven this nice since Ive owned it. Feels like a whole new truck, can already see an improvement in mileage too, not much, but any is always good. The real test comes when its completely cooled off, see if it goes right into gear or hesitates or if I have to play with the throttle to get it to catch. Just off of what Ive seen so far, Im not expecting it to have any more issues like it was. You really made my day, cause like I said, I had pretty much given up on it and didnt know if I could fill it properly if it was low, plus explaining all the symptoms to all the different shops and Ford service advisor, I wasnt too optimistic with their diagnosis.
 






I'm glad it worked for you too. I bet your feeling how I did last Thursday when I filled mine and it worked! I've driven mine about 200 miles and it hasnt missed a shift yet! How did your fluid look. I'm going to pull the plug on mine and refill it again to get some more fresh fluid in. The old stuff was pretty dark.
 






What little old fluid came out didnt look too dark actually. Was kinda suprised. Truck has 193600 miles on it. Ive put about 50 miles on it tonight since filling it up. I'd say its about 99% now. I can live with that no problem. :D Im gonna let it cool all the way down and take a midnight store run for a snack and see how it acts. All I know is, shifts are so smooth you can barely feel them on full throttle accel, cant feel it pull while its downshifting to stop anymore, no delayed engagement from a stop or from park, downshifts and goes like it should when cornering and stepping on the gas now. Hard brake and immediate accelleration is spot on. Shifts are on time whereas before, sometimes under normal to grandma driving style, shifts seem to take a little too long or hold at higher rpms a half second before shifting. Very happy. If my cold take offs are fixed I'll give the truck a hug. Seriously, good thing it'll be midnight, my neighbors will really think somethings wrong with me. lmao. Makes you wonder tho, with all the shops and the dealer I called, a large dealer at that, how many people have replaced transmissions in these things that were just low. And whats got me puzzled, is the underneath of the whole truck is fairly clean, My guess is at some point it was serviced and not filled properly or checked cold and too much was allowed to drain or something. Just glad it seems to be fixed now and will keep an eye on it.
 






Update, Todays cold starts were awesome. Startup, put it in gear, went right in and stayed in. One tough trans I gotta say. Cant do that with a GM trans you'll be replacing it by the time it starts acting like ours did. And Im a GM guy, Love my Explorer though.
 






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