OH JOY. Another 5R55E issue.

[Castorized]

evenin folks..Long time reader first time writer. Seems like my '98 EB tray 4r55e(?) up n died the other day. No reverse (WOOT!!!!). My digging around showed me a gasket blowout right next to the servo. My big idea is to replace it. I did.
Now i have Reverse and Drive .. like normally...but after temp reaches normal . i do not. No R/D. If i were to shut engine off for 10 secs. yes they're back..but for a short only. am Miffed. All VB bolts torqued properly and in order. all matting surfaces were thoroughly clean and cleaned. No ball or puck valves missing. No springs, sproinged away. everything went as planned. Ive done 3 rebuilds before on the 4r's and to many c-6's and e4od's. but never had to "diagnose" them. Any ideas on where i can start looking? or even better...someone who has had the same issue and fixed it...... Thx much errr oh yea forgot to mention... the tranny is from a 05/97 explorer control-trac... they said it could not / would not work in my 98.. i proved them wrong. Swapped t-cases and wiring harneses. Its worked for perfectly for me for almost 2 years..until this... i have a large mechanical background, but no official schooling.. plus im cheap..so i do things the hard, creative way LOL Thx again

 

[Castorized]

Just did some pressure testing. Mainline pressures in R and D drop off when things heat up, and EPC as well. Swapped EPC, no difference. Removed VB gasket to inspect.. Found the gasket had bubbled leading from the Extension housing Lube Orifice. Could it be leaking into the housing and loosing my pressure there? Anybody have a diagram of the Oil flow of the tranny/vb and related?
Cold psi: D/idle 80-85 R/idle 100-350 all gears fine
Hot psi : D/idle 45 wot 55 R/idle 100 wot 340 No reverse or Drive.. Drive only if up shift from 2nd or 1st and even then lousy.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! I've moved your thread into the transmission section. Do you have a separate valve body gasket or a bonded separator plate? You can't use a valve body gasket with a bonded separator plate. They don't mix together.

 

[Castorized]

I made an error in saying i used Bonded Gasket. Was in a beer that night. No i did not use bonded gasket/seperator plate. just a new set of gaskets and reused separator plate.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Did you get a 5R55E (not a 4R55E) valve body gasket? There is a difference between both of them. The EPC solenoid on the 4R55E has a green band filter, and the 5R55E has a red band filter.

 

[Castorized]

Now... ya got me. red EPC filter all the way... but the sep. plate. should be the same. i hope.. compared with the original... holes match up...thickness (?) does it matter? Can a guy make a test plate to do a off trans. valve body air test? or can i pump some air into one of the test ports to (hopefully) find a leak? or can a VB be warped just from removal and re-install (not dropped). I really do need an oil circuit diagram tho ... im curious as to the path of the extension housing lube orifice .... cause a bubble is in my gasket stemming from that point ( Gasket to trans. side of sep. plate) how do i post a pic?

 

[Castorized]

and i assume... the diff. between the 5r an 4r VB being the lack of extra solenoid? cause i just went with 4r and the gasket VS holes lining up just fine...no extra WTF?'s in there... :s

 

[BrooklynBay]

Both transmissions have 6 solenoids. The hole spacing in the separator plates are different.

 

[Castorized]

k well back to ripen this bloody thing apart LOL again... just to make sure the little tiny hole is in the right space HAHAAA. But would that make a difference after temps rise, or right off the bat? No codes come up....

 

[BrooklynBay]

The only temperature controlled part is the internal thermostat that cuts the flow to the external cooler when it's cold, then opens it when it gets hot.

 

[Castorized]

Checked with my parts house today...just to see which gasket i ordered back when... 4r55e is my mistake. New one coming tomorrow morn. for the 5r55e. Man this is embarrassing. Cant wait to get the bronco back up n running

 

[Castorized]

Now being the wrong gasket, would that cause pressure to drop off when hot?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Is the new gasket a different part number than the one from your first order?

 

[Castorized]

Didn't get the #'s, But i would assume it would be different seeing as when i ordered, i asked for a 4r VB gasket specifically, and didn't cross reference with year/make/model. Did this time and yea ,was a different listing.
Any good place to look for a Oil circuit diagram for this puppy?

 

[BrooklynBay]

The ATSG manual has an oil circuit diagram.

 

[Castorized]

Ok wow... i went on a test run today to heat the thing up and get some more readings from it... the original problem has seem to disappeared. it shifts fine and works normal. Have a hissing from the trans. tho. sounds more prominent from the back of it ,right where it meets the Extension housing. right in line with the mount.
EPC pressure is D/idle 25-30 R/25-30 and rises to 100 +- WOT. and this is hot.
never changed the Vb gasket.
Was down a quart of Mercon ...but no puddles. Still wondering about the Extension housing lube orifice and the bubbled gasket there.(trans. side of gasket).. Coud it be by-passing and filling up the EH? and that being a source of pressure loss?

all these question and more on the next posting of (something to do with a Ford) :

 

[BrooklynBay]

I still think that you should replace the gasket with one which is made for the 5R55E.

 

[Castorized]

Yea doing that today. Oddly enough tho. the gaskets for the 4r vs the 5r are the same. They just have one big hole which accommodates for either the 4r or 5r sep. plate. hole spacing. But im going to do it anyways. Then if it still gives me an issue.... weep in utter failure and drink a beer . LOL

 

[Castorized]

Well ,some good ,some bad news. Have a working transmission , moderately slow to get into Drive, but other than, works fine. Power windows , mirrors, radio display, 4x4 (light works only) all the bed. . Possible GEM issue? cleaned as many grounds as i could find...no luck...all fuses good too Buuut were haven a good long heat wave and the wife doesn't drive off road. so ill live with all till something comes up.