OD light flashing..'check transmission'

[jlgray81]

As I was driving home tonight, I had the trailer attached with no load. I was coming up a hill which I come up everyday on my way home. I felt a kick in the tranny. Afterwards the chime when off and I looked down at the cluster and the center said 'check transmission' and the o/d light was flashing. After about 1 minute it went away. Just had the tranny serviced with a fluid change about 3 weeks ago and they said the fluid looked great and there were no shavings. Can anyone help me out here. Maybe someone has had this issue. Any help or info would be grateful

I've read up about these 5r55w's and seems ALOT of these have issues with the valve body. I wont have a chance to get the code until Wednesday or Thursday. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem. Drive it, or do NOT drive it?

IF it is the valve body, what would your opinion be on replacing the solenoid pack as well? Knock it all out in 1 shot. Or should I just replace the VB only?

Also, a few weeks ago I was having a small shift flare from 4th to 5th/OD. I decided to start driving without OD beings most of my driving is done in the city. Everything had been working properly until lastnight. Do you think the issue from lastnight could be connected with the 4th to 5th/OD shift flare?

 

[Duranged84]

Sounds like the solenoid o-ring/ case wear issue. Since you already had the small flare, and then this, Im betting it finally wore enough to either tear the o ring or leak past it quicker anyway. Did they flush your trans or just drain and filter change?

ps, kinda up to you if you choose to drive it, I drove my explorer with no automatic gears and no reverse for 6 months or so before pulling the motor. You would have to start in first and shift manually up to over drive and back down, but drove good and stayed in overdrive on the highway unless you gave it enough throttle to downshift. I think personally, if that's the only issue your having and its still shifting in all gears and only having light flare issues, I would keep driving to a minimum to avoid extra wear, mine went all at once so I didn't care so much. If it is the o-ring/case wear, your pressure may be lower to some areas of the transmission causing unneeded heat buildup and possible excess wear on other parts. Did you notice if your torque converter was locking at highway speeds? Or did it lock before the light starts flashing?

 

[jlgray81]

Sounds like the solenoid o-ring/ case wear issue. Since you already had the small flare, and then this, Im betting it finally wore enough to either tear the o ring or leak past it quicker anyway. Did they flush your trans or just drain and filter change?

It was just a change. Not a full flush. I don't think it locked up. I just felt a quick kick. That was it. Blink of an eye type thing.

 

[Duranged84]

No flush, I would say the filter and fluid change probably didn't cause your current issue, since they said fluid looked good still. Always a possibility though. Wish they would build an automatic to take abuse and hold up just a touch better. These things are too touchy. Between the case wear, the valve body issues and no dipstick.... And meant servo in my other post, not solenoid.

 

[jlgray81]

No flush, I would say the filter and fluid change probably didn't cause your current issue, since they said fluid looked good still. Always a possibility though. Wish they would build an automatic to take abuse and hold up just a touch better. These things are too touchy. Between the case wear, the valve body issues and no dipstick.... And meant servo in my other post, not solenoid.

I should've studied up a bit before I purchased this. This is my first Ford and the LAST one. Never again!!

 

[Duranged84]

They're actually pretty tough. I'm a Chevy guy myself and bought a Mountaineer to replace the Explorer. The servo / o-ring fix runs about $200 and seems pretty easy to do. The solenoid blocks are also pretty straight forward install. I do think these 5r55's are as tough or tougher than the 4l60e. I've been through plenty of those. I do plan an LSX swap into the mountaineer later on though....

 

[jlgray81]

They're actually pretty tough. I'm a Chevy guy myself and bought a Mountaineer to replace the Explorer. The servo / o-ring fix runs about $200 and seems pretty easy to do. The solenoid blocks are also pretty straight forward install. I do think these 5r55's are as tough or tougher than the 4l60e. I've been through plenty of those. I do plan an LSX swap into the mountaineer later on though....

I'm hoping for it to be the valve body honestly. Not too much work at all from the looks of it. I've not done any type of tranny work before but a good buddy of mine said he would do the work for free. The easier for him, the better for me lol. Good thing for great friends! Whatever it is, I hope its a fairly easy fix, and pretty easy on the pockets!